Event #45: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels) Day 1 | 2017 World Series of Poker

06-24-2017 00:26 UTC-7

Diego Sanchez Bags Big After Day 1 of $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30-minute levels)

Adam Lamers

Level 20 : 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante

A fast-paced Day 1 has come to an end in Event #45: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30-minute levels). Diego Sanchez leads the field of 49 players heading into Day 2 of this two-day event with 660,000 chips.

Sanchez hails from Mexico City, Mexico and is enjoying his first time back at the WSOP since 2014. He has two WSOP cashes to his name, both earned back in 2014. His largest live tournament cash came in a WSOP Circuit event held in 2010 at Caesars Palace for $57,400. Sanchez is looking to add to his $238,072 career live tournament earnings with a big six-figure score and WSOP gold bracelet. Sanchez also burst the money bubble when he knocked out Loni Harwood with pocket queens against her ace-king.

Dennis Blieden is second going into Day 2 with 561,000 in chips, while Jacob Bazeley finished with 509,000 as he ran up a stack at the end of the day after he was a short stack mid-way through. Conor Beresford capped off his day with a run of good cards and rounds out the top four with 504,000 chips.

There was a total of 505 entries after eight levels of late registration, beating last year's total by 60 entries. They made up a prize pool of $2,438,250 with the winner receiving $527,555. The tournament paid a total of 76 players with a minimum cash being worth $7,442.

Many notables joined the field today, but there were few who survived this incredibly tough group of players. Some of those to hit the rail early included Faraz Jaka, Justin Bonomo, Mike Leah, Maurice Hawkins, Ryan Laplante, Martin Jacobson, Joe McKeehen, JC Tran, Matt Waxman, Jordan Young, Joe Cada, and Ryan Riess.

There were still plenty of familiar faces that were able to find a bag at the end of the day such as Chris Moorman (170,000), Frank Kassela (444,000), Aditya Agarwal (416,000), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (385,000) and Max Silver (504,000).

Day 2 of this event will continue on Saturday at noon at Level 21. The remaining 49 players will continue playing until a winner is eventually crowned.

Day 2 Seat Draw

Room	Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
Brasilia	709	1	Apostolos Bechrakis	Greece	218,000	18
Brasilia	709	2	Frank Kassela	United States	444,000	37
Brasilia	709	3	Conor Beresford	United Kingdom	504,000	42
Brasilia	709	4	Sean Loring	United States	128,000	11
Brasilia	709	5	Christopher Brammer	United Kingdom	464,000	39
Brasilia	709	6	Pete Chen	Taiwan	135,000	11
Brasilia	709	7	James Chen	Taiwan	361,000	30
Brasilia	709	8	Jonathan Concepcion	Spain	207,000	17
Brasilia	709	9	Quang Ngo	United States	138,000	12

Brasilia	710	1	Joseph Kohls	United States	117,000	10
Brasilia	710	2	Leonel Flores	United States	177,000	15
Brasilia	710	3	Jett Schencker	United States	240,000	20
Brasilia	710	4	Andrew Marson	United States	272,000	23
Brasilia	710	5	Clinton Harris	United States	124,000	10
Brasilia	710	6	Ty Reiman	United States	191,000	16
Brasilia	710	7	Alex Foxen	United States	207,000	17
Brasilia	710	8	Ashton Griffin	United States	247,000	21

Brasilia	711	1	Jason Tam	Canada	297,000	25
Brasilia	711	2	David Ormsby	Canada	477,000	40
Brasilia	711	3	Michael Tureniec	Sweden	278,000	23
Brasilia	711	4	Viliyan Petleshkov	Bulgaria	293,000	24
Brasilia	711	5	Yevgeniy Timoshenko	United States	385,000	32
Brasilia	711	6	DID NOT REPORT 1	United States	272,000	23
Brasilia	711	7	Dennis Blieden	United States	561,000	47
Brasilia	711	8	Brant How	Canada	210,000	18

