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Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2018 WinStar River Poker Series
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
2018 WinStar River Poker Series
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
$2,500
Prize Pool
$2,000,000
Total Entries
807
Level
30
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Players Left 1 / 807
Filter
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
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.
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
A player in early position checked and called 20,000 from Stephen "Turtle" Brach on 
. The turn was the 
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 
.
The other player showed 
for the dead end of the straight and the river was the 
.
"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.
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 
and Jenkins check-called 20,000. On the 
turn, he checked again and his opponent shoved for 70,000 effective.
Jenkins snap-called with 
for a set and didn't even need to sweat the river as his opponent had 
for a drawing-dead bluff.
Level: 17
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 1,000
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.
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 
flop, Sowell came out betting with 25,000, and only Osborne continued. Action was the same on the 
turn and both players checked the 
river.
Sowell opened 
for top pair and Osborne showed 
and mucked.
Level 16
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
We saw Jason Gooch standing up and grabbing his belongings, and the dealer pushed his stack to Wendy Freedman. We arrived just in time to see Gooch had gotten it in for about 120,000 on the button with queens but failed to hold against Freedman's 
.
