Level 12 (600/1,200/200)
Total Entries: 332
Players Remaining: 87
Chip Average: 78,000
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| Ralph Macri (Reading, PA) |
But first, how he got his chip leading stack...
The action was picked up pre-flop with Macri raising to 4,500 on the button and we'd see both blinds call.
An unknown player in the small blind would lead out for 6,000 on a flop of [Ah][2h][Jd] causing the big blind to fold, with Macri just flatting in position.
The [2c] would come on the turn and the player in the small blind would now check to Macri, who would cut out a bet of 15,000.
The unknown player asked for a count and then declared himself "all-in" with Macri snap calling and tabling [As][10s] for top pair.
That pair would be good enough to win the hand as it stood, but he'd need to fade a lot of outs, as his opponent held [Jh][Qh] for middle pair with a flush draw.
Macri would fade the river as the [3c] bricked out and awarded a massive pot to Macri that would put him close to the 250,000 chip mark.
"How good do you run huh Ralph?" Leong would say from across the table, as Macri has notched a few eliminations since we returned from dinner to see his stack skyrocket from average to the top of the leaderboard within a matter of a few levels.
While Macri would laugh it off and go about stacking his chips, the rest of this tournament field should be on high alert, as Macri might be one of the more accomplished tournament players in this field and is made even more dangerous with a big stack.
Macri has just over 50 rated cashes totaling $300,000 in live career tournament earnings, with the majority of those results coming at Foxwoods, including two outright wins.
He'll certainly be a player to watch throughout the course of this series and it will be interesting to see if Leong's prediction holds up and Macri can make the Event 1 Final Table as he is the far and away chip leader mid-way through Level 13.
