2018 WinStar River Poker Series

Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2018 WinStar River Poker Series

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
73
Prize
$249,310
Event Info
Buy-in
$2,500
Prize Pool
$2,000,000
Entries
807
Level Info
Level
30
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000

Main Event

Day 1a Completed

Tough Sledding for Big Names on Day 1a at WinStar

Level 17 : 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Johnny Deas
Johnny Deas

It was not a good day to be a well-known poker player with big-time results at WinStar.

After more than 16 levels of play on Day 1a of WinStar River Poker Series $2,500 Main Event, 46 players out of 378 entries bagged up chips. The list of those who made it through would not be mistaken for a group of poker superstars, as most of the big-name grinders who made the trip to the America's biggest casino found themselves on the rail at least once and were absent by night's end.

WinStar ambassador Maria Ho, DJ Alexander, Marvin Rettenmaier, Rainer Kempe, Dan Heimiller, Mike Wang, David "The Dragon" Pham, Allen Kessler and Anthony Spinella were just some of the players with millions in winnings and/or major titles to their names who fired on Day 1a. All ran dry on chips and will have to make things work on Day 1b if they hope to get a crack at this $2 million guaranteed prize pool.

Notables who did avoid joining the star-studded graveyard included Wendy Freedman, Dan "Duma" Lowery, Matthew Kelly and Alex Greenblatt.

By contrast, the leaderboard features Johnny Deas (543,000), Stephen "Turtle" Brach (524,000) and Jeff Sowell (473,500) pacing the field.

Deas had so many chips secured by the time hand-for-hand player began with 48 players left that he simply vacated the area, content to bag up heaps whenever two players went bust and apparently unwilling to risk losing any of his monster stack.

Brach, meanwhile, took the opposite tact and busied himself dragging pots and surging up the counts. He wound up bursting the bubble after flopping the nut straight and busting a player who turned an inferior straight and check-raised all in drawing stone dead to chop.

Sowell raked in what was likely the biggest pot of the day way back in Level 11 (800/1,600/200). He flopped bottom pair and a combo draw against a player with the nut flush draw and another with an overpair of kings. Sowell hit running queens for a full house to take in a pot worth about 450,000.

Day 1b gets rolling Sunday at noon and will play down to 12 percent just like Day 1a. Come back to PokerNews then for more live coverage of this $2 million guaranteed event.

Tags: Johnny DeasJeff SowellStephen Brach

End of Day 1a Counts (full)

Level 17 : 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Player Chips Progress
Johnny Deas us
Johnny Deas
Day 2 Chip Leader
543,000 120,000
Stephen Brach us
Stephen Brach
524,000
Jeff Sowell us
Jeff Sowell
473,500 -19,500
Will Pengelly us
Will Pengelly
429,500 -47,500
Jon Scarborough us
Jon Scarborough
423,000 177,000
James Thatcher us
James Thatcher
411,000 11,000
Larry Hirons us
Larry Hirons
404,000 404,000
Gary Sixkiller us
Gary Sixkiller
403,500 11,500
Phil Osborne us
Phil Osborne
357,000 90,000
Wendy Freedman us
Wendy Freedman
341,000 -29,000
Austin Lewis us
Austin Lewis
301,500 301,500
Ted Gillis us
Ted Gillis
WSOP 1X Winner
290,000 -63,500
Mark Fisher us
Mark Fisher
283,000 283,000
Dan Lowery us
Dan Lowery
266,500 174,800
Joon Cho us
Joon Cho
235,500 -84,500
Billy Holler us
Billy Holler
224,000 224,000
Robert Jenkins us
Robert Jenkins
220,000
Jon Bennett us
Jon Bennett
196,000 -20,000
Wei Zhang us
Wei Zhang
191,500 191,500
Pedro Palacio us
Pedro Palacio
185,000 185,000
Jason Turck us
Jason Turck
179,500 179,500
Julio Marines us
Julio Marines
173,500 173,500
Keith Copp us
Keith Copp
157,000 157,000
Michael Waterstradt us
Michael Waterstradt
153,500 153,500
Darrell Hopkins us
Darrell Hopkins
150,500

Read full

Bag 'Em

Level 17 : 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante

A player in early position checked and called 20,000 from Stephen "Turtle" Brach on {9-Clubs}{10-Clubs}{8-Spades}. The turn was the {j-Spades} and the first player checked. Brach bet 65,000 and his opponent tanked awhile then shoved for about 55,000 more. Brach quickly flicked in a call and showed {q-Spades}{j-Diamonds}.

The other player showed {7-Hearts}{7-Diamonds} for the dead end of the straight and the river was the {5-Spades}.

"You're welcome," Brach said to the onlookers who had come to sweat the action.

The remaining players will bag their chips and come back for Day 2 on Monday.

Player Chips Progress
Stephen Brach us
Stephen Brach
524,000 524,000

Tags: Stephen Brach

Jenkins Doubles on Bubble

Level 17 : 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante

Action's been slow on the stone bubble since an early elimination. Finally, a big pot developed as a player in the cutoff opened for a raise and Robert Jenkins defended big blind. The flop came {q-Diamonds}{9-Clubs}{6-Diamonds} and Jenkins check-called 20,000. On the {5-Clubs} turn, he checked again and his opponent shoved for 70,000 effective.

Jenkins snap-called with {9-Diamonds}{9-Spades} for a set and didn't even need to sweat the river as his opponent had {a-Spades}{10-Spades} for a drawing-dead bluff.

Player Chips Progress
Robert Jenkins us
Robert Jenkins
220,000 64,000

Tags: Robert Jenkins

Level: 17

Blinds: 3,000/6,000

Ante: 1,000

Two More

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

The tournament is now hand-for-hand with 48 players left and 46 players scheduled to cash and bag.

Sowell Nearing 500K

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

A player in the hijack opened and got action from small blind Jeff Sowell and big blind Phil Osborne. On the {a-Hearts}{10-Diamonds}{8-Spades} flop, Sowell came out betting with 25,000, and only Osborne continued. Action was the same on the {3-Clubs} turn and both players checked the {4-Clubs} river.

Sowell opened {a-Clubs}{q-Clubs} for top pair and Osborne showed {q-Spades}{10-Hearts} and mucked.

Player Chips Progress
Jeff Sowell us
Jeff Sowell
493,000 3,000
Phil Osborne us
Phil Osborne
267,000 -153,000

Tags: Jeff SowellPhil Osborne