Main Event
Day 2 Started
2018 WinStar River Poker Series
Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 WinStar River Poker Series
Buy-in
$2,500
Prize Pool
$2,000,000
Entries
807
Level
30
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Full Day 2 Chip Counts (full)
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
768,000 | |
|
||
|
701,500 | |
|
633,000 | |
|
585,500 | |
|
543,000 | |
|
||
|
524,000 | |
|
473,500 | |
|
467,000 | |
|
||
|
429,500 | |
|
423,000 | |
|
411,000 | |
|
404,000 | |
|
403,500 | |
|
382,000 | |
|
||
|
375,000 | |
|
368,000 | |
|
357,000 | |
|
341,000 | |
|
337,000 | |
|
301,500 | |
|
301,500 | |
|
290,000 | |
|
|
||
|
289,500 | |
|
283,000 | |
|
273,000 | |
|
|
||
Day 2 Begins with 98 Players in the Money!
After a full two starting flights have come to an end, there will be 98 players returning to the felt for Day 2 of the competition. Each one of them will be guaranteed a min-cash with just 12% of the field remaining in the $2,500 WinStar River Poker Series Main Event.
Joe Elpayaa will come into the day as the overall chipleader, amassing a whopping 768,000 chips after Day 1b. Elpayaa has had some impressive results at this tournament in the past and has accumulated over $1.5 million in tournament earnings over the course of his career. Life won't be easy for the American though, as many familiar faces still remain in the field and will be hunting down their place among the final 10.
Not far behind Elpayaa is another tournament grinder in Lou Garza, who stuffed 701,000 chips in his bag last night. Salvador Cervantes (633,000) will round out the top three heading into Day 2. Some other notables still in contention include Men "The Master" Nguyen (467,000), Wendy Freedman (341,000), Mike Wang (289,500), and Anthony Spinella (273,000).
The action will resume on level 17 with the blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a 1,000 ante. The blind levels will be increased to 60-minutes in length for the duration of the tournament. There will still be a 15-minute break after ever two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after the sixth level of the day.
A full list of payouts will be posted at the start of the day when the tournament staff makes it official. The schedule for today is to play down to the final table, at which point those players will bag up their chips. The final table will then resume on Tuesday and play down to a winner.
Continue to follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team as we bring you all of the live updates as the action unfolds.
Slight Delay to Start
The tournament staff is just coloring up the T500 chips before the cards get in the air. They have also announced that a total of 10 levels will be played today or until the final table is reached, whichever happens first.
Level: 17
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 1,000
Prizepool & Payouts
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
The prizepool and payouts have been posted and there will be a total of $2,000,000 up for grabs for the players to fight for today. All 98 players have made the money with a min-cash being worth $4,100. The winner will be taking home the title and a whopping $384,100. A full list of payouts can be found via the 'Payout' tab.
Eskandar Finds a Favorable Runout
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Lou Garza raised to 12,000 from under the gun and Paul Schwartz called from the small blind along with Patrick Eskandar in the big blind. The flop fell 
and the action checked to Garza who continued for 15,000. Schwartz folded and Eskandar shipped all in for 47,000.
Garza went into the tank for a couple of minutes, really contemplating calling the extra 32,000. He did, in fact, do so and the cards were on their backs. Eskandar showed 
for a flush draw while Garza held 
for the lone pair. The turn was the 
which gave Eskandar some more outs and the 
on the river improved his hand to two pair.
Eskandar went running two pair to score the double up and put a small dent in Garza's stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
635,000
-66,500
|
-66,500 |
|
135,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
Hirons Denies Kessler from Spinning It Up
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Mike Crow came into the day as one of the short stacks and he shipped all in for his last 36,000 from early position. Larry Hirons called from the button and Allen Kessler also called from the big blind.
The flop fell 
and Kessler shoved all in for around 80,000. Hirons quickly called and all three were tabled. Kessler showed 
but Hirons flopped a set with 
. Crow was well behind with his holding of 
.
The turn brought the which gave Kessler a straight draw but the 
on the river only improved Hirons to a full house. Both Kessler and Crow headed for the payout desk while Hirons stacked their chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
485,000
81,000
|
81,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Marines Doubles Through Wang
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Mike Wang raised it up to 14,000 from early position and picked up one called along the way. Julio Marines was sitting in the big blind with just 95,000 and pushed it all into the middle. Wang thought for a moment and then made the call while the other player laid his hand down.
Julio Marines: 
Mike Wang: 
The flop came 
and Marines picked up a flush draw to go with his two live cards. The on the turn gave him even more outs and the on the river was one of them. Marines scored a double up at the hands of Wang who had a good start to the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
340,000
50,500
|
50,500 |
|
205,000
31,500
|
31,500 |
Wang Drops Another
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
After a late-position open to 14,000, Mike Wang moved all in from the small blind. Big blind Michael Simpson thought a bit and announced a call. The third player folded.
Mike Wang: 
Michael Simpson:
The third player said he had pocket tens, which would have been good on the 
board. As it went, Wang shipped another double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
337,000
245,500
|
245,500 |
|
|
158,000
-182,000
|
-182,000 |