Nine players remain in the Hollywood Poker Open, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). Play on Monday was scheduled to last until 10 runners remained, but a double elimination occurred on the final set of hands to trim the field to nine and set up what should be a very abbreviated play down day.
At one table, Bodog pro Amanda Musumeci was all-in with A-Q and seemed poised to double up against the Q-J of Allen Kessler. The flop of 10-9-9 improved Kessler’s chances with an open-ended straight draw and, as you may have guessed, Kessler struck a king on the river to knock out his opponent.
Following the hand, Musumeci took to the world of Twitter and told her 550 followers, “Well, that’s a wrap for the WPT 10k. My very first WPT event… 11th place for $22k. Thanks to Bodog for giving me this great opportunity!”
At the other table in action at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Steven Kelly got his chips in with A-Q and ran into the Big Slick belonging to Steve “Illini123” Barshak. A king hit on the flop and Kelly couldn’t catch up on the turn or river, sending him away in 10th place for $22,000.
Barshak, the chip leader with nine players remaining, holds a stack of 601,000 entering today’s play down day and is 60,000 ahead of poker pro William Reynolds. Speaking of Reynolds, he explained on the WPT website how he was able to accumulate such a large mound of chips courtesy of former pacesetter Ali Eslami.
Reynolds noted, “I had kings under the gun. I opened, he 3bets, it folds back around to me, and we’re pretty deep stacked, so I have to juice the pot. I’m not really afraid; if he has aces, he has aces. I’m building the pot. I made it 22,000 more and he calls.” Reynolds ultimately 3bet all-in on a flop of J-9-2 with two hearts and Eslami called with 5-3 of hearts for a flush draw.
The turn was the queen of clubs, while the river was the deuce of diamonds, doubling Reynolds up and sending Eslami’s chip stack down to 66 big blinds. Eslami ended the day in sixth place and bagged 204,000, or over 50 big blinds.
Reynolds will score his first in the money finish in a WPT event at the Hollywood Poker Open. On facing off against good friend and roommate Tom Marchese as play continues in the tournament, Reynolds explained, “Tom and I have played a lot of live events and have only ended up at the same table a few times. Now, we’re going to be at the final table of the WPT. We’ve been roommates since 2008, so it was bound to happen.”
Every player remaining is assured a payout of at least $31,000. The winner will grab $273,000, the smallest grand prize on the WPT since the Gold Rush stop in Reno during Season 1:
1st Place: $273,664
2nd Place: $155,103
3rd Place: $110,788
4th Place: $77,551
5th Place: $62,041
6th Place: $50,962
7th Place: $44,315
8th Place: $39,884
9th Place: $31,021
Here are the nine players that will duke it out today. Needless to say, the final six-handed table of the Hollywood Poker Open is going to be stacked:
1. Steve Barshak – 601,000 (150 big blinds)
2. William Reynolds – 541,000 (135 big blinds)
3. Erik Seidel – 526,000 (131 big blinds)
4. Mike Scarborough – 467,000 (116 big blinds)
5. Allen Kessler – 226,000 (56 big blinds)
6. Ali Eslami – 204,000 (51 big blinds)
7. Tom Marchese – 182,500 (45 big blinds)
8. Terry Jacobs – 106,000 (26 big blinds)
9. Andy Whetstone – 83,500 (20 big blinds)
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.