Ari Wins The 'Last Longer', His Turn To Go Deep

Event 7 (Day 2)
Level 21 (5,000/10,000/1,000)

Total Entries: 414
Players Remaining: 29
Chip Average: 285,000

Ari Jonisch (Harrison, NY)

During last night's Flight B coverage we featured Alex Umanksy at a table full of trophy winners after Alex outlasted a massive $100,000 GTD field at November's Borgata Fall Poker Open to take down his first ever major poker title.

During that run, Alex's friends had a "last longer" bet, as a group of them had come down to play in the weekend event, with many of them, including Alex, playing in their first ever major tournament.

Alex obviously won the last longer on the felt, but Ari Jonisch (Harrison, NY) won the "last longer" on the rail, staying up to the early hours of the next morning to watch his friend outlast a tough Final Table to win the title.

Well, the group of friends are back here in Event 7 of the Card Player Poker Tour and Ari has won the "last longer" that matters the most this time around, as he was the only one to make the money, good for his second straight tournament cash after making a score in the event that Alex won last year.

Alex and Craig Warkol are now positioned on the rail to hopefully watch their friend make a deep run and Ari finds himself in a similar position that Alex was in mid-way through his championship run, playing a slightly below average stack in Level 21.

Ari doesn't seem bothered though, looking to replicate the "under-the-radar" strategy that Alex used at the Borgata, to not only make a few pay jumps, but perhaps even make the Final Table and peak from there.

Regardless of Ari's finish here in Event 7, he's already won some big time bragging rights and the rail "last longer" is now going to be decided between Alex and Craig, who are hopefully in for another long night of spectating as their friend looks to make the biggest tournament score of his career.