Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:57 PM Local Time
Seymour Folds to Nguyen
Richard Seymour opened in middle position to 2,500 and both Tai Nguyen and the big blind called.
The dealer dropped a flop and Nguyen bet 4,500 from the cutoff. The big blind and Seymour mucked, and Nguyen claimed the pot.
Tai Nguyen | 140,000 | 70,000 |
Richard Seymour | 129,000 | -4,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:55 PM Local Time
Mandavia Doubles
Philip Long opened with a raise to 2,200 and Ankush Mandavia shoved all in for 23,200. Long called and the cards were tabled.
Long:
Mandavia:
The board ran out and Mandavia doubled through with a flush.
Ankush Mandavia | 49,000 | 25,000 |
Philip Long | 31,000 | -27,300 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:52 PM Local Time
Updated Chip Counts from Brasilia
Rahul Byrraju | 275,000 | 105,000 |
Morten Mortensen | 271,000 | 4,000 |
Jonathan Little | 228,000 | -46,000 |
Jameson Painter | 171,000 | -5,000 |
Steven van Zadelhoff | 142,000 | 4,000 |
Richard Seymour | 133,000 | 23,000 |
Matt Baier | 121,000 | 57,400 |
Mark Radoja | 69,000 | 12,000 |
Jason Lester | 59,000 | 19,600 |
Jason Gray | 58,000 | 28,700 |
Yueqi Zhu | 58,000 | 14,000 |
Ankush Mandavia | 24,000 | -3,000 |
Jon Turner | 15,200 | -8,300 |
Pascal Lefrancois | 0 | -40,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:51 PM Local Time
A Few Chip Counts From Amazon Gold
Naoya Kihara | 305,000 | 6,000 |
Dave Stefanski | 204,000 | 74,000 |
Michael Tureniec | 180,000 | 22,200 |
Thomas Muehloecker | 160,000 | -20,000 |
Jon Friedberg | 125,000 | 67,800 |
James Dempsey | 80,000 | -14,000 |
Jeremy Kottler | 53,000 | 11,400 |
Billy Pappaconstantinou | 43,000 | -27,800 |
Andrew Kelsall | 26,000 | -57,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:46 PM Local Time
Updated Counts from Miranda
In the last hand of the level, Patrick Leonard lost a big portion of his stack with against the of Jett Schencker on a jack-high board and dropped below the starting stack. Below are further assorted counts from the Miranda room with 19 tables remaining.
Sergio Castelluccio | 230,000 | 85,200 |
Jett Schencker | 180,000 | 67,000 |
Andrew Magbual | 175,000 | 5,500 |
Nick Schwarmann | 172,000 | 7,000 |
Ian O'Hara | 143,000 | -27,000 |
Gang Wang | 115,000 | 10,000 |
Sebastian Langrock | 105,000 | 15,000 |
Barry Shulman | 100,000 | 14,700 |
Maxim Lykov | 95,000 | -14,000 |
Matthew Ashton | 78,000 | -32,000 |
Billy Baxter | 70,000 | -2,200 |
Stefan Jedlicka | 65,000 | 5,000 |
Bas De Laat | 58,000 | 14,000 |
Ilkin Amirov | 35,000 | 17,000 |
Patrick Leonard | 31,000 | -116,000 |
Steve Gee | 17,000 | -6,000 |
Terry Grimes | 10,000 | -12,200 |
Abrahim Aboukhalil | 0 | -22,300 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:45 PM Local Time
Level 8 started
Level: 8
Blinds: 500/1000
Ante: 100
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:25 PM Local Time
Second Break of the Day
Level 7 has come to an end and the players of Day 2ab have been sent into their second 20-minute break of the day. Three levels remain and the 90-minute dinner break will take place after the end of Level 9.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:24 PM Local Time
Updated Counts: Amazon Tan
Alex Conklin | 245,000 | 140,000 |
Louis Salter | 190,000 | 83,000 |
Juha Helppi | 170,000 | -32,000 |
Connor Drinan | 170,000 | 65,000 |
Rumen Nanev | 135,000 | 52,900 |
Christoph Vogelsang | 120,000 | -12,000 |
Bryn Kenney | 110,000 | 22,000 |
Marvin Rettenmaier | 110,000 | -2,000 |
Natalia Breviglieri | 100,000 | 30,000 |
Vincent Rubianes | 100,000 | -25,000 |
Maxx Coleman | 92,000 | 54,000 |
Matt Salsberg | 71,000 | 1,000 |
Justin Trivisano | 65,000 | -12,000 |
Stephen Bierman | 65,000 | -7,000 |
Dennis Phillips | 64,000 | -6,000 |
Jacob Powers | 60,000 | -40,000 |
Tony Gregg | 57,000 | 5,000 |
Erick Lindgren | 52,500 | -12,500 |
Matt Jarvis | 45,000 | 36,000 |
Kelly Winterhalter | 43,000 | -30,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:24 PM Local Time
Vogelsang Wins Battle of the Blinds
The board read and it was just the small blind and Christoph Vogelsang in the big blind remaining in the hand. The small blind checked and Vogelsang bet 4,500. The small blind made the call and the landed on the river.
