$1,700 Main Event Day 1b | 2020 World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond

03-01-2020 01:07 UTC-5

Giedrius Bagdonas Leads the Day 1b Field in the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event

GeoffFisk

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

The second of two opening-day flights is complete in the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond $1,700 Main Event, and with Day 1a and Day 1b finished it's time for the tournament to move forward to Day 2.

Day 1b saw a total of 617 entries register at the Horseshoe Hammond Casino in Hammond, Indiana and when the dust settled only 117 players found a bag.

Giedruis Bagdonas bagged the biggest of all, ending the night with 814,500 after spending most of the latter half of the day as the Day 1b chip leader. Bagdonas will return for Day 2 as the overall chip leader in the Main Event.

Others bagging big on Day 1b included Yousef Saleh (369,000), Jake Bazeley (356,000), Firas Sadou (326,000), Josh Reichard (280,000) and Craig Trost (276,000).

The 617 entries on Day 1b brought the total number of entries for the Main Event to 989, with the prize pool totaling $1,498,335. First place in this event will result in a $258,078 payday for the eventual winner.

Some of the names coming through for Day 1b, but not surviving the flight, included Keven Stammen, Jorden Helstern, Samuel Cosby, Todd Sladek, and Jeremy Smith.

The survivors of Day 1b will join the 67 players that made it through on Day 1a, and the combined survivors of the two starting flights will come back for Day 2 Sunday. The restart is scheduled for 11 a.m., and the tournament will play out with 60-minute levels for the duration.

The Main Event will resume at Level 16 Sunday, with the blinds at 2000/4000/4000.

Follow along with the PokerNews live blog as the Main Event continues!

Tags: Craig Trost Firas Sadou Giedrius Bagdonas Jake Bazeley Jeremy Smith Jorden Helstern Josh Reichard Keven Stammen Samuel Cosby Todd Sladek Yousef Saleh

03-01-2020 00:02 UTC-5

Bagdonas Keeps Surging

GeoffFisk

Level 14 : 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Giedrius Bagdonas has been in the chip lead for most of the second half of the day, and he keeps adding to that total and looks to be in great position to go into Day 2 as one of the tournament chip leaders.

Bagdonas added another 85,000 to the stack in a recent hand that saw an early-position player open to 6,000, Bagdonas three-bet to 18,000, the opponent four-bet shoving for 85,000, and Bagdonas making the call.

Opponent:
Giedrius Bagdonas:

Board:

Bagdonas won the flip to go over 600k, easily the biggest stack in the room currently.

Player	Chips	Progress
Giedrius Bagdonas	615,000	615,000

Tags: Giedrius Bagdonas

02-29-2020 23:05 UTC-5

Dennehey Takes From Kim

BrandonTemple

Level 13 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Yoon Kim checked a flop from the big blind, and John Dennehey bet 5,000 into a pot of 11,000 from middle position. Kim called.

Kim check-called another bet of 13,000 on the turn, and both players checked the river.

"You win," Kim told Dennehey before tabling . Dennehey rolled over his and took down the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
John Dennehey	230,000	105,000
Yoon Kim	157,000	117,000

Tags: John Dennehey Yoon Kim

02-29-2020 22:31 UTC-5

Mallete Finishes Off VanderWoude

BrandonTemple

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

Michael VanderWoude got his last 40,000 in preflop from the cutoff, and Quin Mallette had him at risk from under the gun.

Michael VanderWoude:
Quin Mallette:

Mallete's sevens held on the flop, and the turn and river kept Mallette in front for the knockout.

Player	Chips	Progress
Quin Mallette	110,000	53,000
Michael Vanderwoude	Busted

Tags: Michael Vanderwoude Quin Mallette

02-29-2020 22:07 UTC-5

Massey's Queens Take From Bazeley

BrandonTemple

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

Ralph Massey raised to 3,500 from middle position, and was called by 2018 WSOP Circuit Harrah's Cherokee Main Event champ Jake Bazeley in the cutoff, as well as the player in the big blind.

The big blind checked a flop to Massey, who bet 5,000. Bazeley called and the big blind folded.

Bazeley check-called another bet of 8,500 on the turn, and the river went check-check.

"Queens," Massey said before rolling over . Bazeley nodded and showed his for a flopped open-ended straight draw and a pair of sixes, and Massey took down the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jake Bazeley	210,000	5,000
Ralph Massey	90,000	42,500

Tags: Jake Bazeley Ralph Massey

02-29-2020 22:02 UTC-5

Guillermo Vargas Wins First Circuit Ring After Grueling Heads-Up Match

BrandonTemple

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

While PokerNews is here offering live updates from the High Roller and Main Event we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the full schedule of side events that have been playing out over the past week at the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond.

In Event #11: $1,125 NLH, 179 runners created a $179,000 prize pool that was paid out to the top 27 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the official final table were Cody Brinn (12th - $3,029), Josh Reichard (15th- $2,558), Michael Moncek (16th - $2,217), Todd Sladek (18th - $2,217), Nicola DiTrapani (19th - $1,974) and David Watters (23rd - $1,807).