Brasilia	712	1	Javier Gomez	United States	59,000	5
Brasilia	712	2	Max Silver	United Kingdom	504,000	42
Brasilia	712	3	Kenneth Smaron	United States	264,000	22
Brasilia	712	4	Diego Sanchez	Mexico	660,000	55
Brasilia	712	5	Jimmy Guerrero	France	180,000	15
Brasilia	712	7	Chris Moorman	United Kingdom	179,000	15
Brasilia	712	8	Ivan Deyra	France	183,000	15
Brasilia	712	9	Rui Ye	United States	110,000	9

Brasilia	713	1	[Removed:14]	United States	219,000	18
Brasilia	713	2	Dan Wirgau	United States	60,000	5
Brasilia	713	3	Liang Xu	China	105,000	9
Brasilia	713	4	Kiryl Radzivonau	Belarus	215,000	18
Brasilia	713	5	James Akenhead	United Kingdom	184,000	15
Brasilia	713	6	Aditya Agarwal	India	416,000	35
Brasilia	713	7	Kyle Julius	United States	236,000	20
Brasilia	713	8	Jacob Bazeley	United States	509,000	42

Brasilia	714	1	Quan Zhou	China	181,000	15
Brasilia	714	2	Tobias Ziegler	Germany	373,000	31
Brasilia	714	3	Michael Brinkenhoff	United States	171,000	14
Brasilia	714	4	Ivan Luca	Argentina	219,000	18
Brasilia	714	5	Neel Murthy	United States	321,000	27
Brasilia	714	6	Samuel Phillips	United States	74,000	6
Brasilia	714	7	Kenneth Ray	United States	99,000	8
Brasilia	714	8	Carlos Boyd	Panama	145,000	12

Tags: Aditya Agarwal Chris Moorman Faraz Jaka Frank Kassela Jacob Bazeley JC Tran Joe Cada Joe McKeehen Jordan Young Joseph McKeehen Justin Bonomo Loni Harwood Martin Jacobson Matt Waxman Maurice Hawkins Max Silver Mike Leah Ryan Laplante Ryan Riess Yevgeniy Timoshenko

06-23-2017 22:25 UTC-7

Timoshenko Shoves His Way to Victory

[user340040]

Level 18 : 3,000/6,000, 500 ante

Yevgeniy Timoshenko (as seen in previous event)

Neel Murthy was in the cutoff and raised to 14,000. Chris Moorman called on the button and Yevgeniy Timoshenko defended his big blind.

The flop was and everyone checked to the turn which was the .

Murthy bet 19,000 and Moorman folded but Timoshenko paused a minute before moving all in for 47,000. Murthy tanked for a minute and then laid down his hand sending Timoshenko some very important chips as the players approach the bubble.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yevgeniy Timoshenko	116,000	24,500

Tags: Chris Moorman Neel Murthy Yevgeniy Timoshenko

06-23-2017 21:57 UTC-7

Moorman Going For Bracelet #2

Adam Lamers

Level 17 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Chris Moorman is coming off his first WSOP gold bracelet win in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'Em Six-Handed event and is feeling confident as ever now. Having the rail cheering so loudly for him on that final table felt so good, he wants to get back to another one right away. He is building a chip stack in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'Em Turbo event right now, well on his way to making the money and hopefully break through for another final table.

Moorman raised to 11,000 from early position and the action was folded around to the big blind who moved all-in for around 46,000. Moorman asked for a count and then quickly called. It was a race situation with Moorman showing vs his opponent's .

The board ran out and Moorman was able to hit an ace to eliminate his opponent.

Player	Chips	Progress
Chris Moorman	217,000	204,000

Tags: Chris Moorman

06-23-2017 21:37 UTC-7

Loni Harwood Doubles Up with Kings

Adam Lamers

Level 16 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

Ivan Luca from early position raised to 8,000 and there was one caller before the action was on Loni Harwood. She moved all-in from the button for 72,000 and the action was back on Luca. He thought about his decision and eventually put out the chips to call. The other opponent folded and the cards were tabled.

Harwood:
Luca:

The board ran out and Harwood's over pair to the board was good enough to earn her a double up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Loni Harwood	153,000	111,000

Tags: Loni Harwood Ivan Luca

06-23-2017 19:32 UTC-7

Luca Busts Baldwin

[user340040]

Level 13 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

Ivan Luca was in middle position and raised what appeared to be 4,000. Eric Baldwin was in the hijack and moved all in for roughly 50,000, Luca called.

