2019 World Series of Poker
A player from late position opened for 2,600 and the cutoff player jammed for 20,100. Action was on Oddschecker CEO Toby Bentall who called from the big blind and the initial raiser folded.
Toby Bentall: ![]()
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Opponent: ![]()
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Bentall held two overcards to his opponent's hand but was unable to connect as the board ran out ![]()
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leaving Bentall with only 5,200.
In the very next hand, the player from the cutoff opened for 6,000 and Bentall jammed for less from the small blind and the two players were heads up.
Toby Bentall: ![]()
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Opponent: ![]()
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Both players had live-cards and received help from the ![]()
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flop, giving Bentall the flush draw while his opponent picked up a gutterball.
The
turn missed both players but Bentall would double up after the dealer peeled off the
on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
10,400
69,600
|
69,600 |
Over on the third feature table, stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter Ray Romano was all in with a short stack and Matteo Leibowitz looked him up to create a coin flip in the showdown.
Ray Romano: ![]()
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Matteo Leibowitz: ![]()
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The ![]()
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flop gave Romano a pair of queens, yet he was in need of running cards to avoid the elimination. It was all over after the
turn and Romano waved goodbye as a blank came on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
75,000
35,900
|
35,900 |
|
|
Busted |
There was about 18,000 in the middle of the table and the ![]()
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board was out there. Gus Hansen had bet 8,000 out of position and he was raised to 23,000.
''Everything says fold and I still want to call'' Hansen said after thinking about it for a while. He eventually pulled the trigger and announced call which was immediately followed by his opponent saying ''nice call''.
Hansen's opponent showed ![]()
and Hansen himself won with ![]()
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
130,000
54,000
|
54,000 |
|
|
||
Ross Ward checked in a battle of the blinds on ![]()
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. Antonio Esfandiari bet 7,300 and Ward woke up with a check-raise to 22,000. Esfandiari peeled and Ward quickly shoved all in on the
river. Esfandiari folded just as quickly and Ward proudly showed his bluff: ![]()
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
250,000
73,500
|
73,500 |
|
|
38,000
32,000
|
32,000 |
|
|
||
Phil Hellmuth had jammed his stack up to 15,000 and then raised to 2,800, which was called by Timothy Stanczak in the big blind. On a flop of ![]()
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, Stanczak checked and Hellmuth continued for 5,200.
Stanczak now carefully checked the remaining stack of Hellmuth and opted to raise to 12,200, which covered Hellmuth's remaining stack. Two minutes passed by as Hellmuth was in the think tank and eventually called it off to set up the following showdown.
Phil Hellmuth: ![]()
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Timothy Stanczak: ![]()
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The
turn and the
river failed to provide any help and Hellmuth was sent to the rail.

| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
231,000
106,300
|
106,300 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Mike "Timex" McDonald raised to 2,700 on the button, and Jarod Minghini called in the big blind.
"No stare?" McDonald, known for his steely staredown, asked Minghini, who said, "No, I've already had the staredown once today!"
Before the ![]()
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flop fell, McDonald cupped his hand in front of his eye to avoid looking at Minghini, to the delight of his tablemates. Minghini checked and McDonald bet 2,400. Minghini called.
Both players checked the
turn, and Minghini bet 6,600 after the
river fell.
"I'm supposed to be looking at you right now," McDonald said. He brought his hand down from his face, but true to his word, looked only at the board and not at Minghini before folding, saying, "Ace-high?"
Minghini tabled ![]()
for a pair of fours, prompting McDonald to say, "Dammit. I almost called you really light."
"Poor guy, he just can't catch a break over here!" Minghini said with a grin, as both he and McDonald have increased their stacks significantly since the start of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
385,000
107,000
|
107,000 |
|
|
175,000
93,900
|
93,900 |
It's time for the second 20-minute break of the day. Here's some of the fun from the last two hours.
Friedman Soars into the Chip Lead
Adamo Makes a Straight Flush; Gets Paid by Fashakin's Full House
WSOP50 Main Event Second Largest of All Time!
Prizepool Confirmed: $10,000,000 for First Place

Tournament officials have confirmed the number of entries for the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event.
A total of 8,569 players stumped up the $10,000 buy-in, making this the second largest Main Event in history. This generated a prizepool of $80,548,600.
A total of 1,286 places will be paid and a min-cash is worth $15,000. Making the final table of nine will earn a player $1,000,000 with the winner walking away with $10,000,000, the joint second-biggest payday for a Main Event champion, level with Martin Jacobson in 2014.
| Place | Payout | Place | Payout | Place | Payout | Place | Payout | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | 10-11 | $800,000 | 64-72 | $117,710 | 415-477 | $30,780 | |||
| 2 | $6,000,000 | 12-13 | $600,000 | 73-81 | $98,120 | 478-540 | $27,390 | |||
| 3 | $4,000,000 | 14-15 | $500,000 | 82-90 | $82,365 | 541-603 | $24,560 | |||
| 4 | $3,000,000 | 16-18 | $400,000 | 91-99 | $69,636 | 604-666 | $22,190 | |||
| 5 | $2,200,000 | 19-27 | $324,650 | 100-162 | $59,295 | 667-765 | $20,200 | |||
| 6 | $1,850,000 | 28-36 | $261,430 | 163-225 | $50,855 | 766-864 | $18,535 | |||
| 7 | $1,525,000 | 37-45 | $211,945 | 226-288 | $43,935 | 865-963 | $17,135 | |||
| 8 | $1,250,000 | 46-54 | $173,015 | 289-351 | $38,240 | 964-1062 | $15,970 | |||
| 9 | $1,000,000 | 55-63 | $142,215 | 352-414 | $34,845 | 1063-1286 | $15,000 |