Joe Shammas opened to 1,200 under the gun, an early-position player three-bet to 3,000, and the big blind cold called.
Shammas four-bet to 26,200, which caused both opponents to fold. With that pot, Shammas is up to 90,000 as Level 9 approaches.
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 #6: $400 NLH Monster Stack, 540 runners created a $178,200 prize pool that was paid out to the top 81 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the official final table were Daniel Sepiol (11th- $2,619), Yoon Kim (13th - $2,135), Jim Kilarjian (19th - $1,477), Oleh Ferkalyuk (23rd - $1,082), Robert Dunn (25th - $1,080) and John Sun (34th- $753).
In the end, it was Illinois native Lukson Matthew who won his first gold ring, along with a $34,748 payday.
“I woke up Monday morning and out of the blue decided to come play this tournament and no one is going to believe me, this is so unbelievable!” Matthew said after his win.
Matthew, a primary house/cash game player, had an uphill battle to make the run he did as he came in ranked 37th out of the 45 players returning to for Day 2 action.
“Man, I tell you what, it was a grind to get here and some luck definitely helped,” stated Matthew.
From coming into the final day near the bottom of the list, Matthew turned things around as he went into the unofficial final table as the chip leader thanks to a lucky river.
Things continued to favor Matthew’s good run as he collected every chip in play to win his first WSOPC ring, and his voyage to Horseshoe Hammond has proven profitable for Matthew so far. Not only does this mark his first/largest career cash, he added 50 casino points for the 2020 Global Casino Championship.
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lukson Matthew | Hinsdale IL | $34,748 |
| 2 | Frank Swierczynski | Plainfield, IL | $21,485 |
| 3 | Timothy Heng | Skokie, IL | $15,806 |
| 4 | Giedrius Bagdonas | Bristol, CT | $11,771 |
| 5 | Kenni Nguyen | Chicago, IL | $8,876 |
| 6 | Jason Trezak | Portage, IN | $6,777 |
| 7 | Thomas Mullen | Indianapolis, IN | $5,240 |
| 8 | Vince Bon | Burbank, IL | $4,105 |
| 9 | Glen Joseph | Oak Lawn, IL | $3,257 |
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.
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.
Justin Hankinson opened to 1,500 from early position, the hijack three-bet to 4,200, and Hankinson made the call.
Both players checked through the 
flop, as well as the 
turn.
Hankinson bet 20,000 on the river, enough to put the hijack all in if he called. After a couple of minutes of tanking, the hijack folded, sending the pot to Hankinson.
Hamid Izadi, a three-time WSOP Circuit ring winner who owns a ring from a Horseshoe Hammond event in 2019, checked a 
board from middle position, and the hijack bet 4,000 into a pot of 9,000. Izadi sprung a check-raise to 12,500, and the hijack tanked for a minute before folding.
With 8,000 in the pot, Justin Hankinson check-called in early position, against a 4,000 bet from Lena Zhao on the button.
The river came 
, Hankinson checked again, Zhao bet 11,000, and Hankinson made the call. Zhao's 
was the winner, and Hankinson mucked.
On a 
flop, Sean Lockwood got his last 36,300 in from the button and was at risk against a player in middle position.
Sean Lockwood: 
Opponent: 
There would be no waiting for Lockwood as his flush came in immediately on the 
turn, leaving his opponent dead to the 
river.
"That's like you're sixteenth flush today!" one of Lockwood's tablemates told him, before adding, "Mr. Flush!"
Level: 8
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 600
button in Safari
