LIVE EVENTS

Here at the WSOP-C Playground, Joseph Khalil is still leading the group on Day 1B of the $300 + $30 Closer. In fact, if he were to simply end the night with the same number of chips he now has in front of him, he would find himself in fourth place overall in the combined Day 1A/1B standings. Of course, as it is with most poker players, we’re sure that Joseph will not be content to sit back and watch the action unfold around him. Good luck to him and all the other players as they make the final push for this evening’s flight.

Poker players depend upon luck, skill, patience, psychology and a host of other elements to go deep in tournaments and take down big prizes. Indeed, sometimes the only difference between two very good players is the luck they can bring to the table on a particular evening, and it can originate from many different sources. Some players have lucky glasses, lucky hats, lucky shirts, and on table 76 there happen to be some of the best lucky card protectors in the building, all concentrated in one spot.

From left to right, the card protectors (shown below) belong to Jean-Sebastien Roy, Bryan Ferreira and Jessie Wheatley. Will these bring any of their owners luck tonight? We’ll see! So far it looks like the Portuguese rooster is doing the best job, but there are still four levels to play, so only time will tell.

The top two players from the first break are still on the leaderboard, but they have changed places.

On top now, after eight levels of play, is Joseph Khalil. His 193,325 chips put him in a commanding lead, almost double his closest competitor. Our former leader, Bryan Ferreira, slipped to third, while a new name, Duane Fernandez, has jumped up to second place, with 111,500 chips currently in front of him. No matter what, each of the players on the list are in a good position moving forward, as the chip average remains relatively low at 40,000.

It is also worth noting that the registration period for this flight is now over. We can say definitively that Day 1B of the $300 + $30 Closer received 213 entries (including a very respectable 52 re-entries), and the size of this group will only shrink from now on. Good luck to all as we make our way through the final six levels.

On table 72 just now we heard the dealer announce “four players,” meaning that half of this table of eight had decided to see the flop. We decided to stick around to see what kind of action would present itself because, while having four players see the flop is not an altogether uncommon occurrence, it remains notable, in that more players in a hand can open the door for a larger combination of bets and raises, increasing the likelihood of larger pots and interesting play.

Not on this hand, however!

The flop came down , and all four players checked. An came down on the turn, and the table checked around again to a   river. Would anyone bet? Was someone slow-playing a monster hand? As it turns out, no.

All four players turned over their cards and the best hand they managed to collectively cobble together was a . The king-rag took down the pot, showing that sometimes more players does not equal more action. Luc Raymond was the lucky winner of this particular hand.

We have officially hit 200 entries for this flight of the $300 + $30 Closer, and as we passed by table 77 just now we saw Jamie Baker go all-in again and decided to see what happened. Would his luck hold?

Jamie had opened from early position with a bet of 2,100, raised immediately by the player to his left to 5,000. The table folded around back to Jamie who pushed his relatively small stack into the middle. Confident in his hand, he briefly looked over his shoulder to speak to someone on his right, but by the time his head swiveled back to the table he realized he had already been called. The player on his left, Paul Dalrymple, had also already flipped his cards over, pocket aces. Jamie couldn’t have been pleased.

The board came down , and it would have been the end of Jamie night, except for one thing. Jamie also had pocket aces.

The two players chopped the pot, and play continues…

A quick perusal of our $300 + $30 Closer Day 1B player list shows that there are two competitors in this flight (Francois Tarrab and Jamie Baker) that did quite well last year in this very event. In fact, they both made the final table of the 2018 Closer, finishing in second and fourth place, respectively.

We discovered that not only are they both playing in this evening’s Day 1B flight, but as luck would have it, they’re also currently seated at the same table! As we walked over just now to see if there was any significant action to report, we were even more surprised to see that they were also all in – against each other. One was about to take the other’s chips.

As we arrived, the board was showing an and Francois had just shoved for his remaining chips, a little less than 7,000. Jamie was the only player to call, and when they flipped over their cards Jamie was in the lead with two pairs, aces and eights. Francois’ needed some help, but the river didn’t cooperate.

Jamie took down the hand and Francois was forced to head back to the Tournament Desk to re-enter.

Bryan Ferreira has accumulated 91,550 chips so far, the most in the Day 1B group after two hours of play. His closest rival is Joseph Khalil, whose 72,850 chips also puts him out front of the rest of the field. However, everyone else remains much closer to the chip average, with only two other players from a field of 171 entries managing to collect more than 50,000 chips to this point. In other words, things are moving slow and steady so far at the $300 + $30 Closer.

Level five has just started and the players are back at their seats. Good luck to all!

We’re now halfway through level three in the $300 + $30 Closer Day 1B. After only an hour of play, we’ve seen 143 entries take the field, with many more likely to join us. Here are some more photos of our players in the early stages of this flight.

Here in the first level of the $300 + $30 Closer, players are looking serious and ready to play. How can we tell? By the preponderance of sunglasses. Whether they are perched atop players’ hats or on covering their eyes, this Day 1B crowd is not messing around.

The action at the WSOP-C Playground continues this weekend with the second of four Day 1 flights for the $300 + $30 Closer. This evening’s event will no doubt be a busy one, particularly with the guaranteed prize pool of $300,000 up for grabs.

As it was last night, the 10-handed No Limit Hold’em event starts players off with 20,000 chips, allowing unlimited re-entries until the beginning of level 9. Because the tournament starts at 7:00pm, players will be able to take their seats (or re-enter) until approximately 11:30pm.

They will play 14 levels, with blinds increasing every 30 minutes, and all players still holding a chip and a chair automatically qualify for Day 2. And because players may enter as many Day 1s as they please, we may see some of our Day 1A qualifiers come back for seconds, hoping to increase the size of their qualifying stack for a better shot at taking down the big money on Day 2.

Players have taken their seats and the dealers are ready to go. It’s Saturday night, which means it’s time to play some poker. Let’s go – cards are in the air!