Event #3: BIG 50 - $500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 3 Completed
Event #3: BIG 50 - $500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 3 Completed
Twelve more levels are in the books at the end of Day 3 of the massive BIG 50 - $500 No-Limit Hold'em. Just two more days remain before the 2019 World Series of Poker crowns the first Big 50 champion, and 127 players are still in contention.
Amer Torbay, coming from Venezuela and cashing here in only his second ever WSOP event, is the clear chip leader at the end of the night, finishing with a whopping 32,500,00 chips, good for 65 big blinds coming back to blinds at 250,000/500,000 with a 500,000 ante.
The second spot on the leader board belongs to David Rasmussen (1,339,000), with 2018 bracelet-winner Diogo Veiga rounding out the top three stacks with 1,196,000 chips and looking for the second gold bracelet of his career.
Some of the notables who are still in the running for the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and first-place prize of $1,147,449 include Jason Wheeler (20,750,000), former WSOPE final tablist Andrei Konopelko (30,200,000) and Daniel Gamer (17,500,000).
Cunningham, the owner of five WSOP bracelets, started the day with 500,000 and managed to climb and stay amongst the biggest stacks during the day. On one of the last hands on Day 3 he check-raised the flop and jammed the turn, getting a fold from his opponent to move above 20 million in chips.
"Today I've gone from 500,000 to 20 million!" said Cunningham. "Which is kind of bad as I wanted 40!"
"I didn't really expect anything out of this tournament, obviously with 28,000 people. But I just played one day at a time, hand after hand and suddenly sometimes you have like a zillion times what you started with."
Cunningham says he's been enjoying the atmosphere at the tables.
"It feels like the Main Event! You start with so many chips and it plays so long, I feel like I'm in some kind of big one! I look up and see $7,000 and I was expecting $700,000 by now."
The remaining players are guaranteed $7,169 when they start Day 4 on June 6th at 11am.
The day began with 1,597 players from a total of 28,371 entries between the four starting days, making this the biggest event in WSOP's history. It surpasses the 2015 Colossus (22,374 entries) as biggest-ever live tournament.
Tony Miles, who finished second to John Cynn in last year's World Series of Poker Main Event, winning $5,000,000 in the process, busted early today and cashed here in his first event at this 2019 WSOP. Another early elimination was 2017 WSOP Player of the Year Chris Ferguson.
With such a massive field, it's no surprise that some familiar faces made it in the money today, including Justin Liberto ($6,054) , Robert Brown ($7,169), Larry Wright ($6,054), Yaser Al-Keliddar ($6,054), reigning WSOP APAC champion Scott Davies ($4,397), Daniel Zack ($3,782), Ari Engel ($3,782), Upeshka De Silva ($3,782), Todd Witteles ($3,273) and Jeff Madsen ($1,744).
Jerald Williamson, chip leader at the beginning of the day and one of the fan favourites in the BIG 50 after stories of the Vietnam veteran's battle with cancer and poker history, busted on the last level against Daniel Ghobrial.
Day 4 begins at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, and players will battle it out to be down to six players with a 20-minute break every two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after Level 8.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Amer Torbey |
32,500,000
29,475,000
|
29,475,000 |
|
||
David Rasmussen |
32,125,000
8,625,000
|
8,625,000 |
Diogo Veiga |
30,700,000
6,700,000
|
6,700,000 |
|
||
Andrei Konopelko |
30,200,000
15,200,000
|
15,200,000 |
John McAvoy |
30,000,000
28,895,000
|
28,895,000 |
Evan Johnson |
29,400,000
28,170,000
|
28,170,000 |
Cavan Chan |
29,050,000
17,075,000
|
17,075,000 |
Vincent Meli
|
29,000,000
29,000,000
|
29,000,000 |
Jesse Solano |
24,000,025
23,180,025
|
23,180,025 |
Danny Ehrenberger |
23,800,000
21,360,000
|
21,360,000 |
Femi Fashakin |
21,825,000
-2,175,000
|
-2,175,000 |
|
||
Khang Pham |
21,500,000
20,470,000
|
20,470,000 |
|
||
Jason Wheeler |
20,750,000
-1,050,000
|
-1,050,000 |
|
||
Allen Cunningham |
20,575,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
|
||
Daniel Budovsky |
19,400,025
2,525,025
|
2,525,025 |
Jason Oloughlin |
18,300,000
17,420,000
|
17,420,000 |
Daniel Gamer |
17,550,000
13,250,000
|
13,250,000 |
Na Vue |
17,550,000
3,550,000
|
3,550,000 |
Kirk Evans |
17,525,000
16,780,000
|
16,780,000 |
Takuya Shimabukuro |
17,250,000
16,205,000
|
16,205,000 |
Adrian Curry |
17,100,000
6,300,000
|
6,300,000 |
Thanh Hoa |
17,000,000
16,070,000
|
16,070,000 |
Filipe Goncalves |
16,175,000
2,175,000
|
2,175,000 |
Travis Lutes |
15,500,000
14,545,000
|
14,545,000 |
Daniel Ghobrial |
15,350,000
-3,150,000
|
-3,150,000 |
On an flop Allen Cunningham checked to an opponent who bet 2,000,000. Cunningham check-raised to 4,000,000 and his opponent called.
Cunningham then jammed the turn and his opponent had a lengthy tank before folding.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Allen Cunningham |
20,500,000
9,000,000
|
9,000,000 |
|
After Jay Zhu raised to 900,000 from middle position, it folded to Jonathan Sanchez who then three-bet to 3,400,000 from the small blind.
Andrew McKenzie then four-bet shoved from his blind, which prompted a quick fold from Zhu.
With action back on Sanchez, he tanked for well over a minute, shuffled and recounted his chips and then asked McKenzie if he wanted a call.
After McKenzie gave no response, Sanchez mucked the face up and McKenzie scooped the sizable pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Andrew Mckenzie |
12,150,000
3,950,000
|
3,950,000 |
Jay Zhu
|
10,275,000
7,975,000
|
7,975,000 |
Jonathan Sanchez
|
6,700,000
6,700,000
|
6,700,000 |
It has just been announced that the remaining players will play three more hands and then bag and tag for the day.
After Ioannis Angelou Konstas shoved all in for his last 2,450,000 from the middle position, action folded around to Felipe Goncalves in the big blind and he went deep into the tank.
So deep in fact, that a clock was called.
Once the floorperson came over and confirmed that it had been at least two minutes and the clock was started, Goncalves made the call and the players tabled their hands.
Ioannis Angelou Konstas:
Felipe Goncalves:
The runout of was a safe one for Angelou Konstas, and gave him a much-needed double-up.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Felipe Goncalves
|
17,050,000
-2,950,000
|
-2,950,000 |
Ioannis Angelou Konstas |
5,900,000
1,900,000
|
1,900,000 |
Diogo Veiga opened to 850,000 and was three-bet by Andrew Mckenzie. Veiga called and the flop came . Mckenzie continued for 3,500,000 and Veiga moved all in. Mckenzie called.
Diogo Veiga:
Andrew Mckenzie:
The turn and river changed nothing and Veiga scored a big double for 11,650,000 through Mckenzie.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Diogo Veiga |
24,000,000
12,300,000
|
12,300,000 |
|
||
Andrew Mckenzie |
8,200,000
-13,800,000
|
-13,800,000 |
Chip leader during the day with a stack over 14,000,000, Olivier Ledda was down to only 3,500,000 chips left when he busted from the tournament. According to the player, he moved all in middle position with and got called by a player holding . Ledda was in bad shape for a double up and a fell on the river, improving his opponent's hand and eliminating him before the end of the day.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Olivier Ledda | Busted |
Jason Wheeler opened from the cut-off for 900,000 and Rahul Bhave shoved in the small blind for around 1,500,000. The big blind player decided to reshove for a stack worth 9,800,000. Wheeler mucked his hand and the players revealed their cards:
Rahul Bhave:
His opponent:
Bhave kept his eyes closed while the dealer was bringing a board , giving no bad surprise to Bhave as well as the double up.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jason Wheeler |
21,800,000
-3,200,000
|
-3,200,000 |
|
||
Rahul Bhave |
3,500,000
2,795,000
|
2,795,000 |