$1,700 Main Event Day 1b | 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley

09-14-2019 21:02 UTC-7

Le Keeps Rolling

GeoffFisk

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

After a check from an opponent in middle position, Billy Le bet 5,000 from the hijack, with the board showing .

The hijack thought it over briefly before making the call, and Le showed to take down the pot.

Le is still seated at the same table where he started the day. and he's now joined at that table by JC Tran and David Brookshire in what's proving to be a tough draw.

Player	Chips	Progress
Billy Le	82,000 2,000	2,000

09-14-2019 21:05 UTC-7

Shojaeyan Gets Two Streets of Value

HillKerby

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Kelly Minkin opened the action with a raise to 3,000 out of middle position and received calls from Shahin Shojaeyan in the hijack, Loren Cloninger in the cutoff, and the player in the big blind.

The four players saw a flop of and both the big blind and Minkin checked. Shojaeyan bet 7,500, receiving two folds before action was back on Minkin. She made the call, bringing the turn . Both players checked.

The river came and Minkin checked once more. Shojaeyan threw out a bet of 10,000, which Minkin quickly called to take the hand to showdown.

Shojaeyan tabled , good for queens and sevens with an ace kicker. Minkin mucked and Shojaeyan took down the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Shahin Shojaeyan	152,000 86,000	86,000
Kelly Minkin	86,300 -22,700	-22,700
Loren Cloninger	16,100 -21,900	-21,900

Tags: Kelly Minkin Loren Cloninger Shahin Shojaeyan

Level: 12

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 1,600

09-14-2019 21:14 UTC-7

Elpayaa Pulls Off a Squeeze

HillKerby

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Dustin Crump opened to 3,200 from under the gun and action folded around to the hijack, who called. Joe Elpayaa was in the cutoff and announced he was all in, cutting out his stack of 36,500.

Crump thought for close to a minute and sent his cards to the muck. The hijack was long ready to do the same by the time Crump folded, lifting his cards up in preparation for their helicoptered-flight across half of the table as Crump sent his cards to the muck. The hijack's cards completed their voyage to the muck as well and Elpayaa was sent the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dustin Crump	103,200 -8,600	-8,600
Joe Elpayaa	46,900 12,700	12,700

Tags: Dustin Crump Joe Elpayaa

09-14-2019 21:21 UTC-7

Thomas Morris Wins Event #8: $400 Monster Stack for First Gold Ring

HillKerby

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is at Thunder Valley to live report action from both the $1,700 Main Event and $3,250 High Roller, but those are just a couple of the dozen gold ring events at the stop. As such, we thought we’d profile some of the preliminary tournaments and those who struck it big.

In Event #8: $400 Monster Stack, 500 runners created a $165,000 prize pool that was paid out to the top 75 players including Event #6 champ Jeff Hoffman (71st - $568), “Miami” John Cernuto (55th - $588), Event #7 winner David Brookshire (32st - $794), Srinivasa Godavarthy (15th - $1,982), and Arthur Tanimoto (10th - $2,430).

In the end it was 29-year-old Thomas Morris of Whiteland, Indiana coming out on top to win the title for $32,846 and his first gold ring.

“I’m usually a cash game person. I started playing tournaments at the beginning of the year and I’ve been firing pretty hard. Finally got the win,” Morris said.

He continued: “My strategy is spray and pray. I’ve always gone by that and it worked out today,” Morris added.”

Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Thomas Morris	Whiteland, Indiana	$32,846
2	Michael Mcdonough	Chico, California	$20,298
3	Michael Cervantes	San Francisco, California	$14,866
4	Jeffrey Spruitenburg	Pacifica, California	$11,028
5	John Williams	N/A	$8,288
6	Phillip Phongsaiphonh	Rocklin, California	$6,312
7	Cheng Xiong	Chico, California	$4,871
8	Abraham Meyers	N/A	$3,811
9	Christopher Bonita	Winthrop, Massachusetts	$3,022

Tags: Thomas Morris

09-14-2019 21:28 UTC-7

Zeledon Gets a Dub

HillKerby

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Glenn Miller had 12,000 out in front of him from early position and was facing action again as Jimmy Zeledon had gone all in from the small blind. He requested a count of Zeledon's stack, which totaled 53,100. He then called.

Jimmy Zeledon:
Glenn Miller:

The flop was all Zeledon, leaving Miller needing to hit running wheel outs to a chop in addition to the unlikely perfect-perfect combination of the last two queens in the deck. The turn dashed what little chances he had at cracking Zeledon's aces and the river made the hand official, bringing Zeledon north of six figures along the way.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jimmy Zeledon	107,400 23,400	23,400
Glenn Miller	101,200 -65,800	-65,800

Tags: Glenn Miller Jimmy Zeledon

09-14-2019 21:34 UTC-7

Lyons Is Back

HillKerby

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

After busting earlier and saying he would be back, Pat Lyons was nowhere to be seen for some time. However, he is back in the room and comfortably seated with a stack of 67,000 now in front of him.

He is clad with a smile on his face and a circuit ring around his finger, making true to his word that he would be back and hoping to make true to his claim from earlier that he would be putting chips into a bag at the end of the evening.

Player	Chips	Progress
Pat Lyons	67,000 67,000	67,000

Tags: Pat Lyons

09-14-2019 21:39 UTC-7

Two in a Row for Farnes

GeoffFisk

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Jeff Farnes was facing a check from a middle position on the river, with the board reading . Farnes put out a bet for 16,000 and got the call, showing his frustrated opponent for the set.

On the following hand, the player to Farnes' direct right open raised to 4,000 preflop, Farnes three-bet to 9,000, and the opponent called.

Barnes bet 10,000 when the action checked to him on a flop, and got the fold.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jeff Farnes	127,000

Tags: Jeff Farnes

09-14-2019 21:39 UTC-7

Larson Doubles Through Steinman

HillKerby

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

David Larson opened to 4,000 from the cutoff and was three-bet to 13,000 by Ian Steinman, who was in the small blind. Larson went all in for 18,500 and Steinman called.

David Larson:
Ian Steinman:

The two were off to the races with the nod at the time being given slightly to Larson. He watched his slight edge become a sure thing as the board ran out to score the double.

This is far from the first time Larson and Steinman clashed at this venue, however. The two played heads up for the $3,500 WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event in March, 2018, with Larson defeating Steinman to take home a first-place prize of $295,128.

After the pot, the two found themselves with identical stacks. This would be the last hand they would play together for the time being, though, as the table broke following the hand.

One other player who was on that table was Mike Heshmati, who was short stacked at the time. He was since seen talking to a friend nearby and confirmed he had just been eliminated from the tournament.