Former Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson Set to Go the Distance in THE MARATHON
After four long, long days, the field in Event #24: $2,620 THE MARATHON No-Limit Hold'em has been cut down to it's final nine. There were 60 players who started the day but that number was cut in half even before the dinner break hit today. Bagging up the chip lead at the end of the night was Mark Sleet who finished the day with 7,725,000. Sleet caught a flush towards the end of the night to scoop a monster pot from 888poker ambassador and former Main Event champion Martin Jacobson. It would give him the chip lead and he held onto it for just a bit longer to remain the chipleader heading into the final day of play.
Jacobson was really the star of the show today, though, as it seemed the Main Event champ couldn't lose a single pot. On the feature table, Jacobson climbed from 811,000 chips to nearly 10 million over the course of the day. Once the end of the live streamed portion of the day was reached, Jacobson dropped a few pots to drop down to 7,345,000, still good enough to lock up second place for the day.
In one of his biggest pots, Jacobson eliminated Javier Fernandez with aces against ace-king, and later he would eliminated Mike Azzaro with ace-queen on a queen-high flop against Azzaro's ace-king. Those two massive pots earned Jacobson more than four million chips and he would ride out the chip lead over the course of the next few hours.
Plenty more went the way of Azzaro and Fernandez though and headed to the payout desk today. Some of those who didn't make it through the day included Joe Elpayaa (57th - $9,616), Martin Staszko (49th - $11,329), Lee Markholt (48th - $11,329), Matt Affleck (44th - $13,520), Faraz Jaka (35th - $16,340), and Salvatore DiCarlo (20th - $19,997) to name a few.
The first to fall at the start of the day was another 888poker ambassador, Chris Moorman. Moorman got it in good against Matthew Davidow with pocket kings against ace-king, but Davidow made a four flush to send Moorman to the rail. For his 60th place finish, Moorman took home $9,616. Davidow would also meet his end later in the day.
Another former Main Event Champion and poker legend also graced this event with his presence and a deep run as well. The 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen made it as far as 46th place. On his final hand, Nguyen flopped a set of sevens, but Sameer Aljanedi turned a straight with pocket eights. The money got in on the turn and Nguyen didn't improve. He collected $11,329 for his deep run in the event.
After dinner break, it was a race to the final table. The final 27 players were witttled down to just 9 players in a little over two 100-minute levels. Players finished play for the day with one hour and thirty minutes still on the clock in level 25 with blinds at 25,000/50,000 and an ante of 5,000.
Four long days have created a stacked final table and is sporting a lot of poker talent. Some others that will return on Friday include Bart Lybaert, Mike Addamo, Cate Hall, Taylor Paur and Anton Morgenstern. Paur and Jacobson are both seeking a second bracelet for this event while everyone else is looking to lock up their first.
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasilia | FT | 1 | Michael Addamo | 6,165,000 | 123 |
| Brasilia | FT | 2 | Martin Jacobson | 7,345,000 | 147 |
| Brasilia | FT | 3 | Ihar Soika | 4,990,000 | 100 |
| Brasilia | FT | 4 | Taylor Paur | 4,815,000 | 96 |
| Brasilia | FT | 5 | Bart Lybaert | 7,155,000 | 143 |
| Brasilia | FT | 6 | Mark Sleet | 7,725,000 | 155 |
| Brasilia | FT | 7 | Cate Hall | 1,175,000 | 24 |
| Brasilia | FT | 8 | Ying Chan | 1,725,000 | 35 |
| Brasilia | FT | 9 | Anton Morgenstern | 1,800,000 | 36 |
Players will return to the Brasilia feature table at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 15, where the plan is to play down to a winner. The event will be live streamed with a delay, but you can follow along with the live updates here on PokerNews as well. Make sure to return at 1 p.m. as this is one final table you don't want to miss.
