Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

While he may be missing his three dogs back home in Michigan, Nicolas Manion is sure to be bringing home the puppy chow from his Vegas trip and unbelievable Main Event run that started out as a freeroll.

Friends with the SolveForWhy guys, especially Jordan Young who also hails from Michigan, there was an offer a few months back to freeroll Manion in a couple $2,175 Main Event satellites and give him 50 percent of the action in Main if he were to qualify. Manion snap-called, and was content to just hang out in Vegas and play some cash if it didn't work out.

That wouldn't be necessary though, as Manion got through in both satellites to even pocket a little extra cash, for the Main Event freeroll of his life.

Manion may be a small-stakes grinder per usual, but hey — so was Ryan Riess. Manion has mostly built up his tournament chops playing smaller online events, but has very little live tournament experience and only a few small results on Hendon Mob. He talked to PokerNews after bagging the ninth biggest stack of the remaining 26 players on Day 6.

"Recently I've just been doing really well, playing well, and running even better. And that's what's been going on in the Main Event. So it's been great."

Main Event Journey

Though it's a very big spot for the small-stakes grinder, Manion hasn't really felt the full effects of the pressure grinding a short stack for much of the tournament.

"The craziest thing about this tournament is I really haven't had many chips to have to have big decisions. So it's either, I'm going with my hand or I'm not. And now that I've got chips, I'm a little bit more nervous, but I think I'm playing well so it kind of cancels that out."

Manion started Day 6 as one of the shorter stacks of the final 109 players with 23 big blinds and was just bleeding off, getting no hands to work with, but that all changed in the second level of the day. Down to eight big blinds in the big blind, Manion got pocket sevens in against ace-king and hit a seven on the river to stay alive.

Manion proceeded to chip up from there for the remaining few levels of the day, and made a huge laydown with pocket kings preflop at the very end of the night to preserve his stack and finish the day ninth in chips. Oh, and the fold was correct. He filled us in on his thought process after the hand.

"I've shown nothing but nut hands today, and he shoved all in for 16 million. To me, that's just one hand and one hand only, so I'm not going to put my tournament life on kings when I'm 99 percent sure he has aces."

Now it's Day 7, the day the elite and elusive final table will be determined. Manion started with a respectable 17.63 million chips and through the first level of the day, has nearly doubled that to jockey into a top-five stack. The big hand that got him there? Pocket kings.

Manion is on top of the world, and his SolveForWhy buddies are understandably also elated for his deep Main Event run.

"They can't believe it either."

While his good buddy and top poker pro Jordan Young only found his first cash in the Main Event this year after nine years of playing the event, the fact that Manion will be cashing it in a big way on his first shot at it is cause for some friendly needles.

"He's just like, 'I play for nine years before getting a cash; You come out here and play your first time and you're possibly going to make the final table,'" Manion laughed, enjoying his amazing ride on the biggest poker tournament stage in the world.

Hand #39: Ryan Phan opened to 525,000 from under the gun and action folded to the big blind where Sylvain Loosli also folded, so Phan took down the pot.

Hand #40: Frederik Brink opened to 550,000 from under the gun and action folded around, allowing Brink to take down the pot.

Hand #41: Artem Metalidi opened to 500,000 from under the gun and Sylvain Loosli jammed all in on the button for 2,910,000. Action was back on Metalidi and he called.

Artem Metalidi:   
Sylvain Loosli:   

The board ran out       and Loosli doubled through with his pocket kings.

Hand #42: Aram Zobian opened to 600,000 from under the gun and Artem Metalidi called in the big blind.

The flop was     and Metalidi checked as did Zobian.

The turn was the   and Metalidi bet 850,000. Zobian called.

On the   river Metalidi bet 1,700,000 and Zobian released his hand, allowing Metalidi to scoop the pot.

Artem Metalidi	35,100,000	-1,200,000
Nicolas Manion	32,500,000	-100,000
Aram Zobian	31,500,000	-1,500,000
Ryan Phan	11,500,000	-500,000
Joe Cada	10,000,000	-100,000
Frederik Brink	8,800,000	200,000
Sylvain Loosli	5,700,000	2,600,000

Hand #46: Tony Miles raised to 500,000 on the button and the blinds folded.

Hand #47: Antoine Labat opened to 550,000 on the button and Alexander Haro called from the small blind. The flop came     and Haro check-folded to a bet of 600,000 from Labat.

Hand #48: Miles made it 575,000 to go from the hijack and Alex Lynskey defended his big blind. The flop came     and Lynskey check-called a bet of 450,000 from Miles.

The turn brought the   and both players checked to the   on the river. Lynskey led out for 650,000 and Miles snap-called. Lynskey tabled    but Miles held    for the best hand to win the pot.

Hand #35: Joe Cada raised it up to 525,000 and Artem Metalidi called in the big blind. On a flop of    , Metalidi checked and Cada's continuation bet of 450,000 did the trick to win the pot uncontested.

Hand #36: Metalidi raised to 840,000 in the small blind and Aram Zobian called out of the big blind. The flop fell     and Metalidi continued for 900,000, Zobian didn't go anywhere and tossed in calling chips. The board paired on the   turn and Metalidi checked, Zobian made it 2,325,000 to go, Metalidi called.