The small blind checked again and Vogelsang bet 21,500. His opponent let out a little huff and tossed his cards to the muck as he was shaking his head.
Christoph Vogelsang | 132,000 | 44,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:24 PM Local Time
A Set and an Elimination for the Former World Champ
Greg Raymer got all in on the flop heads up. He had a set of fours versus the club flush draw of his opponent. The turn brought the flush, but the river paired the board and Raymer earned the knockout.
He is now up more than 80,000 from his Day 2 starting stack.
Raymer won the Main Event in 2004 for $5,000,000 and has added another million in earnings since then with 35 WSOP cashes.
Greg Raymer | 190,000 | 85,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:24 PM Local Time
Timothy Adams Doubles Up
A player in middle position raised to 1,900, Timothy Adams reraised all in for 18,900 from the small blind, and the initial raiser called with , trailing Adams' .
The board came down , giving Adams aces and fives to double through his opponent.
Timothy Adams | 40,000 | 14,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:22 PM Local Time
Buddiga Wins With a River Bet
The player under the gun raised to 1,800, Josh Arieh called from middle position, Pratyush Buddiga called from the hijack, and the big blind also called.
The four players saw a flop of and the big blind checked. The preflop raiser checked as well and Arieh bet 3,700. Buddiga called, the big blind called, and after a few moments of thought, the preflop raiser called as well.
The turn brought the and all four players checked.
The river was the and action checked to Buddiga who bet 13,000. The bet represented about half of the big blind's remaining chips and he went into the tank briefly before he folded. The preflop raiser folded, Arieh folded also, and Buddiga took the chips.
Josh Arieh | 105,000 | 9,900 |
Pratyush Buddiga | 91,000 | 22,500 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:21 PM Local Time
Travis Lutes Bests Davide Suriano
Davide Suriano raised to 2,000 from middle position and Travis Lutes called on the button. The blinds folded and they were heads up. The flop came and both players checked. On the turn, Suriano bet 3,000. Lutes called and the river was the , pairing the board. Suriano bet 10,000 this time, and Lutes quickly tossed in two orange chips to call.
Suriano:
Lutes:
Both players had two pair, but Lutes had a better two pair with jacks and threes to take the pot.
Davide Suriano | 121,000 | -13,800 |
Travis Lutes | 114,500 | -13,500 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:17 PM Local Time
Interview: Qui Nguyen Has Big Plans Post-WSOP
Since Qui Nguyen took down the 2016 WSOP Main Event for over $8 million at the Rio here in Las Vegas, he's something of a celebrity ,as you can imagine. We caught up with him on the rail as he ran the gauntlet of the corridors outside the Amazon, packed with fans asking for selfies. He told us all about his exit.
"In the final hand, I raised [James Akenhead] up with king-queen off-suit. He was in the big blind and called me with . The flop came , so he checked. I bet 2,700 and he raised to around 7,000. I snap-called. On the turn, the came and he made it 16,000. I only had around 30,000 so I shipped all in. He called. Jack of spades on the river!"
Nguyen laughs, but his WSOP Main Event defense is over. He admits that poker can be cruel, but knows how much variance exists in any tournament win.
"Poker is cruel, but only sometimes. Even if you play well, if you don't get any luck, there's nothing you can do. Everyone needs the luck to win. Even me."
Nguyen is modest about his own victory last year. He's also enjoyed meeting the many hundreds of fans he has here in Las Vegas who were cheering him on.
"It was great when I came back here. I'm very professional; everyone wants to shake my hand and take their picture with me. It's cool. After winning here at the Rio, I didn't go out much. I enjoyed the moment with my friends and family, but I couldn't wait to get back to playing poker."
Nguyen's plans post-WSOP in 2016 always included helping the Vietnamese people from his homeland and some Vietnamese people's battle to escape poverty.
"I'm going back home and my plan is to help the people. Some have no house and no food. I wanted to donate some money to help other people. There are a lot of people who struggle in life and I want to help. I'm just so lucky compared to other people, so I want to help those out there who are struggling. I'm very happy, but everyone should be happy."