In the end, it was Texas native Guillermo Vargas who roped in his first gold ring along with a $45,408 payday.

"I feel pretty good,” Vargas said after his win, “This was my first Circuit series I decided to grind, and it was really a good learning experience.”

Day 2 action saw 27 players return with Vargas mid-way through the pack sitting in 14th, but he took the chip lead into the final table.

“I had a game plan going into the final table,” Vargas stated, “I learned about the Venue leaderboard and set goals with the first being to win, while the second was to eliminate players in a particular order that had more points than me.”

There were two players who Vargas was talking about and they were three-time ring winner David Hengen, who took his exit in ninth place, and the other was Tyler Phillips who was eliminated in fourth place.

Three-way action wouldn’t last long as Ken Brunette took his quick exit leaving Vargas heads-up against Sami Shurbaji.

Vargas held almost a 3:1 chip advantage at the start of the heads-up battle but Shurbaji put up quite the fight, turning the tides about two-hours into the battle.

“Before the heads-up match I was winning every flip, but Sami made it really tough for me heads-up,” stated Vargas about his opponent.

The match would continue for another hour level and Vargas saw his stack dwindle down to 400,000 at one point, but he won a flip after catching a flush on the river to turn the tide back in his direction.

“He told me he picked up on a tell when I was bluffing,” Stated Vargas, “I’m pretty sure I picked up on what he was talking about and switched it up to try and induce bluffs.”

The heads-up battled continued for another hour-level before the stacks were completely even and just when it looked like the match would continue on, it was over a few hands after the chip stacks were even.

“I felt like I was ahead the whole time that final hand and I was correct,” Vargas said after his grueling heads-up battle.

The victory marked Vargas’s first career Circuit ring and the 50 casino points puts him in front of the Casino Championship race and he hopes his 82.5 points will hold as he won’t be able to finish out the rest of the Circuit series at Hammond.

“I’m moving cities and my girlfriend is coming tomorrow so we are going to Chicago to look at places. I won’t be coming back so hopefully I’ll hold,” stated Vargas who continued to say, “I just want to thank all of my poker buddies, they know who they are, for helping me learn and helping me to get here.

Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Guillermo Vargas	Austin, TX	$45,408
2	Sami Shurbaji	Dyer, IN	$28,065
3	Kenneth Brunette	Marinette, WI	$19,623
4	Tyler Phillips	Charlotte, NC	$14,021
5	Artem Zverkhovskyy	Las Vegas, NV	$10,423
6	Terry Quirke	Flossmoor, IL	$7,655
7	Brian Pemberton	Homer Glen, IL	$5,856
8	Hamid Izadi	Marietta, GA	$4,587
9	David Hengen	Omaha, NE	$3,681

Tags: Artem Zverkhovskyy Brian Pemberton Cody Brinn David Hengen David Watters Guillermo Vargas Hamid Izadi Josh Reichard Kenneth Brunette Michael Moncek Nicola Ditrapani Sami Shurbaji Todd Sladek Tyler Phillips

02-29-2020 21:40 UTC-5

Reichard and Raghavan Both Claim the Same Hand

BrandonTemple

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

Ravi Raghavan raised to 2,500 from early position, and 12-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Josh Reichard three-bet to 8,000 from middle position.

"Black jacks, right in the muck," Raghavan told Reichard with a slight grin as he folded.

"I also have black jacks," Reichard retorted without showing his hand. Raghavan just smirked and said, "You got me."

Player	Chips	Progress
Ravi Raghavan	112,000	30,000
Josh Reichard	50,000	35,000

Tags: Josh Reichard Ravi Raghavan

02-29-2020 21:22 UTC-5

Guss Steps on the Gas

BrandonTemple

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

"Two sets in a row, and then pocket aces!" Jeff Guss said as he gestured at a stack approaching the 200,000 marker.

Chicago native Guss, who said he left for break with just 50,000 in his stack, caught plenty of heat in the first level back from break to leap up the counts and contend for the chip lead.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jeff Guss	190,000

Tags: Jeff Guss

02-29-2020 18:45 UTC-5

Rogowski Takes From Sergeev

BrandonTemple

Level 8 : 300/600, 600 ante

Sergey Sergeev raised to 1,500 from the hijack, and was called by Andy Rogowski in the big blind.

Both players checked the flop, and the fell on the turn. Rogowski bet 3,000 and Sergeev called.

The fell on the river, and Rogowski bet 6,000. Sergeev folded.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sergey Sergeev	75,000	11,000
Andy Rogowski	47,000	-8,000

Tags: Andy Rogowski Sergey Sergeev

02-29-2020 18:40 UTC-5

Patel Sends One Home

BrandonTemple

Level 8 : 300/600, 600 ante

Neil Patel raised to 1,500 from the cutoff, and was called by a player on the button.

Patel checked the flop to the button, who bet 2,700, leaving himself just 5,000 back. Patel jammed to put the button at risk, and the button called it off.

Opponent:
Neil Patel:

Patel's aces held for the knockout after the turn and river failed to improve the button.

Player	Chips	Progress
Neil Patel	32,000	2,000

Tags: Neil Patel