Just before the new level started, Diego "El Pulgoso" Ostrovich raised to 8,600 from the early position and was called by "Stroposoz" in the cutoff. "S Georgiev" three-bet to 44,000 from the small blind for the big blind to fold. Ostrovich responded with a four-bet to 100,000 for "Stroposoz" to fold and "S Georgiev" to shove for 413,335 and was called.
"S Georgiev":
Diego "El Pulgoso" Ostrovich:
The board ran out for Ostrovich to improve his rockets to a set to eliminate "S Georgiev" and be the first player to cross the 1-million mark.
The first Weekly Final - High of the Stadium Series has closed its registration period and 2,101 players entered the tournament for the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool which accumulated to $1,050,500 in total. This means that 255 players will be in the money for at least $1,162 while the winner will walk away with $157,004 on Tuesday, July 14.
For the full prize pool details, please have a look at the payouts tab.
The long legal battle between poker superstar Phil Ivey and East Coast casino Borgata over nearly $10 million that the former won in baccarat may finally be coming to a close.
NJ Online Gamblingreported Wednesday morning that Ivey and Borgata had reached a settlement, citing a July 2 filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Per usual in these cases, terms were not disclosed. PokerNews' senior editor Mo Nuwwarah has been on top of the ongoing story for years.
At the end of the previous level, "sokdaemir" raised to 16,000 from the middle position and "Aralas II" three-bet to 49,500 from the cutoff. The action folded back to "sokdaemir" who made the call.
The flop came , "sokdaemir" bet 119,000 but "Aralas II" decided to shove for 312,186 which "sokdaemir" called with the bigger stack.
"Aralas II":
"sokdaemir":
They had both flopped an open-ended straight draw but "sokdaemir" also held a pocket pair of fives.
The rest of the board was completed with the on the turn and the on the river for "sokdaemir" to hold and eliminate "Aralas II".
PokerStars has recently revamped it's Saturday schedule, with changed structures, more exciting tournaments, and bigger guarantees in order for players to have the best grind possible.
So whether you're dipping your toes in the likes of the Saturday Micro or looking for huge cashes in the High Roller Club tournaments - now with new structures - there's something for everyone!
PokerNews' chief editor Will Shillibier recently wrote a comprehensive guide why the Saturday is a can't-miss night in every grinder's respective schedule.
Which is better – live or online poker? Plenty of opinions exist on both sides of the argument.
Live poker has been around much longer, of course. The modern era of the game, however, starting with the "poker boom" of the mid 2000s, was fueled by the introduction of online poker, and has produced a generation of players who prefer online poker to its live counterpart.
"saysommin" was the last player to bust without cashing today in this tournament before hand-for-hand play could start but they weren't the only one to get eliminated during this stage.
"QcKimo" shoved from the early position for 338,030 and was called by Alisson "heyalisson" Piekazewicz in the middle position while the rest of the table folded so the cards could go on their backs.
"QcKimo":
Alisson "heyalisson" Piekazewicz:
The board ran out for Piekazewicz to hold with the pair of jacks for "QcKimo" to be the first player to get into the money today.
Alisson "heyalisson" Piekazewicz raised to 52,500 from under the gun and the action folded to "needdollarz" in the big blind who opted to defend it.
The flop came , "needdollarz" check-called the 47,355 continuation-bet of Piekazewicz.
The turn was the and "needdollarz" checked again. This time, Piekazewicz bet 275,000 and was called again.
The river completed the board with the and "needdollarz" checked for the final time. Piekazewicz barreled another continuation-bet over the line, this time it was for 825,000. "needdollarz" shoved for 1,128,114 in total and was called. Piekazewicz tabled for the runner-runner trips but "needdollarz" had flopped a set of jacks and improved to a full house to double up with.
"ThugWaffle" raised to 70,700 from the cutoff and Douglas "dougalopes" Lopes three-bet to 217,000 from the button. The blinds folded and "ThugWaffle" made the call.
The flop came , "ThugWaffle" check-called the 105,000 continuation-bet of Lopes.
The turn was the and this time "ThugWaffle" check-called the 262,500 bet of Lopes.
The river completed the board with the and "ThugWaffle" checked for the last time. Lopes shoved with the bigger stack which "ThugWaffle" called for their last 805,290 with for the pair of eights but Lopes tabled for the flopped set of nines to propel him into the chip lead.
After almost nine hours of play on Day 1 of the 2020 PokerStars Stadium Series Freezeout Weekly Final - High: $530 NLHE [8-Max], 145 players out of 2,101 entries have made it through to Day 2. The tournament originally had a guarantee set of $1,000,000 but this was easily surpassed by all the players who entered to create a prize pool of $1,050,500 in total. This meant that 255 players would cash for at least $1,162 while the winner will walk away with $157,004 on Tuesday, July 14.
Claiming the Day 1 chip lead is Douglas "dougalopes" Lopes with 5,291,991in chips. He collected most of those chips when he took out two players in the last level of the day. Both "IPAJB" and "ThugWaffle" fell victim to him in two seperate hands to take Lopes to over five million in chips. Lopes is followed by another familiar name in the poker world, Andreas "mrAndreeew" Berggren takes second place on the podium today with 4,910,811. Berggren had turned trips against the two pair of "gruzdev7777" for a pot of almost 1.5 million. Completing Day 1's top five are Russia's "Aleks Better" (4,120,769), Germany's "PokerHorst" (3,739,289), and Ururguay's "emifran99" (3,511,626) for a truly diverse selection of players.
But there's still loads of poker talent left in the field, familiar names and faces like Joao "sydens" Sydens, Xiaoxiao "W.Leung" Niao, Patrick "Nelepo10" Ulysséa, Dante "dantegoyaF" Goya, Luis Henrique "Lui$starPRO$" Rocha, Leocir "leocir25" Carneiro, Jakub "Olorionek" Michalak, Steven "SvZff" van Zadelhoff, Breno "Breno2728" Drumond, Michael "blazinchron" Bailey, and Manuel "fellatiado" Ruivo all finished in the top 50 of the counts.
The UK's "saysommin" bubbled the tournament when there were 256 players left while "QcKimo" was eliminated at the same time by Alisson "heyalisson" Piekazewicz. But as "QcKimo" had the bigger stack, they claimed the first min-cash of the day. Christian "chry1982" Sare, Juanki "B4NKR0LL3R" Vecino, Alexandre "Cavalito" Mantovani, Brunno "botteonpoker" Botteon, Daris "DEX888" Pedes, Shawn "buck21" Buchanan, Igor "OMGitshunt" Soyka, and Luke "Bit2Easy" Reeves are some of the notable players who all cashed but didn't make it to Day 2.
When the players return on Monday, July 13 at 5:05 p.m. CEST for Day 2, they have all secured at least $1,710 but will all be aiming to make the final table which will be played on Tuesday. The remaining players will finish the last ten minutes of Level 24 which features a small blind of 17,500, a big blind of 35,000, and a running ante of 4,500. Level duration will remain at 20 minutes each until the final 40 players have been reached. Play will end when there are nine players left.
The PokerStars Twitch Stream will start their coverage from Day 2 with hole cards being shown on a 30-minute security delay but PokerNews will be here to bring you all the action as it happens so make sure to return!