Thursday, September 1, 2016 11:34 PM Local Time
Accomplished Las Vegas poker pro adds a ring and $23,389 to his impressive resume.
Las Vegas, NV (September 1, 2016) — Ben Palmer has accomplished a lot in his poker career. The Florida native and Las Vegas local had a successful online career before transitioning to live poker and earned over $1.5 million in live arena.
One thing that he didn’t have was a World Series of Poker Circuit ring. He earned the ring on Thursday evening just before the strike of midnight by topping a field of 339 in the $365 no-limit hold’em monster stack, taking home $23,389. Even with a plethora of wins under his belt, Palmer always enjoys coming out on top.
“It’s always good to win,” said Palmer. “It feels good.”
Palmer came into the second and final day of play as the chip leader with 22 players remaining from the original 339. He started off the day on the right foot and chipped up even further. He was able to cruise into the final table without much resistance near the top of the chip counts.
“I was chip leader, but it was weird,” said Palmer. “The big blind was 12,000 and I only had 580,000. Usually, the chip leader at that point has 900,000 or a million or something. It was weird, but I ran good right of the start and had 1.1 million or 1.2 right off the start.”
At the final table, it was more of the same from Palmer, picking up pot after pot. He coasted to heads-up play against Aaron Thomas heads-up. They started off even in chips, but Thomas took a big pot early when he flopped a straight and backed into a flush against Palmer’s top two pair.
Palmer went from being even in chips to a five-to-one chip deficit in the blink of an eye, but Palmer didn’t let anything get to him and he continued to play his game. He was more annoyed with himself about the river call he made against Thomas than at the runout of the cards.
“I mean, I try not to care either way because if you get too emotional or whatever,” said Palmer about his heads-up chip disadvantage. “But I got pissed off at myself because I called. I was tanking for however long I tanked and I was going to fold the whole time, and then I just kind of threw some chips in at the end.
“I was mad at myself for that. I wasn’t mad at what had happened. I was just upset that I was going to fold and then, for whatever reason, I called.”
Palmer slowly worked his way back into the lead and over the course of a several hour heads-up match. Eventually, all the chips got in preflop with Palmer’s ace-nine against Thomas’ pocket sixes. Palmer hit an ace on the flop to take the lead and eliminate Thomas in second and take home his first ring less than 30 minutes before the clock struck midnight and Palmer celebrated his birthday.
“I’m too old,” said Palmer with a chuckle. “I don’t care about birthday’s anymore. I’m just going to go get something to eat and go to bed. I’m not even going to go out partying or anything.”
The win was significant for more than just his first Circuit title. The win gives Palmer 50 points and puts him in the lead for the Casino Championship race with 72.5 points.
“Oh, I’m in the lead?” asked Palmer when he found out. “I figured I was close, but I haven’t been paying attention. Obviously, I want to try and do well in the main [event] and get that [title.]”
Palmer overtook Kindah Sakkal for the lead in the race and the winner of the title of Casino Champion earns an automatic entry into the Global Casino Championship.
Thursday, September 1, 2016 4:49 PM Local Time
There are 10 players remaining in the $365 no-limit hold'em monster stack event and they have redrawn for seats at the unofficial final table. Everybody is guaranteed a cash of at least $1,779, but there are pay jumps with every elimination at this point all the way up to the first place prize of $23,389. Once one more player is eliminated, the final nine players will be credited with a final table appearance.
There are about halfway through level 24 with blinds of 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000 ante. Here is a look at the seating arrangements and chip counts:
Seat 1: Yonggil Kwon - 912,000
Seat 2: Aaron Thomas - 1,637,000
Seat 3: Khoan Ho - 337,000
Seat 4: Mark-Daniel Hughes - 213,000
Seat 5: Justin Turner - 328,000
Seat 6: Curtis Hamblin - 427,000
Seat 7: Zachary Fanzi - 886,000
Seat 8: Jamie Kerstetter - 598,000
Seat 9: Ben Palmer - 1,100,000
Seat 10: Pete Lawson - 268,000
Thursday, September 1, 2016 2:05 PM Local Time
Cards are officially in the air with blinds of 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante in the restart of the $365 no-limit hold'em monster stack.
Thursday, September 1, 2016 2:45 AM Local Time
After 21 levels of play, the bags are out and Day 1 of the $365 no-limit hold'em monster stack is in the books with Ben Palmer pacing the field.
The sixth ring event of the series drew 339 entrants and generated a prizepool of $101,700, but by the day's end, only 22 players remained, with Palmer bagging the chip lead.
Palmer finished with 579,000 in chips and is joined at the top of the leaderboard by Chris Back (546,000), Girogio Medici (520,000), and Aaron Thomas (512,000). Other notables to survive the day include Robert Cheung (447,000), Jamie Kerstetter (280,000), and Raney Stanczak (133,000).
The remaining players will come back on Thursday at 2 p.m. to play down to a winner. On Thursday, the levels will be increased to 50 minutes for the duration of the tournament and blinds will start at 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante. Everybody is guaranteed to cash for at least $873, but they are all shooting for the $23,389 first place prize money.
Complete chip counts can be found in the reports tab at the top of the page.
Thursday, September 1, 2016 12:32 AM Local Time
The money bubble has burst and there are 36 players remaining, all of which are in the money. There is a few minutes left in level 19 with blinds of 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante and everybody is now guaranteed at least $526.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016 5:52 PM Local Time
Level 11 is nearing a close and with blinds of 500/1,000 with a 200 ante. After level 12, the remaining players will take a 60-minute dinner break.
Here is a look at the Day 1 structure for the rest of the day:
Wednesday, August 31, 2016 5:49 PM Local Time
The cage has released the payout information and the top 36 players will leave with a payday. A min-cash is worth $526, but the top spot will take home $23,389 and a ring.
Here is a detailed look at the payouts.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016 4:53 PM Local Time
Level 9 is underway and registration closed. The field is finalized with 339 entries, which generated a prizepool of $101,700. The blinds are currently 300/600 with a 100 ante and the payout information will be released when the cage has finished their calculations.
There are 24 tables still in play and about 216 players remaining.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016 2:36 PM Local Time
Players are back from their first break of the day and level 5 is underway. With two hours of late registration and re-entry remaining, the monster stack is one of the bigger fields of the series already. There are 282 entries in the field already and registration won't close until the start of level 9, which will be around 4:30 p.m.
With the $1,675 main event getting underway in just a few days, more pros are making their way to Planet Hollywood. Kathy Liebert, Joey Weissman, Jonathan Dimmig, David Jackson, Jamie Kerstetter, Vincent Moscati, Charles "Woody" Moore, Maurice Hawkins, Jamie Kerstetter, Mark Darner, Sean Berrios, Neil Scott, Ben Palmer, and Craig Gold are among the 282 who made it to the tournament area today.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016 4:16 AM Local Time
The sixth of 12 ring event of the series gets underway on Wednesday. The $365 no-limit hold'em monster stack event kicks off at noon and offers players double what the usual $365 buy-ins offer.
Here are the details:
- Players will start with 20,000 in tournament chips
- Day 1 is scheduled to play 21 levels
- Late registration and re-entry is open until the end of level 9 (~4:30 p.m.)
- Levels 1-12 are 30 minutes
- Levels 13-21 are 40 minutes
- There are 15-minute breaks every two hours of play and a 60-minute dinner break at the end of level 12
- The players who survive the day's action will come back on Thursday at 2 p.m. to play down to a winner