Jerry Wong Bags Big In Event #79: $1,979 Poker Hall Of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em
After 17 levels of play, Event #79: $1,979 Poker Hall Of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em gathered 469 entrants to build a prize pool of $801,931 and a first place of $172,499 with only 63 making it through Day 2.
One of the big stacks finishing out the day was Marc Rivera, who bagged up 721,000. Rivera had a chip lead from the early parts of the day and only extended his lead during the bubble where he played several aggressive hands that added over 350,000 to his overall chip count. Rivera is number one on the Philippines all-time money list but has yet to collect a bracelet. Rivera will be searching for his first piece of WSOP jewelry on Thursday.
Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Rivera | Philippines | 721,000 | 72 |
| 2 | Jerry Wong | United States | 700,000 | 70 |
| 3 | Payam Karami | United States | 630,000 | 63 |
| 4 | Eder Murata | Brazil | 560,000 | 56 |
| 5 | Laurent Polito | France | 486,000 | 49 |
| 6 | Phil Scaletta | United States | 462,000 | 46 |
| 7 | Abhinav Iyer | India | 442,000 | 44 |
| 8 | Sonia Shashikhina | Russia | 425,000 | 43 |
| 9 | Michael Acevedo | Costa Rica | 419,000 | 42 |
| 10 | Christian Pham | Vietnam | 402,000 | 40 |
Another player who bagged a big stack at the end of the day was Jerry Wong, who ended the day with 700,000. Coming right off of a 10th place finish in Event #72: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha and a runner-up finish in Event #74 $2,500 Big Bet Mix as well as eight other cashes during this series, Wong will be setting up for another deep run to collect his first WSOP bracelet.
Many players came out to play, with the added bonus of collecting bounties of Hall of Famers being ever so alluring. Some of those who bagged included; Sonia Shashikhina (425,000), Maria Lampropulos (383,000), Ole Schemion (333,000), Dylan Wilkerson (240,000), Kevin Rabichow (132,000), and bracelet winner Joao Vieira (75,000).
There were eleven hall of famer bounties that were in play that included the likes of Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Eli Elezra, Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen, Barbara Enright, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Jack McClelland, Phil Hellmuth, and Lyle Berman as well as one additional bounty for actor Vince Vaughn who took his seat in the tournament as well. All of them were eliminated and unable to bag Day 2.
Other players who found themselves unable to find a bag included Martin Jacobson, Damian Salas, Ryan Leng, Shaun Deeb, Jake Schwartz and Harry Lodge to name a few.
The players will return Thursday at 12 p.m. at The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. Play will continue until there are five players remaining. Stay tuned to PokerNews to stay updated on the progression and conclusion of this tournament and many others.