The short stack keeps surviving!

It's been an hour and a half since Venkat Ganne was eliminated in 6th place, and play has amazingly stayed five handed for that long.  The short stacks keep getting their chips in with the worst hand and coming out the winner.  It has happened so many times that the players are beginning to discuss the possibility of trying to get seven deuce to push in with.

Players are now on break

The final five players are now on break.  Here are updated chip counts, in seat order:

Sammy Wu - 2,175,000
Mark Checkwicz - 2,960,000
Tekomah Gobbins - 380,000
Don Yuicus - 2,600,000
Kevin Dugin - 480,000

6th Place: Venkat Ganne ($5,760)

Venkat Ganne has been eliminated when his [Qs][Qh] ran into the [Ah][Ad] of Sammy Wu.  The board ran out [4c][Tc][Th][Td][7s] to eliminate Venkat in 6th place, good for $5,760.

7th Place: Bill Papaclopoulos ($4,752)

Bill Papaclopoulos was all in preflop holding [Kh][Kc] against Mark Checkwicz's [Ah][Qd].  Bill asked the dealer to be nice, but the [9c][9s][Ac] flop was not what he was looking for.  Bill failed to find a king on the [5h] turn and [Td] river, sending him to the rail in 7th place.  He will collect $4,752 for his efforts.

8th Place: Richard L. Fisher ($3,744)

There was a three way all in between Richard L. Fisher, holding [7s][7d], Venkat Ganne holding [Ks][Kd], and Sammy Wu holding [As][Ah].  Sammy was able to hold off any bad beats as the board ran out [2h][5h][Jd][8c][Js].  He doubled through Venkat and knocked out Richard L. Fisher in 8th place in one fell swoop.  Richard will earn $3,744 for his efforts today.

9th Place: Drew Amato ($2,899)

No justice. 99<1010 on a 5 high flop for my last 15bb
— Drew Amato (@drew_amato) December 12, 2014

10th Place: Tarun G. ($2,102)

Tekomah Gobbins opened the pot before Tarun G. moved all in.  Tekomah made the call with [Qd][Jd], only slightly behind Tarun's [Ac][9c].  The [Qh][6d][7s] changed that, putting Tarun in front.  The [7h] on the turn meant Tarun would need to catch an ace to survive.  It was not to be, as the [6s] hit the river to give Tekomah two pair.  Tarun will collect $2,102 for his 10th place finish.

Final table chip counts and seating assignments

Seat 1: Sammy Wu - 380,000
Seat 2: Mark Checkwicz - 1,455,000
Seat 3: Bill Papaclopoulos - 640,000
Seat 4: Tekomah Gobbins - 490,000
Seat 5: Venkat Ganne - 1,665,000
Seat 6: Don Yuicus - 2,000,000
Seat 7: Tarun G. - 265,000
Seat 8: Drew Amato - 635,000
Seat 9: Kevin Dugin - 440,000
Seat 10: Richard L. Fisher - 700,000

Here are the prizes left to play for:

1st Place: $29,881
2nd Place: $18,505
3rd Place: $12,600
4th Place: $9,648
5th Place: $7,200
6th Place: $5,760
7th Place: $4,752
8th Place: $3,744
9th Place: $2,899
10th Place: $2,102

Final table reached

The player on the button moved all in before the player in the small blind reraised all in.  The big blind got out of the way, and the two players revealed their hands:

Button [Qc][5c]
Small Blind [Ah][Kh]

The [3c][Th][Ad] flop was no help, but the [Ks] turn gave the button a gutshot straight draw.  The [2h] hit the river, which means the final table has been reached.

The final 10 players will be on a 10 minute break while the tournament staff does a chip count.

Players are on dinner break

The final 11 players in Event #6 $400 NLH are now on their 1 hour dinner break.  Play will resume at approximately 8:35pm EST, and the blinds will be 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante.

Three way all in, no eliminations

We saw a three way all in on the feature table between the cutoff, the button, and the big blind.  Here were their hands from biggest stack to smallest:

Big blind [Js][7s]
Cutoff [6s][6c]
Button [As][Kd]

The flop fell [5s][4c][Ah], giving the button the best hand with a pair of aces.  The [8s] was a crazy turn card, giving the big blind a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw.  It also gave the cutoff a different gutshot.  The button would need to dodge a spade, six, or seven to survive.  The river blanked the [2d], and the button tripled up while the cutoff ended up with a few chips himself.

Tarun G. takes another hit

A player opened under the gun to 52,000 and Tarun G. called from the big blind.  When the flop fell [5d][As][Js], Tarun check raised, and subsequently called his opponent's shove.  Tarun held [Ah][Jh] for two pair against his opponent's [Ac][Kc].  Amazingly, the three outer spiked on the turn when it fell [Kd].  Tarun was looking for a jack on the river, but the [5h] fell instead, sending most of his stack across the table.

Ralph Macri has been eliminated

On an A-K-2 flop, Ralph Macri was all in with ace ten against his opponent's [As][2s].  Ralph was unable to catch a ten or a king on the turn or river to survive, and he will exit this tournament in 16th place, good for $1,598.  The remaining 15 players have just hit a pay bump and are now guaranteed $1,814.

Tarun G. makes a big layodwn

On the last hand before break, Tarun G. opened from early position and was called by the big blind.  The flop fell [5h][3s][3c], and Tarun bet when checked to.  His opponent called, and both players checked the [7d] turn.  When the [6c] hit the river, the big blind made a large bet, sending Tarun into the tank.  Tarun looked at his cards for quite a while and eventually folded pocket kings face up.  His opponent did not show.  After the hand, Tarun was knocked down to 875,000.

Final 2 tables reached

Two simultaneous eliminations occured to bring the field of Event #6 down to the final 18 players.  Those players are now redrawing for their seats at the final two tables.

Players are now on break

The final 25 players in Event #6 $400 NLH are now on their break. When they return, blinds will be 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante.

Final 4 tables reached

Since making the money two hours ago, the number of players remaining has dropped from 54 getting paid to 36 remaining.  This means only 4 tables are in play.  Here are updated chip counts for some notables:

Ralph Macri - 500,000
Drew Amato - 240,000

Tarun G. - 190,000

Eric Siegel - 120,000
Blake Scott - 95,000

Players are now on break

The 43 remaining players are now on a 15 minute break while the tournament staff colors up and races off the 500 chips.

Players are now in the money

With the elimination of our 55th place finisher, all remaining players in Event #6 $400 NLH are now in the money.  Everyone is guaranteed a minimum payout of $705, but all eyes are on the $29,881 first place prize.  Play will now resume at 2,000/4,000 blinds with a 500 ante.

Event #6 Prize Pool & Payouts

Event #6 $400 NLH had 433 entries, creating a $144,000 prize pool.  The top 54 players will be in the money, with a mincash worth $705.  Here are the full payouts:

1st Place: $29,881
2nd Place: $18,505
3rd Place: $12,600
4th Place: $9,648
5th Place: $7,200
6th Place: $5,760
7th Place: $4,752
8th Place: $3,744
9th Place: $2,899
10th-12th Place: $2,102
13th-15th Place: $1,814
16th-18th Place: $1,598
19th-21st Place: $1,382
22nd-24th Place: $1,166
25th-27th Place: $1,022
28th-36th Place: $907
37th-45th Place: $806
46th-54th Place: $705

Event #6 Day 2 is under way

Cards are in the air for Day 2 of Event #6 $400 NLH.  80 players remain and the top 54 players will be in the money. You can watch the featured table on the live stream at www.FoxwoodsLive.com.

