The entire Poker News Daily family was railing one of our own last night. PND writer JD McNamara, known online as “BubbaKGB,” landed in the top spot in Event #24 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP), a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, entering the final table. McNamara made the field of 30 his personal playground on Tuesday, vaulting from middle of the road in chips to the top of the leaderboard. He works for PND along with several other sites in the Play Poker Network.
McNamara made moves early and often during Tuesday’s action in Event #24. First, he ousted Dean Schankin in 26th place after his A-K came out on the winning end of a race against Schankin’s pocket tens. The board ran out 6-4-J-A-8 and Schankin was sent packing. Then, after raised action pre-flop, McNamara and Joseph Grenon checked the action down to the river on a board of Q-6-2-9-Q. Grenon fired out a healthy bet of 73,000 and McNamara made the call with A-K for just ace-high. Grenon mucked and McNamara moved over the 500,000 mark.
McNamara then went on a run of biblical proportions. First, he doubled up with pocket aces against James Jeffrey’s pocket kings, even spiking an ace on the river for good measure. He moved to 856,000 in chips as a result and then quickly eliminated Grenon, also with pocket aces. Grenon held jacks and couldn’t improve when the board came five cards nine or lower. After that hand, McNamara moved to 1.6 million in chips.
Then, it was Yordan Mitrentsov’s turn to feel the wrath. This time, the PND writer picked up pocket kings, which held up against the A-K of Mitrentsov. By the time the board was dealt, McNamara had made a boat. His chip stack vaulted to over two million as play headed to a break. McNamara wound up with a stack of 2.39 million by the time all was said and done, just in front of Kiet Tuan’s second place total of 2.31 million.
McNamara is assured a payout of at least $38,000 and stands to win over $500,000 and a bracelet if he can retain the top spot by the final gong. Here’s how the field stacks up entering Wednesday’s finale of WSOP Event #24:
1. JD “BubbaKGB” McNamara – 2,393,000
2. Kiet Tuan – 2,311,000
3. Blake Kelso – 1,166,000
4. John Tolbert – 925,000
5. David Cai – 844,000
6. Denis Murphy – 789,000
7. Greg Pohler – 660,000
8. Michael Gross – 535,000
9. Jeffrey Tebben – 466,000
Although we’ll be keeping a watchful eye on the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event starting at 2:30pm PT, two other tournaments will play down to a champion today as well. Steve Cowley leads the way in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed tournament (Event #26) with 15 players to go. Cowley amassed a stack of 1.28 million on Tuesday, well in front of Martins Adeniya’s second place tally of 823,000. World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup V final tablist and Full Tilt Poker pro Justin “Boosted J” Smith reached the final 15, along with bracelet winner Erik Cajelais and online poker whiz Jeffrey “jpapola” Papola.
Finally, 23 players survived Day 2 of the $1,500 Seven Card Stud High-Low Eight or Better tournament (Event #27). Maxwell Troy owns the top spot on the leaderboard at 430,000, but a talented group of pros is in hot pursuit of the $208,000 top prize. On Wednesday, you’ll find recent “Poker After Dark” winner Karina Jett, European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin Main Event champ Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee, bracelet winner Blair Rodman, and UB.com pro Brandon Cantu all in the mix.
Joining Jett and trying to win one for the ladies in Event #27 are Las Vegas’ Odette Tremblay and Bonnie Damiano. One woman has won a bracelet so far, as France’s Vanessa Hellebuyck took down the Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship for $192,000. Will we see a second woman hoist a coveted gold bracelet? Stay tuned to PND to find out.
We’d like to wish McNamara the best of luck in capturing his first World Series of Poker bracelet!
Photo courtesy WSOP.com.
