WSOPE: Shaun Deeb Second in Chips After Day 1B of Event #3: €550 PLO
Shaun Deeb has taken yet another step at taking down the 2018 World Series of Poker Player of the Year leaderboard, as he has secured the third cash in as many events of the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe at the King's Casino in Rozvadov. After a min-cash in The COLOSSUS and an 11th place in Event #2: €1,650 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Deepstack, Deeb is in a decent position for another deep run as he bagged up the second-biggest stack on Day 1b of Event #3: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed.
After yesterday's first flight had already surpassed the guaranteed prize pool of €100,000 thanks to 230 entries, the second starting day even topped that result with a massive field of 342 entries. The 572 total entries include 231 entries and the prize pool was more than doubled to €283,052 with both starting days paying out a portion already.
Of the 342 Day 1b entries, only 25 players bagged up chips after 18 levels of 30 minutes each and it was Canada's Christopher Back that skyrocketed into the top spot in the final hands of the night. Back sent Daniel Rezaei to the rail in the final hand of the night when he rivered the nut flush against the turned two pair and inferior flush of the Austrian. Not even half an hour prior to that, Rezaei had topped the counts with 100 big blinds only to run out dry before bagging and tagging.
Back claimed 885,000 to his name, just shy of 90 big blinds for Day 2, and Deeb follows in second place with 667,000. The four-time WSOP bracelet winner entered mid-way through level six and quickly jumped to the top spot, holding more than two times as many chips as the next best during the later stages of the day.
Another two WSOP bracelet winners follow right after Deeb on the Day 1b leader board: Hanh Tran (626,000) and Max Pescatori (565,000) will return with big stacks when the tournament plays down to a final table. Other notables that advanced through the second starting day are Oleg Pavlyuchuk (478,000), Viliyan Petleshkov (219,000), Roland Israelashvili (196,000), Netanel Amedi (151,000), Michal Mrakes (141,000), David Boyaciyan (108,000) and one-time WSOP bracelet winner Dario Alioto (82,000).
Aleksandar Denishev was crowned the bubble boy when his top two pair were no good against the flopped set of sixes of Max Pescatori. The top 52 spots were paid and 27 players secured a payday without bagging up chips including Teunis Kooij, Jessica Teusl, Andreas Walnum, Lukas Zaskodny, Jeff Madsen, Sebastian Langrock and Narcis-Gabriel Nedelcu.
Action of the Day
Within the first two levels of the day, more than 100 entries had emerged and the second and final starting day seemed poised to top the previous flight by quite a margin. Indeed, Day 1a was topped by more than 100 entries and plenty of notables took several shots at running up a stack.
Among those to come and go well before the money bubble were Anson Tsang, Pete Chen, Rex Clinkscales, Cord Garcia, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Anthony Zinno, Jan Bendik, Georgios Koliofotis, Chin Wei Lim, Erich Kollmann, Jan-Peter jachtmann, Allen Kessler and Gianluca Speranza to name just a few. Martin Kabrhel late-registered and quickly doubled up his stack but was also among those to bust without anything to show for.
The money bubble was reached towards the end of level 15 and Aleksandar Denishev ended up as the bubble boy. Despite Andreas Walnum sitting to his left with a fraction of a big blind only, Denishev got it in with top two pair on the turn and ended up second-best to the flopped set of sixes of Max Pescatori. Right after, the floodgates opened and a dozen hopefuls busted before the final break of the night.
In the final two levels of the day, Daniel Rezaei went from short stack to chip leader, only to see his massive stack of 100 big blinds vanish in the matter of 15 minutes. Rezaei doubled Hanh Tran twice in quick succession and lost a massive pot to Christopher Back at the very end to become the penultimate casualty of the day.
All remaining 25 Day 1b survivors will join the 21 players that bagged up chips on Day 1a. The second tournament day will kick off on Wednesday, October 17th, 2018, at 2 p.m. local time and the 46 players out of a field of 572 entries remain in contention. The level duration will increase to 40 minutes each and the action recommences at blinds of 5,000/10,000.
Stay tuned to find out who makes the final table of Event #3: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed and follow along right here on PokerNews, your one-stop-shop for all events of the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe.
