In a battle of the blinds, Patrick "marypoppins" Hu-A-Kam called the open jam by the far bigger-stacked Artem "Amsterq" Prostak after the hands on the other tables had completed.
Patrick "marypoppins" Hu-A-Kam:
Artem "Amsterq" Prostak:
The board ran out and Hu-A-Kam had to settle for 17th place.
Jung Chou "DragonChou" Chen went through the blinds to be left with very few chips and eventually jammed the button to get called by "BetAddict" in the small blind.
Jung Chou "DragonChou" Chen:
"BettAddict":
Only one ten appeared on the board and that spelled the end for Chen in 15th place.
"turkey1" opened to 1.6 million from the under-the-gun position and was called by "topboi" in the big blind. Both players checked the flop and "topboi" check-jammed the turn for 12.158 million. "turkey1" snap-called with a few hundred thousand chips more at their disposal.
"topboi":
"turkey1":
"topboi" was the top dog for quite some time but their tournament came to an end, as a meaningless river sent them out in 14th place for $37,681.
"likeboy" opened to 1.6 million in the hijack and was called by Junichi "Jun@N" Nakanowatari in the big blind. The Japanese went for a stop and go as he open-jammed the flop for just under 4.1 million and was instantly called.
Junichi "Jun@N" Nakanowatari:
"likeboy":
The turn was a blank and that also applied for the river, sending Nakanowatari out in 13th place for $42,929.
Joseph Cheong opted for the open-jam out of the small blind as he had covered Nicola "JuStOnETiMe_" Angelini by more than two-to-one and the Italian called it off from the big blind for 12.5 million.
Nicola "JuStOnETiMe_" Angelini:
Joseph Cheong:
Cheong hit a dream flop of to make trips and once the fell on the turn, he only had to fear the remaining two aces in the deck. Neither appeared as the river sent Angelini out in 12th place or $42,929.
Drew "BigPavelski" Soik lost a bigger portion of his short stack when a five-high flush draw missed and but he then doubled with against the of "turkey1" thanks to a board of . Fast forward a few seconds and Soik's chips were in the middle again as he three-bet jammed for 11,443,442 on the button.
Paulius Plausinaitis cold-called in the big blind and "likeboy" as the initial raiser elected to fold.
Drew "BigPavelski" Soik:
Paulius Plausinaitis:
The flop gave Plausinaitis a flush draw, which he missed on the turn. The sweat card on the river revealed a diamond well before it rolled over to expose the , sending Soik out in 11th place for $48,908.
The final table bubble enabled hand-for-hand mode and it was a huge pay jump. Ultimately, it went through in the same style as the previous dozens of all-in showdowns as the chips were already in the middle without any major hesitation.
Involved were Alexandru Papazian in the cutoff and "iownumind" out of the small blind with the latter at risk but holding the far superior pocket pair.
"iownumind":
Alexandru Papazian:
The flop was blank, as was the turn. However, disaster struck for "iownumind" on the river as Papazian binked the set to end the day in dramatic fashion.
The final table of the 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Winter Online Circuit $1,700 Main Event is set and nine players out of a huge field of 6,395 entries remain in the hunt for the coveted WSOP Online Circuit ring. With several starting days taking place prior to the restart of Day 2, the flagship tournament of the festival surpassed the ambitious $10 million guarantee and the top 700 spots shared a portion of the $10,327,925 prize pool.
Ultimately, it took just seven hours of high-octane action to get from 1,112 Day 1 survivors to the final table and Macau-based Paulius Plausinaitis soared to the top of the leaderboard with a stack of 76,004,224, good enough for 95 big blinds. Plausinaitis already knows what it feels like to reach a big final on GGPoker as he finished 8th in the 2020 WSOP Bracelet Event #70: $25,000 NLH POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP for $210,079.
However, a much bigger payday of $1,236,361 awaits for the eventual champion with the Lithuanian in the driver's seat. Artem "Amsterq" Prostak follows in second place with 54,179,291 and Joseph Cheong is not far behind that with 50,700,582. "likeboy" is one of two finalists from China and accumulated 47,269,129 thus far, DaiMing141319" (8,992,305) also made it through.
Alexandru Papazian knocked out a third Chinese prospect with the alias of "iownumind" on the final table bubble to advance with 25,140,091. The remaining contenders include "BetAddict" (20,263,058) and Finnish poker pro Joni Jouhkimainen (13,814,882).
Final Table 2020 GGPoker WSOPC Event #18: $1,700 Main Event
Position
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Paulius Plausinaitis
Lithuania
76,004,224
95
2
Artem "Amsterq" Prostak
Belarus
54,179,291
68
3
Joseph Cheong
United States
50,700,582
63
4
likeboy
China
47,269,129
59
5
Alexandru Papazian
Romania
25,140,091
31
6
turkey1
Turkey
21,939,160
27
7
BetAddict
Israel
20,263,058
25
8
Joni Jouhkimainen
Finland
13,814,882
17
9
DaiMing141319
China
8,992,305
11
The final nine players will return on Saturday, January 16 as of 6.30 p.m. UTC to play down to a champion. The action will be broadcasted with cards-up coverage and commentary on the GGPoker.tv Twitch channel. The blinds appear to be 400,000-800,000 with a running ante of 100,000 as an average stack of 44.2 big blinds has been reached.
The Action of the Day
The final two turbo starting days wrapped up fewer than an hour prior to the start of Day 2 on which all 1,112 survivors returned to their virtual seats. They had barely played the first half a dozen hands and some 100 hopes had already vanished into thin air. It was a sign for things to come in the hours after as the tournament raced towards the money bubble.
Poker superstars Fedor Holz was among dozens of big names who all missed out on the min-cash of at least $4,107, as notables such as Juan Pardo, Daniyar Aubakirov, David Yan, Andreas Christoforou, Christian Rudolph, Isaac Baron, Kenny Hallaert and GGPoker ambassador Felipe Ramos came up short by fewer than 100 spots. Benjamin "Geraaaard" Chalot ended up as the bubble boy and the floodgates opened moments later.
Once again, in the blink of an eye, the hopefuls were ousted by the dozens and the min-cash was reserved for Jack Salter, Brunno Botteon, Noah "ExclusiveA" Boeken, Mark Radoja, Laurynas Levinskas, Mohsin Charania, Ryan Riess, and Blaz Zerjav to name all but a few.
Mid-way through the day, GGPoker ambassador Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier went on a hot streak to go from severe short stack to healthy contender only for it all to come to a crashing end. Grospellier's open-ender and flush draw ultimately came up short of the top pair and top kicker of Dylan Linde. Only moments later, Joseph Cheong joined the big stacks and remained near the top of the leaderboard for the remainder of the day.
Bertrand Grospellier
Inside the top 100, well-known pros such as Niklas Astedt, Ronny Kaiser, Hun Wei Lee, Michael Addamo, Mike Watson and George Wolff all hit the rail. For Linde, the end came in 54th place for $19,634 and Andre "ubermensch1" Difelice earned the same amount for succumbing in 46th place.
Aleksey "ImLuckPads" Savenkov missed out on the chance to win a second WSOP Circuit ring during this festival and finished in 32nd place. Not even one full hour later, the final table was already set as the casualties kept coming at a lightning speed. Among the big names to fall were Kenneth Smaron, Simon "FiestaPagana" Mattsson, Danny Tang, and Idris Ambraisse. Philippe D'Auteuil had to settle for the final two tables and seemingly every minute another contender ran out of chips in the frantic final stages.
Stay tuned for the conclusion of this event as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back for the final table on January 16 on the way to crowning a champion.
to reduce the field to the final 17 contenders.
and Hu-A-Kam had to settle for 17th place.
, "topboi" rivered a straight to send D'Auteuil out in 16th place for $37,681.
board and that spelled the end for Chen in 15th place.
flop and "topboi" check-jammed the 
river sent them out in 14th place for $37,681.
flop for just under 4.1 million and was instantly called.
to make trips and once the 
fell on the turn, he only had to fear the remaining two aces in the deck. Neither appeared as the 
of "turkey1" thanks to a board of 
flop gave Plausinaitis a flush draw, which he missed on the 
flop was blank, as was the 
river as Papazian binked the set to end the day in dramatic fashion.
