The entries have slowed down as the night has progressed but the tournament clock is still showing a total of 455 entries for the opening flight of the $25,000 Super Main Event. The remaining 236 players are going on their last 15-minute break of the night with two levels still remaining tonight. Here is a look at the last two hours of play:
The action folded to Maria Ho on the button who made it 40,000 to go. Igor Ribeiro called from the big blind and the dealer fanned the flop of A♦K♦J♦. Ribeiro checked to Ho who continued with a bet of 30,000 and Ribeiro called.
The A♠ paired the board on the turn and Ribeiro check-called another bet of 130,000 from Ribeiro. The 10♣ completed the board and both players tapped the table. Ribeiro turned over J♣10♦ for two pair but Ho showed A♣3♣ for trip aces to claim the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,750,000
1,895,000
|
1,895,000 |
|
920,000
-430,000
|
-430,000 |
Felipe Ketzer opened to 40,000 in middle position and Alan Keating flicked in a three-bet to 200,000 on the button. Andre Ortega four-bet jammed all in for 880,000 which put Ketzer in the blender before calling off his stack of around 500,000. Keating was enjoying the moment as he tossed in his last 165,000 and all three hands were tabled.
Alan Keating: K♠J♠
Felipe Ketzer: J♥J♣
Andre Ortega: K♣K♦
"Oh no," Keating giggled after seeing the hands.
"Oh no!" Ketzer exclaimed a little louder seeing one of his outs dead.
The flop of 7♠7♣2♠ gave Keating a flush draw but the 10♦ and A♥ runout was of no help.
"That was fun," Keating said standing from his seat. "Do we play tomorrow or go to the spa?" he pondered. "One is sitting in happiness and the other is sitting in despair."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,760,000
1,032,000
|
1,032,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Jean-Noel Thorel opened to 50,000 in early position and Santhosh Suvarna called in middle position.
Thorel checked on the flop of J♥6♦Q♦ and Suvarna checked back. Thorel then bet 100,000 on the 5♥ turn and Suvarna called.
Thorel checked on the K♠ river and Suvarna quickly bet 300,000. Thorel consulted his cards with his LED light shining brightly and folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,500,000
-1,080,000
|
-1,080,000 |
|
720,000
340,000
|
340,000 |
|
||
Three-way action to the K♥10♥8♠A♠ turn saw Eric Bonucchi-Bilow check from under the gun and Jonathan Jaffe do the same on his immediate left.
Elie Nakache slid out a bet of 75,000 on the button and Bonucchi-Bilow called. Jaffe took a moment before raising to 800,000, enough to put both opponents all in.
Nakache folded, while Bonucchi-Bilow took some time and also slid his cards to the dealer. Jaffe flashed the Q♥ to the table as he dragged in another pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
4,300,000
860,000
|
860,000 |
|
640,000
640,000
|
640,000 |
|
||
|
450,000
-95,000
|
-95,000 |
Paul Esau raised it up from early position and Eelis Parssinen called from the cutoff. They went heads-up to a flop of A♠8♣6♣ and Esau started with a check. Parssinen tossed in a bet of 65,000 and Esau just called.
The 8♦ paired the board on the turn and Esau checked again. Parssinen slid in a bet of 100,000 and Esau still called. The K♦ completed the board and Esau checked for the third time. Parssinen moved all in as the bigger stack and Esau snapped him off for his last 455,000.
Parssinen went to muck his cards but they were turned over as the players were all-in. Parssinen held 4♥3♥ for complete air while Esau showed A♣A♦ for a full house. Moments later, the four-card specialist from Finland was eliminated in the last level of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,310,000 | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Both Jean-Noel Thorel and Santhosh Suvarna were missing in their seats on Table 102 and Juan Pardo appeared to be the beneficiary of their chips. Moments later, Pardo raised to 55,000 on the button and Mustafa Hadzibegovic moved all in for 290,000 in the small blind. Pardo asked for a count and then called.
Mustafa Hadzibegovic: A♥Q♠
Juan Pardo: 2♥2♣
It was a coin flip and the flop of K♦8♠8♦ left Pardo in the lead with his pair of deuces. The 4♠ and 7♥ runout brought no help for Hadzibegovic who was also eliminated late in the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
4,650,000
2,195,000
|
2,195,000 |
|
||
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
|
Busted | |
A week into World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise and the first-ever Event #9: $25,000 WSOP Super Main Event is finally upon us. The long-anticipated $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event kicked off today and drew 459 runners looking for a piece of the biggest guarantee in poker history.
Spain's Juan Pardo bagged the chip lead in the first starting flight ahead of big stacks including Jonathan Jaffee, Team Lucky's Shaun Deeb and one of the newest high-stakes crushers in Kayhan Mokri.
Also among the 155 players who bagged on Day 1a include Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton, Maria Ho, Mustapha Kanit, Dan Shak, Rania Nasreddine and Aleksejs Ponakovs.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Pardo | Spain | 4,585,000 | 183 |
| 2 | Jonathan Jaffe | United States | 4,390,000 | 176 |
| 3 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 3,960,000 | 158 |
| 4 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | 3,805,000 | 152 |
| 5 | Igor Picone | Belgium | 3,520,000 | 141 |
| 6 | Keith Lehr | United States | 3,435,000 | 137 |
| 7 | Chris Brewer | United States | 3,345,000 | 134 |
| 8 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | 3,285,000 | 131 |
| 9 | Stefan Fabian | United Kingdom | 3,245,000 | 130 |
| 10 | Frank Brannan | United States | 3,165,000 | 127 |
Day 1a kicked off with an iconic "Shuffle up and deal" announcement from WSOP's Ty Stewart and tennis legend Boris Becker. After that, chips flew as some players built stacks and others were sent to the rail. Some early eliminations included Ana Marquez, Karolis Sereika and Sosia Jiang, who is fresh off an eighth-place finish in the Triton Million but ran worse in this event as she flopped middle against the top set of Yoav Schverd.
Players who built their stacks included high-stakes cash star Alan Keating, who could be seen sporting a blue watch retailing at over $300,000 and France's Jean-Noel Thorel, who lit up the table both literally and figuratively with his warm presence and bright LED tube light displayed on the table.
The field also included Kristen Foxen, who missed a few hands as she watched her husband Alex Foxen win his third bracelet in the Triton Main Event. It's been a good week to be a Foxen as Kristen was formally inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame yesterday and Alex finished sixth in the Triton million for $2,795,000 three days ago.
Just weeks ago, Kristen Foxen bragged to PokerNews that she had more bracelets than her husband. Alex Foxen is one bracelet closer to catching the five-time bracelet winner.
There are still three more flights to take place in the Super Millions Main Event before Day 2 on Dec. 16. Tomorrow's Day 1b and succeeding starting flights will follow a similar structure with 60-minute levels and starting stacks of 500,000.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on-site tomorrow for continued coverage of the first-ever Super Millions Main Event here at Atlantis in the Bahamas. Check out the live reporting portal for coverage of other tournaments in the meantime.
