Tan Leads Final Six in Event #66: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
It took almost exactly six levels for Event #66: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em to get down to a final six from the 26 that started the day. In that time, the chip lead ebbed and flowed, but at the end of it all, start-of-day chipleader Longsheng Tan went back-to-back to be end-of-day chipleader as well.
He was responsible for the elimination of one player at the official final table, with second-in-chips Adam Laskey responsible for the other three — not bad going considering Laskey was the shortest stack at the unofficial final table. However, the eliminations weren't enough for Laskey to topple Tan, who sits atop the chip counts for the second consecutive day.
Here's how the final six players stack up:
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Longsheng Tan | United States | 3,260,000 | 82 |
| 2 | Adam Laskey | United States | 2,345,000 | 59 |
| 3 | Stephen Bierman | United States | 1,035,000 | 26 |
| 4 | Jayaram Kovoorchathoth | United States | 1,660,000 | 42 |
| 5 | Trey Brabham | United States | 590,000 | 15 |
| 6 | Lanny Levine | United States | 1,175,000 | 29 |
And here are the final six payouts:
| Position | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $323,472 |
| 2 | $199,862 |
| 3 | $142,785 |
| 4 | $103,212 |
| 5 | $75,497 |
| 6 | $55,892 |
Day Recap
In the first two levels, a total of 10 players headed out the doors. Daniel Weinman and Rex Clinkscales headed out the door, and just after the two-table redraw, it was the turn of 2018 bracelet winner Timur Margolin to exit the tournament. Earlier this summer, Margolin took down Event #43: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $507,274, but he wouldn't be adding another bracelet after losing a flip with jacks against the ace-king of Lanny Levine.
Jayaram Kovoorchathoth was one of the players moving into the chip lead for a time, holding more than two million in chips at one stage. Stephen Bierman and Longsheng Tan would tangle on multiple occasions throughout the day, including one where Bierman won back-to-back hands against his opponent.
However, sparks flew between Bierman and another opponent, Trey Brabham, with both players receiving a one-orbit penalty after some verbal sparring midway through the day.
While they were away, Tan would reassert himself at the top of the chip counts with the elimination of Justin Zaki shoving into Tan's aces with ace-jack, and soon the players were at an unofficial final table of 10.
With the announcement that play would halt at six-handed to enable the final day's play to be streamed on Twitch, there was a lull in proceedings. The ten remaining players adjusted to their new surroundings on the Brasilia feature stage, with Tan falling back through the counts to a pack of five between a million and one and a half million.
Shyam Srinivasan has already made one deep run so far this WSOP, finishing seventh in the Monster Stack for $154,463, and he fell in 10th place here, losing a flip against Tan.
Five hands later, it was a cooler rather than a flip sending Jason Paradis to the rail. Paradis got it in with a flush draw against the top pair of Adam Laskey. Paradis made his flush on the turn, but another diamond on the river gave Laskey a bigger flush, sending Paradis to the rail in ninth.
Georgios Tavoularis came into the unofficial final table as the second-shortest stack, and he did well to ladder three spots to eighth, eventually losing a flip to Laskey to bust. And with just seconds remaining in the level before a scheduled dinner break, Day 1 chipleader John Pannucci fell at the hands of Laskey, with fours failing to hold against ace-king as Laskey sent him on his way.
Play will resume Sunday at 2 p.m. and you can catch every hand of the action as we play down to a winner right here on PokerNews.com