Another Big Day on the Rise at the PSPC
With each passing level in the $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship, the stakes become even greater for those still in contention. The final 38 players have reached the penultimate day of this record-breaking tournament and there is plenty of money up for grabs in the business end of the tournament.
While an $86,400 payday, which the final 38 are secured of, would be a good story for anyone to write about, the real Cinderella story would come by winning the $5.1 million first-place prize. There are still 10 Platinum Pass winners riding a freeroll of a lifetime along with a good mix of pros who are used to being in this type of situation. The look of excitement and nervousness can be seen on everyone's face as they prepare to take their seats today, including a now high-stakes regular, Kristen Bicknell. "I'm so excited to play," Bicknell said the other day with a big smile on her face.
The Canadian poker pro will have some work to do today as she comes in with just over 20 big blinds and 1,115,000 chips. On the other hand, