Doug Holland Bags Day 1b Chip Lead

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Level 14 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

Day 1b of the Hollywood Poker Open (HPO) Columbus attracted 142 entries, which nearly matched the impressive Day 1a field of 152. With 294 total entries, the $100,000 guarantee was smashed, and the Season 3 HPO Columbus stop will pay out a massive $294,000, with $70,560 reserved for the winner.

After 14 levels of play, Doug Holland led the 20 Day 1b survivors, bagging an impressive 283,500. “Doctor” Ross Gottlieb is close behind with 240,000, while other notables to advance were Ryan Austin (222,000), Danny Warchol (204,000) and Nick Pupillo (123,000).

They will join overall chip leader Daniel Swartz (350,000) and the other Day 1a survivors on Monday as 46 players look to make the money at the top 27. Not only are they playing for a big five-figure first-place prize, but also a seat in June’s HPO Championship Main Event at the M Resort in Las Vegas.

Both HPO ambassador and 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker and local pro Shawn Cunix opted not to fire additional bullets after busting on Day 1a, but a few notables did in Andrew Jeffrey, Jared Palmer and Vadim Kleydman. Unfortunately for those three, they failed to advance to day 2. Another player to fall was Nidal Elhassan.

It happened in Level 12 (800/1,600/200) when WSOP bracelet winner Nick Jivkov opened to 3,600 from middle position and Jeffrey three-bet to 8,000. Elhassan then moved all in for approximately 12,000 total, Jivkov folded, and Jeffrey made the call.

Elhassan:
Jeffrey:

The flop of vaulted Jeffrey into contention with a flush drawn, and the turn completed it. Elhassan was drawing dead and hit the rail as the inconsequential completed the board on the river.

As for Holland, he picked up a lot of chips right at the end of the night. In a three-way pot, there were already a ton of chips in the middle and a flop reading when Holland led with a stack of T5000 chips, which looked like a bet of 35,000. Tori Todd got out of the way and Trevor Renner moved all in. Holland snap-called and turned over the for two pair. Renner, who held an inferior two pair with the , needed help to stay alive, but it didn't come as the board completed with the and on the turn and river respectively.