Level 9 (500/1,000/100)
Total Entries: 216
Players Remaining: 85
Chip Average: 38,000
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| Matthew Wantman (Stoneham, MA) |
Palma's was the most recent, as he opened the action pre-flop and was moved all-in on by a player with nearly the same sized stack.
Palma would count out his chips and then make the call, tabling [5d][5s] which would be flipping against [Ac][Qh] of his opponent.
The flip wouldn't last long, as the flop came down [5h][Qs][8d] and Palma was a lock for a vital double up, now playing over 50,000 chips.
Wantman's was a little bit more "unconventional" as he got his final 10,000 chips all-in pre-flop and way behind, holding [Qc][8c] against an unknown players [Kd][Qh].
Wantman would flop well and turn better as the board ran out [4d][8s][Js][8h][5s], giving him a double up and starting him on a trend upwards, as he's now playing close to 35,000 chips.
Both of these players have gotten off to fast starts in 2015, with Palma's early PokerStars Caribbean Adventure scores being featured during the Event 1 coverage at the start of the series.
Wantman's early success has come stateside though, notching four scores at the Borgata Winter Poker Open, where he cashed in the opening $2,000,000 event and then won his first major tournament title, taking home a Deep Stack trophy and just over $50,000 for the victory.
He then followed that up with a cash in the Heads Up Championship and the $3,000,000 GTD WPT WPO Championship, his first WPT score to date.
In total, Wantman churned out close to $60,000 in the first month of 2015 and while Palma was able to lock up a score in Event 1, Wantman is still looking for his first Card Player Poker Tour result of the series, something we wouldn't be surprised to see here in Event 5.
