Las Vegas is the place to be when it comes to poker events at the moment since the gambling hub is hosting the 49th edition of the World Series of Poker and every poker tournament coming with it. One of the events which enjoys quite the popularity at the moment is Event #48: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em MONSTER STACK which managed to attract a total of 6,260 entries over the span of its two starting flights.
This Saturday was the day which saw the official Day 1A of the MONSTER STACK event which was anticipated by many players present at the WSOP. The poker festival is hosted at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino which provides players with the premium poker experience they deserve. Over the span of the first starting flight there as many as 2,246 entries were registered for participation in the event. Throughout the day a larger part of them was quickly eliminated, which is how only 723 of them made it to Day 2 of the event.
Jonathan Turner was the player to make it to one of the top positions on the unofficial leader board and generated 156,500 in chips. He is a local poker pro who is often participating in poker tournaments around the Fabulous Las Vegas. The chip leader at the end of the day was Kfir Ivgi who had a total of 196,700 to secure him a spot on Day 2. There were also notable names which could not make it far, such as Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Scott Blumstein, Parker Talbot, and Kenna James.
The second starting flight added another 4,014 names to the player pool, once again proving the spectacular interest towards the tournament. As a result of the two starting flights, some 2,085 players were set to return one more time and meet the remaining runners towards the event throne. The chip leader at the end of the second starting flight was Jeffrey Trudeau who bagged a total of 193,800, climbing to the top spot on the Day 1B chip count.
Poker Players Brace for the Big Cash Payouts
Bulgarian poker player Yordan Petrov was also present on the poker tables during this second starting flight and he made it to the tenth position on the daily rank list with 141,900 in chips. Up to this point of the poker festival, Petrov has a total of five cashes from tournaments. Even though they are not top ones, his cashes until the start of the 48th event add up to a considerable amount.
The last tournament he played at was Event #45: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em – 30 Min Levels where he climbed to the 14th position for $12,391. The official Day 2 of poker action took place this Monday and it brought together all players surviving after the sifting out throughout the weekend. A total of ten levels were needed for the players to make it to the end of the day and bag their chip stacks towards the next stage of action.
The chip leader at the end of the day was Steve Billirakis who put into action his professional poker skills and amassed a chip stack of 1,399,000. He is well known in the industry as the youngest player having claimed a WSOP bracelet. Back in 2007 when he was only 21-year-old he made it all the way to the top at the $5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold’em event which brought him the piece of jewellery and $536,287.
Throughout the years after that, he had managed to collect a total of two bracelets which gives him the hopes that this event could bring him his third one. The runner-up position at the end of the second day was reserved for Tommy Nguyen who had generated a chip count amounting to 1,264,000 reserving him a secure spot on Day 3 of the poker tournament.
From here on out poker action remains to be determined as this Tuesday would bring players one step closer to the Final Table and the cash payouts coming with it. The prize pool of this event amounts to some $8,451,000 meaning that the top 939 players on the official leader board are going to claim a fair share of it.
