Sunday, March 13, 2011
In the money
A deal was made to pay 28th place their buyin back, so all remaining players are now in the money. A few hands later, a player busted in 28th place. The remaining 27 players have just redrawn for seats, and they will continue playing 1500/3000 blinds with a 500 ante momentarily.
On the bubble
Just as our 29th place finisher went bust, a break in the tournament was reached. The tournament staff is now coloring up the 100 chips while the players take a ten minute break. When they return, all four tables will be hand for hand until one more player is knocked out, and the remaining 27 players will be in the money.
Pat Lyons still looks to be the chip leader with approximately 350,000 chips.
Pat Lyons still looks to be the chip leader with approximately 350,000 chips.
Players now on break
The 41 remaining players are now on break. When they return, they will be playing 1k/2k blinds with a 300 ante.
27 spots pay, so the money bubble is quickly approaching. The tournament will play down to a final table tonight, so its projected that they'll play until around 3am.
Allen Cunningham recently busted out with pocket fives against pocket aces, and Jeff Madsen was eliminated not too long before that. Melissa Hayden is still in with a short stack, while Pat Lyons is still sitting atop a large stack of chips.
27 spots pay, so the money bubble is quickly approaching. The tournament will play down to a final table tonight, so its projected that they'll play until around 3am.
Allen Cunningham recently busted out with pocket fives against pocket aces, and Jeff Madsen was eliminated not too long before that. Melissa Hayden is still in with a short stack, while Pat Lyons is still sitting atop a large stack of chips.
YouTube video: Pat Lyons chip leader interview
Pat Lyons, the chip leader in the Bay 101 Shooting Star $2k event at dinner break, is interviewed by tournament director Matt Savage
Dinner break
Players are now on their one hour dinner break. They will return at 8:10pm and will play out the remaining 10 minutes in the 500/1000 level.
It's Allen Cunningham! (part 2)
Allen Cunningham has been having a nice day, and he may be the chip leader of the tournament with over 82,000 chips.
Meanwhile, many poker pros are starting to file in to the Bay 101 in preparation for tomorrow's $10k WPT event. Layne Flack stopped by to say hi to Jeff Madsen, who's still in today's $2k. You can definitely see Jeff's elation in the above photo.
$2k Prizepool & Payouts
There were 256 players in today's tournament generating a $486,400 prize pool. Here are the payouts:
1st: $133,050 *
2nd: $80,050 *
3rd: $53,400 *
4th: $38,910
5th: $31,620
6th: $24,320
7th: $19,460
8th: $14,590
9th: $10,000
10th-12th: $7,780
13th-15th: $5,840
16th-18th: $4,380
19th-27th: $3,000
* $10k WPT seat included
1st: $133,050 *
2nd: $80,050 *
3rd: $53,400 *
4th: $38,910
5th: $31,620
6th: $24,320
7th: $19,460
8th: $14,590
9th: $10,000
10th-12th: $7,780
13th-15th: $5,840
16th-18th: $4,380
19th-27th: $3,000
* $10k WPT seat included
Coloring up 25 chips
The 109 remaining players are now on a 10 minute break while the tournament staff colors up the 25 chips. When they return they will be playing 400/800 with a 100 ante. The average stack is currently approximately 23.3k.
New chip leader: Rellie Sigua
In a no limit tournament, fortunes can change in a single hand. In two hours, a new chip leader can easily emerge, and that is exactly what has happened. Rellie Sigua, pictured above, is our current tournament chip leader with 53,600.
As we were taking this picture, Rellie was anguished to see a raise and a reraise in front of him. Rellie folded the big blind only to see his two opponents turn over AK and AJ. When the flop came A83, Rellie was pleased that his pocket pair would have been outflopped, until Rellie realized his pair was pocket 8's, and he would have flopped a set and won the pot. Regardless, Rellie is the chip leader for the time being.
Photos from around the room
Allen Cunningham
Jeff Madsen
Men "The Master" Nguyen
J.J. Liu
Melissa Hayden
Birthday boy Greg Sessler is eliminated
It was an unfortunately quick day for Greg Sessler, who is celebrating his 24th birthday at Bay 101. Sessler was late to arrive to this tournament, perhaps due to Daylight Savings Time, and in just over an hour of play, he was eliminated. Sessler can't seem to remove himself from the tournament floor, however, and was last seen cavorting with the tournament staff while waiting for his single table tournament to start.
Chip leader: Andy Borrego
On the first break of the day, we surveyed the chip stacks in the tournament and found our largest stack at table 36, seat 1. When level 4 began, we found out that the 32,150 chips in that stack belonged to Andy Borrego, shown above. We will check back in with Andy to see if he can hold his lead through this tough field.
First break of the day
With 5 minutes remaining on the clock, the 227 players in today's $2k tournament are about to take their first break of the day. Over 260 players are registered in the tournament, and the tournament staff are guaranteeing that everyone who has purchased a seat already will get into the tournament. Don't forget you can watch our featured table by clicking on "Watch LIVE Video" at the top of this page.
$2k Under way
The Shooting Star $2k is now under way. The event is sold out at over 200 players, and tournament director Matt Savage is now seating alternates.
Already seen in the field are NBC Heads Up winner Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Men "The Master" Nguyen, J.J. Liu, Bobby Suer, and Melissa Hayden.
Already seen in the field are NBC Heads Up winner Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Men "The Master" Nguyen, J.J. Liu, Bobby Suer, and Melissa Hayden.