Metalidi checked the  , as did Zobian, and the former tabled    as the winning hand to somewhat close the gap to Zobian on the main feature table.

Hand #37: Frederik Brink raised to 550,000 in the cutoff and won the blinds and antes.

Hand #38: Zobian made it 530,000 to go from the button and Nicolas Manion three-bet to 1,500,000 out of the big blind, Zobian called. The flop came     and Manion quickly continued for 1,350,000, Zobian wasted no time to put in calling chips. After the   turn, Manion checked and called a bet of 1,675,000 by Zobian to see the   on the river.

Manion checked once more, and Zobian bet big, making it 6,225,000 to go. Manion called and Zobian tabled a bluff with the   , which Manion had beat with    to let his rail applaud.

Artem Metalidi	36,300,000	3,600,000
Aram Zobian	33,000,000	-15,300,000
Nicolas Manion	32,600,000	10,100,000
Ryan Phan	12,000,000	-1,100,000
Joe Cada	10,100,000	200,000
Frederik Brink	8,600,000	-1,700,000
Sylvain Loosli	3,100,000	-1,000,000

Hand #35: Antoine Labat raised to 550,000 from the hijack and everyone folded.

Hand #36: Martijn Gerrits opened to 550,000 from the cutoff and picked up the blinds and antes.

Hand #37: Alex Lynskey raised it up to 500,000 in the cutoff but could not get any action.

Hand #38: Alexander Haro bumped it up to 550,000 from under the gun and Lynskey three-bet to 1,700,000 from the hijack. The action folded back to Haro who instantly shoved all in and Lynskey folded.

Hand #39: Lynskey raised to 500,000 from middle position and Haro called from the big blind. The flop fell     and both players checked to the   on the turn and the   on the river. Haro quickly placed a bet of 500,000 and Lynskey mulled it over before making the call. Haro tabled    and Lynskey showed    to rake in the pot.

Hand #40: Haro limped in from the small blind and Gerrits raised to 840,000 out of the big blind. Haro called and the flop came    . Gerrits led out for 1,200,000 and Haro sent his cards to the muck.

Feature Table Hand #34: Artem Metalidi opened under the gun with a raise to 500,000. Action folded to Nicolas Manion in middle position and he called. Ryan Phan called on the button. Nirath Rean then moved all in from the small blind for 3,760,000. Frederik Brink was in the big blind and he tanked for a while before folding. Metalidi called while the other two players folded and it was on to a showdown

Nirath Rean:   
Artem Metalidi:   

The flop came down     which gave Rean a straight draw while Metalidi made a pair of tens. The turn was the   which changed nothing. The river was the   and that wasn't what Rean needed to stay alive and he was eliminated in 22nd place.

For his run, Rean will collect $282,630.

Artem Metalidi	32,700,000	4,300,000
Nirath Rean	0	-4,200,000

Hand #30: Yueqi Zhu raised to 550,000 in the cutoff and Tony Miles defended big blind. The flop came     and Miles check-folded to about 740,000.

Hand #31: Martijn Gerrits raised to 550,000 second to act and Antoine Labat defended big blind. Labat check-folded to 700,000 on the     flop.

Hand #32: Alex Lynskey opened for 500,000 second to act and Alexander Haro defended big blind. He check-folded on the     flop.

Hand #33: Miles opened for 500,000 in the cutoff and Labat made it 1.5 million on his left. That was enough to win the pot.

Hand #34: Miles again opened for 500,000, with Haro calling from the button. The flop came     and Miles checked. Haro bet 500,000 and Miles called. On the   turn, Miles checked again and Haro instantly announced 1 million. Miles jammed for about 7 million and Haro quickly folded.

Tony Miles	10,950,000	950,000
Alexander Haro	8,750,000	-4,190,000

Hand #26: Aram Zobian got involved in the action and raised it up from early position, making it 560,000 to go. All opponents folded and the start-of-day chip leader claimed the blinds and antes.

Hand #27: Nicolas Manion raised it up to 600,000 in late position, and that ended all further action right there.

Hand #28: Artem Metalidi limped from the small blind and Zobian checked his option out of the big blind. On the     flop, Metalidi bet 275,000 and Zobian called to see the   on the turn. Metalidi slowed down and checked, prompting Zobian to bet 450,000. Metalidi called and the duo checked the   on the river. Metalidi showed the    for a pair of sevens and that won the pot.

Hand #29: Metalidi raised to 500,000 on the button and won the blinds and antes.

Hand #30: Zobian raised to 530,000 from the button and Joe Cada, as well as Manion in the blinds, sent their cards into the muck.

Aram Zobian	43,300,000	100,000
Artem Metalidi	28,400,000	1,600,000
Nicolas Manion	22,500,000	300,000
Ryan Phan	13,100,000	-200,000
Frederik Brink	10,300,000	-500,000
Joe Cada	9,900,000	-600,000
Nirath Rean	4,200,000	-300,000
Sylvain Loosli	4,100,000	-200,000