Luca:
Baldwin:

The board ran out and Luca took it down with his two pairs.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ivan Luca	183,000	83,000
Eric Baldwin	Busted

Tags: Eric Baldwin Ivan Luca

06-23-2017 17:42 UTC-7

Double K.O. for Kassela

[user340040]

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Frank Kassela was in early position and raised to 3,800. Martin Jacobson was in middle position and three-bet to 10,000. Jonathan Abdellatif was in the cutoff and moved all in for 53,800. Kassela called, having him covered, and Jacobson called being the shortest of the three players with about 15,000.

Kassela:
Jacobson:
Abdellatif:

The board ran out and Kassela paired his ace to take down this massive pot and eliminate two very tough opponents in the process. Kassela is a three-time bracelet winner and is no stranger to having a big stack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Frank Kassela	145,000	85,000
Martin Jacobson	Busted
Jonathan Abdellatif	Busted

Tags: Frank Kassela Jonathan Abdellatif Martin Jacobson

06-23-2017 16:25 UTC-7

Wiener Continues to Chip Up

[user340040]

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Mel Wiener was under the gun and raised to 2,000. He was called by the cutoff and big blind.

The flop was and everyone checked to the turn which was the .

Wiener bet 2,000 and was called by the cutoff.

The river was the and Wiener piled in a bet of 15,000, covering his opponents remaining stack. The cutoff folded and Wiener gleefully raked in the pot.

Mel Weiner has stood the test of time, cashing at the WSOP over three different decades. His best three results were winning a gold bracelet back in 1996 in a $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event and then finishing second in 2002 and 2015 in a $1,500 PLO and $1,000 Hold'em event. Wiener says he is going to make a run today and will crack the 100,000 chip mark shortly. Stay tuned in.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mel Wiener	80,000	80,000

Tags: Mel Wiener

06-23-2017 15:08 UTC-7

Heimiller Gets There

[user340040]

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Dan Heimiller (as seen in previous event)

Dan Heimiller was in middle position and raised to 1,400. The hijack, cutoff, and big blind called.

The flop was and Heimiller bet 3,500. The cutoff called and everyone else folded.

The turn was the and Heimiller checked. The cutoff moved all in for what appeared to be 16,700. Heimiller tanked for a minute or two, speaking out loud and trying to work out his opponent's range. Heimiller eventually called.

Heimiller:
Cutof:f

Heimiller was behind with a pair of jacks and an open-ended straight draw. The cutoff had two pairs and needed to fade the river which was the , giving Heimiller a bigger two pairs and counterfeiting the player in the cutoff, sending him to the rail.

Heimiller let out a big, "Yessss!" after the three fell on the river and wished his opponent better luck afterward.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dan Heimiller	80,000	55,000

Tags: Dan Heimiller

06-23-2017 12:58 UTC-7

The Defending Champion Has Arrived

[user340040]

Level 4 : 100/200, 25 ante

Ankush Mandavia is the defending champion of this event from the 2016 WSOP. He has five cashes already this year including a runner-up finish in the 10K Tag Team Championship where he narrowly missed out on his second ring, falling heads-up to the Championship team of Igor Kurganov and Liv Boeree. Kurganov and Mandavia went at it for the vast majority of that final day and it was a hard fought battle by two of the worlds biggest names in the poker world.

Watch for Mandavia to make a run today as he knows exactly what to do in a format like this, suited to his strong and aggressive playing style.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ankush Mandavia	25,000

Tags: Ankush Mandavia Igor Kurganov Liv Boeree

06-23-2017 12:56 UTC-7

Sands Shows the Move

[user340040]

Level 4 : 100/200, 25 ante

A player in early position opened to 450. Owen Crowe was on the button and three-bet to 1,200. David Sands was in the big blind and four-bet to 3,800. The player in early position called and Crowe folded.

The flop was and Sands led out for 3,200. His opponent called.

The turn was the and both players checked.

The river was the and Sands moved all in for roughly 15,000 and got a fold out of his opponent. Sands tabled as he scooped up the pot. Sands is on point and ready to fire. Watch out if he gets on a roll.

Player	Chips	Progress
David Sands	31,000

Tags: David Sands Owen Crowe