Nguyen says Las Vegas itself is a treasured part of his life now. He lives in Sin City and won't be swapping that for anywhere else in the world right now. He may just travel a bit more in his next year as a former rather than reigning WSOP champion.
"I always play here. I might travel a little more this year. I've never been to Macau or China so I might travel there. In December with the World Series out there, I may go there. I love to travel in the United States and I live in Vegas. It's so great for poker. I'm a gambling guy, so I love this city. But just remember, don't gamble too much!"
Qui Nguyen | 0 | 0 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:17 PM Local Time
Counts from Amazon Gold
Naoya Kihara is building a big stack. He just took down a pot on the river when he bet 12,600 into a 20,000 pot with the board reading . His opponent folded and Kihara added a little more to his stack.
Naoya Kihara | 299,000 | 101,000 |
Cherish Andrews | 286,000 | 31,000 |
Taylor Paur | 134,000 | 59,000 |
Randy Lew | 130,000 | 58,500 |
James Dempsey | 94,000 | 71,900 |
Michael Kamenjarin | 62,000 | 3,700 |
Lucas Greenwood | 58,000 | 19,400 |
Tim Reilly | 44,000 | -2,000 |
Marc Convey | 38,500 | 15,000 |
Timothy Adams | 26,000 | 2,000 |
Dong Guo | 25,000 | -26,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:15 PM Local Time
Doug Polk Pays Off Another River (When Will He Learn)
On a board reading with roughly 24,000 in the middle, Sam Grafton bet out 12,100 from the button following a check from Doug Polk in the small blind.
Both of them continued to talk as Polk listed possible hand combinations that both players could have.
Eventually Polk called and Grafton tabled his for top pair.
"Quite good. Quite good," stated Polk before mucking.
"Hey, PokerNews. Could you title this 'Doug Polk pays off another river'!" stated Grafton as he looked in the direction of our PokerNews reporter.
"Yeah, and then in parenthesis after it put, 'when will he learn'," added Polk.
"Look, ESPN are worried. They want to speed up this level. They're saying, if Doug sees another few rivers, he may be out!" laughed Grafton as he gestured toward the ESPN camera crew standing nearby.
Sam Grafton | 435,000 | 23,500 |
Doug Polk | 91,000 | -29,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:14 PM Local Time
Nguyen Busts Two in Massive Pot
There was already around 50,000 in the pot with the turn showing and a player checked in early position. Michal Danka in the cutoff bet 30,000 and Dylan Nguyen called that bet from the small blind. The third player in the hand moved all in and Danka called the shove.
Nguyen asked for a count on the all-in, which was deemed to be for 84,500, and Danka had around 10,000 behind. Nguyen then moved all in himself and the first player at risk jokingly asked, "Anyone have a set?" while Danka was still to act. The Swede called it off shortly after and the cards were tabled.
Player in early position:
Danka:
Nguyen:
Nguyen only had to dodge the two remaining aces and the case deuce in the deck, and that's exactly what happened with the blank river. Danka had around 92,000 in chips and Nguyen more than 100,000, scoring a double knockout to skyrocket his stack.
Dylan Nguyen | 325,000 | 195,000 |
Michal Danka | 0 | -88,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:13 PM Local Time
Vivian Saliba Gets No Callers
A player in early position raised to 3,000, the next player called, and a player in late position three-bet to 10,000. It folded to Vivian Saliba in the big blind, and she moved her stack of 42,600 chips into the middle.
The initial raiser shook his head and folded, the next player folded, and the three-bettor thought for a little while. He let his hand go, and Saliba took down the pot with no showdown.
Vivian Saliba | 60,000 | 8,000 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:09 PM Local Time
No Win for Qui Nguyen; A New Champion Will Rise
Catching the action on the turn, Qui Nguyen was all in and at risk against James Akenhead with 84,000 in the pot. Nguyen was holding . Akenhead was holding . The board read .
Nguyen had a pair of kings, but Akenhead had a pair of sevens as well as a flush draw.
Nguyen let out a hefty grunt as the fell on the river and that gave Akenhead the winning flush to take down the big pot and to eliminate the reigning Main Event champion from the tournament.
Nguyen stood up and shook hands with everyone as he left the tournament area.
James Akenhead | 122,000 | 61,200 |
Qui Nguyen | 0 | -85,400 |
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:07 PM Local Time
One for Ramage
Grayson Ramage raised to 1,800 from the cutoff, the player on the button called, and the player in the small blind called.
The flop came down and action checked to Ramage who continued for 2,500. Only the player in the small blind called, the turn was the , and both players checked. The river completed the board, the small blind checked, Ramage bet 11,000, and after a few moments his opponent folded.
Grayson Ramage | 363,000 | 6,000 |