Most of the pots thus far have not gone to the flop, with players simply raising it and taking it. Keep in mind that seven of the nine remaining players are under 20 big blinds. We expect that players will pick their spots carefully given such short stacks.
The players have all taken their seats, the intros have been made, and the cards are in the air!
Level: 21
Blinds: 8,000/16,000
Ante: 0
The players left last night before an official seat draw could be done, so here is the lineup for today.
| Table | Seat | Player |
| 1 | 1 | Jonathan Aguiar |
| 1 | 2 | Nick Jivkov |
| 1 | 3 | Bryan Pellegrino |
| 1 | 4 | Brant Hale |
| 1 | 5 | Keanu Tabali |
| 1 | 6 | Tommy Vedes |
| 1 | 7 | Mike Allis |
| 1 | 8 | John Eames |
| 1 | 9 | Daniel Negreanu |
Welcome back to the Rio! We are coming to you live from Event #5: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em. Two days ago 639 players took their seats in this event, and now, we are down to just the final 9. And what a final table we have today. Everywhere you look, you have players with big first place titles already under their belt.
Late last year, John Eames won a 2,000 Euro buy in event at EPT Prague, taking home 101,750 Euros(equal to $136,235). He comes into today 8th in chips. Tommy Vedes is bringing the WPT titles to the table. Vedes has won two WPT main events: the $15,000 Main Event at the Fiesta Al Lago at the Bellagio in 2009, and the $10,000 Main Event at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in Florida just last month. Vedes took home over $2 million for those two performances. Vedes comes into today 5th in chips.
And then there’s PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu, who is the WSOP bracelet winner of the bunch. Negreanu has four of them, with the last one coming in 2008. He will be looking to end that drought today, as he comes into play 6th in chips.
All these players are looking up at Bryan Pellegrino, who comes into today’s play as the big chip leader, thanks to a huge pot that he won at the end of last night. He comes into today just shy of 800,000 in chips, which is 250k more then anyone else at the table.
Play will be underway shortly, and we are going to crown another bracelet winner today! Will one of our notables add to their already impressive poker resumes? Or will it be one of the unknowns who takes their turn in the spotlight. Stay tuned to Pokernews for all of the action!
Event 5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Day 3 Started