December 2014 - Mega Stack Challenge - Event #6 - $400 NLH - Returning Players

Table-Seat	Name	Chip Count
3-4	Huvelle, Nathan	295,500
5-8	Leach, Ed	293,500
7-8	Checkwicz, Mark	288,500
7-7	Mitrokostas, Spiro	224,000
9-5	Yucius, Don	222,500
9-7	Manter, Brad	210,000
1-8	Frangoulidis, James	198,500
6-3	Goggins, Tekomah	196,000
3-8	Hartman, Ryan	182,000
5-9	Iannotti, Richard	177,000
8-2	Lee, Stanley	171,000
7-6	Behun, David	170,500
1-6	DeStefano, Kara	165,500
8-1	Barrile, Jen	164,000
2-7	Bouillanne, J. Reed	163,500
8-5	Palermo, Jeff	163,000
8-9	Lieberman, Mark	157,000
8-7	Faulkner, Bryan	149,500
9-6	Pardo, Robert	145,000
4-6	Wu, Sammy	141,000
1-3	Rittall, Corey	139,000
1-9	Bitondo, Attilio	137,000
8-6	Alden, James	134,500
4-3	Appel, Chaim	133,000
6-5	Rodrigues, Johnny	130,000
2-3	Ganne, Venkatara	128,000
4-9	Fenske, Carl	124,500
8-8	Smith, Lenbert	119,500
6-2	Laviano, Jared	114,000
9-4	Courtney, Bob	113,000
9-3	Gulati, Tarun	113,000
3-5	Mastafia, Ryan	113,000
2-9	Blake, Scott	111,500
2-2	Romanow, Jason	108,000
4-7	Caporuscio, Gary	107,000
3-7	Miller, William	106,000
6-1	Ricciuti, Bob	99,000
7-2	Santiago, Alex	98,600
4-1	Siegel, Eric	98,000
4-4	Vogel, Chris	98,000
3-1	Macri, Ralph	95,000
1-4	Chung, John	94,500
6-8	Rivera, Alexander	94,500
1-5	Cuppone, Tony	92,500
1-1	Dang, Hai	91,500
7-3	Decas, Nick	91,500
5-4	Becker, Alan	86,500
1-2	Fisher, Richard	86,500
4-2	Scianna, Louis	86,500
5-3	Amato, Drew	85,500
4-5	Carey, Kyle	85,000
5-7	Whitney, Chad	83,000
9-2	Schepis, Carmelo	79,000
8-4	Sabogali, Alberto	77,500
6-7	Rothenberg, Eric	69,500
9-9	Papadopoulos, Billy	68,500
6-6	Cohen, Jeff	68,000
5-6	Ewanos, Paul	65,000
3-3	Patel, Dilipkumar	65,000
4-8	Miller, Michael	61,500
9-8	DeLuca, Michael	57,500
7-1	Tighe, Kurt	55,000
3-2	Shapiro, Dan	54,000
2-8	Sall, Jeffery	53,500
1-7	Demetri, Scott	53,000
2-4	Matson, John O.	53,000
6-9	Eriquezzo, Ryan	52,000
5-5	Frederick, William	51,500
7-9	Freeman, Todd	51,000
5-1	Pito, Louis	49,000
2-5	Patel, Raj	47,500
3-9	Lawler, Colby	46,000
7-5	Ribeiro, Ed	43,500
3-6	Durgin, Kevin	40,000
5-2	Duperrault, Brad	37,000
7-4	Balisciano, Troy	35,500
8-3	Aiello, Gerald	26,000
2-1	Rizzo, Andrea	26,000
2-6	Donnelly, Patrick	15,000
9-1	Langenfelds, Christian	15,000

Last level of the night

It's the last level of the night in Flight B of Event #6 $400 NLH. 48 players remain, and there's plenty of recognizable players left. Ryan Eriquezzo, Drew Amato, and Gerald Aiello are among those players looking to survive the final level and bag up for Day 2. Play will resume at 12pm EST.