button in SafariMichael Monroig Bags the Lead with Nine Remaining in the Millionaire Maker
The penultimate day of the Event #50: $1,500 Millionaire Maker began with 62 hopefuls returning, but the field thinned quickly as several of the overnight leaders struggled to hold their ground. The day ended with just nine players bagging their chips, and they will return at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow to fight for the $1,250,000 top payout at the World Series of Poker, running at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
It was Michael Monroig (73,900,000) who ended the night at the top of the counts after storming through the latter stages of the day. He saw to the elimination of Seiji Sasaki, which sparked his climb up the leaderboard, and he continued to build late into the night.
Joseph Baghdalian will return second in chips with 52,300,000 after dominating in a number of big pots throughout the night. He is closely followed by Joseph Liberta (46,400,000), who brings 31 big blinds into the final day. It wasn’t an easy ride for Liberta, but he found fortune in a few river spots that helped him build a stack.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garry Gurevich | United States | 13,000,000 | 9 |
| 2 | Bradley Gafford | United States | 25,500,000 | 17 |
| 3 | Alex Kim | United States | 32,700,000 | 22 |
| 4 | Michael Monroig | United States | 73,900,000 | 49 |
| 5 | Joseph Baghdalian | United States | 52,300,000 | 35 |
| 6 | Joseph Liberta | United States | 46,400,000 | 31 |
| 7 | Yifu He | United States | 15,100,000 | 10 |
| 8 | Halford Fairchild | United States | 24,700,000 | 16 |
| 9 | Jacob Gagnon | United States | 10,600,000 | 7 |
Early Day Action
To reach the final table, the day was filled with eliminations, many coming from the Day 3 chip leaders. Bo Chen entered as the overall leader but suffered a major setback after getting tank called by Rob Kuhn in a hand that lasted over five minutes. The hit left Chen with a below average stack, and he was eliminated shortly after as the early pace claimed several big names. Second in chips Kunal Patni met a similar fate. The Indian pro got his final chips in with pocket threes but couldn’t hold, ending his deepest Millionaire Maker run to date early in the day.
Sasaki Seiji fared better than his fellow podium starters. He picked up momentum after trapping Jordan Meltzer when he turned a straight and check called a jam with the nuts, leaving Meltzer short. But Seiji’s path wasn’t without turbulence, as he took several subsequent tumbles before ultimately reaching the final three tables.
Meltzer also reached the final three tables after surviving elimination when he hit a runner-runner runout to stay alive. His comeback was short-lived, however, as he became the first elimination of the streamed portion of play, finishing 27th for $49,200, just missing the next pay jump.
A pair of WSOP Main Event final tablists were also in the mix with 27 remaining. Mark Newhouse, famous for his back to back ninth place Main Event finishes in 2013 and 2014, and Russell Rosenblum, who reached the 2002 Main Event final table, both made deep runs. Rosenblum was first to fall, busting in 21st place after getting ace ten in against Monroig’s ace king.
Final Table Lead Up
Newhouse’s day was turbulent from start to finish. He risked a large portion of his stack from the small blind with six three offsuit after open jamming into Halford Fairchild’s pocket queens. Although he managed to claw some chips back and reach the final two tables, he was eliminated shortly after in 16th place when he got his stack in with ace three but didn’t connect on the runout.
The eliminations leading up to the final table came quickly, with most players sitting around 25 big blinds for much of the day. Alex Kim secured his seat at the final table after hitting a backdoor flush on the river, leaving both Ryan Eriquezzo and Antony Rubin short. They were eliminated in consecutive hands, finishing 13th and 12th for $94,000 each.
It was Meng Dian Peng who hit the rail as the unlucky final table bubble boy, ending his run in 11th place. It was a brutal end for Jed Friedman who went from chip leading at the final ten, to slowly bleeding chips in the last level of the evening. He lost a big stack to Alex Kim, late into the night which ultimately saw to his demise. He ended up taking home 10th place for $118,000 and narrowly missing out on a return for the final day after getting it in good, but not holding against Monroig who flopped top pair.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,250,000 |
| 2 | $1,000,000 |
| 3 | $750,000 |
| 4 | $530,000 |
| 5 | $410,000 |
| 6 | $315,000 |
| 7 | $245,000 |
| 8 | $190,000 |
| 9 | $150,068 |
Play resumes at 3:30 p.m. local time tomorrow, with posts aligned to the stream. Action restarts at Level 40 with blinds at 1,000,000/1,500,000 and a 1,500,000 big blind ante. There will be 15-minute breaks after every two levels, and play will continue until one player remains.
As the Millionaire Maker moves toward its dramatic conclusion, stay locked in with the PokerNews live reporting team as we close in on crowning the next WSOP millionaire.