2020 World Series of Poker Circuit Ameristar St. Charles

$1,700 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2020 World Series of Poker Circuit Ameristar St. Charles

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
54
Prize
$92,886
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,700
Prize Pool
$425,715
Entries
281
Level Info
Level
28
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
60,000
Players Info - Day 1a
Entries
108
Players Left
18

$1,700 Main Event

Day 1a Completed

McCormick Tries to Keep Rolling on Home Turf, Catches Levin for Lead

Level 16 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Austin McCormick
Austin McCormick

For almost all of Day 1a of World Series of Poker Circuit Ameristar St. Charles $1,700 Main Event, it seemed nearly a lock that Matthew Levin would bag the chip lead.

However, like a thoroughbred picking up speed as he thundered down the final stretch, Austin McCormick used a final charge to blast to the finish and bag the chip lead. He scored the final elimination when pocket sevens held up against ten-eight suited to wind up with 557,000, by far the most of the final 18.

That number forced a hard stop with just over 49 minutes left in the final level of the night, 2,000/4,000/4,000, as 108 entries were logged.

McCormick got his stack cooking earlier in the day with a flush-over-flush cooler of Heath Alcorn, who was no good with jack-high hearts against king-high. He has been on a roll over the course of the last couple of HPT Main Events in the St. Louis area, finishing fourth and sixth for more than $60,000 combined. He'll try to add to his $337K in tournament winnings with another deep run here at Ameristar.

Levin, meanwhile, finished with 423,000, giving him a massive cushion over third-place Jorden Helstern's 243,000. Others bagging included Greg Wood (200,000), Michael Hudson (156,000), Craig Welko (148,000) and Keith Heine (108,000).

Plenty of Circuit regs fired and bricked today as well, including Will Berry, Greg Jennings, Hamid Izadi, Brett Apter, Mike Shin and Jake Bazeley. They'll have another shot at a bag on Saturday's Day 1b, which gets going at 11 a.m. local time.

Come back to PokerNews then for more live coverage.

Tags: Austin McCormick

End of Day 1a Counts (full)

Level 16 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Player Chips Progress
Austin McCormick us
Austin McCormick
557,000 102,000
Matthew Levin us
Matthew Levin
423,000 -47,000
Jorden Helstern us
Jorden Helstern
243,000 -3,000
Greg Wood us
Greg Wood
200,000 40,000
Kelly Wolfe us
Kelly Wolfe
183,000 53,000
Roger Campbell us
Roger Campbell
161,000
Ian Nelson us
Ian Nelson
157,000
Michael Hudson us
Michael Hudson
156,000
Paul Belken Jr us
Paul Belken Jr
148,000
Craig Welko us
Craig Welko
148,000 -61,000
Jerod Smith us
Jerod Smith
118,000 64,000
Keith Heine us
Keith Heine
106,000 6,000
Don Carlton us
Don Carlton
102,000 65,000
Dave Simon us
Dave Simon
102,000
Mark Koeln us
Mark Koeln
77,000
Albert Morrow us
Albert Morrow
65,000
Alex Pelattini us
Alex Pelattini
1 -155,999
Matthew Moreno us
Matthew Moreno
1

Read full

Level: 16

Blinds: 2,000/4,000

Ante: 4,000

Pelattini's Kicker Does the Trick

Level 15 : 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

On a board of {10-Diamonds}{6-Spades}{2-Clubs}{2-Spades}, Alex Pelattini shoved all in for 58,000, which looked to be a little over the size of the pot. Greg Wood was in the tank from the cutoff and ultimately opted to call but was disgusted to see how bad of shape his {10-Clubs}{8-Clubs} was in against {k-Diamonds}{10-Spades}. The {q-Hearts} river meant a double for Pelattini.

Player Chips Progress
Greg Wood us
Greg Wood
160,000 -4,000
Alex Pelattini us
Alex Pelattini
156,000

Tags: Greg WoodAlex Pelattini

Level: 15

Blinds: 1,500/3,000

Ante: 3,000