Schindler Leads; Koon, Negreanu, Yu Make Second FT at Poker Masters
After a day of getting weird with short deck at Poker Masters, the baby cards were added back into the deck for Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em, and an ARIA veteran tops the final table of six at the close of Day 1.
Jake Schindler, whose $21 million in lifetime cashes is littered with ARIA high roller scores totaling millions of dollars, amassed 2,725,000 during what proved to be one of the longest Day 1s of the series thus far. It stretched into the a.m. hours of Wednesday at PokerGO Studio due to the larger-than-expected field of 66 entries.
Schindler sent Elio Fox packing at the end of the night to put himself in pole position ahead of Ben Yu, Ali Imsirovic, Brian Rast, Jason Koon and a short-stacked Daniel Negreanu.
Poker Masters Event #5 Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Rast | United States | 1,200,000 |
| 2 | Jake Schindler | United States | 2,725,000 |
| 3 | Ali Imsirovic | United States | 1,615,000 |
| 4 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 215,000 |
| 5 | Jason Koon | United States | 905,000 |
| 6 | Ben Yu | United States | 1,695,000 |
Poker Masters Event #5 Payouts
| Place | Prize (USD) | Purple Jacket Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $462,000 | 300 |
| 2 | $330,000 | 210 |
| 3 | $214,500 | 150 |
| 4 | $165,000 | 120 |
| 5 | $132,000 | 90 |
| 6 | $99,000 | 60 |
Schindler had one of the biggest stacks in the middle part of the day but two pots at the end of the night allowed him to secure his lead.
First, Schindler defended big blind against Imsirovic and flopped nothing but found top pair of queens when Imsirovic allowed him to see the turn card for free while holding an open-ender with overcards. Imsirovic fired sizable bluffs on the turn and river that Schindler collected to pull even with him atop the counts.
Then, Schindler and Fox saw the flop for free in the blinds at 15,000/30,000/30,000, with Schindler flopping a boat with ten-nine. He got a turn raise to 200,000 in and Fox opted to bet-call with the nut flush draw, hitting it on the river. Fox check-called his remaining 630,000 off and saw he'd been coolered.
That allowed him to surge past Yu, who had an amazing ability to avoid elimination. In the last five levels or so, Yu was all in and at risk at least four times, surviving each time at the expense of the likes of Justin Bonomo, Bryn Kenney and Nick Petrangelo. Of those, only Kenney was able to survive long enough to make the money.
Dan Shak and Dan Smith were other players receiving payouts.
None of the prime contenders — at least at the moment — to catch Brandon Adams in the Poker Masters Purple Jacket rankings find themselves at this final table, but Schindler could vault into contention as he already has some points thanks to a third-place finish in Event #2.
The final table of Event #5 will get going at noon local time on Wednesday with a stream starting an hour later on PokerGO. Everyone's got $99,000 locked with $462,000 up top.
Meanwhile, also on tap for Wednesday is the biggest buy-in yet of Poker Masters, Event #6: $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Come back PokerNews for coverage of the event at 2 p.m.
Don't miss any of the action from the final table of Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em which can be watched live on PokerGO here at the Poker Masters. Check back regularly to PokerNews.com for all the 2018 Poker Masters updates.
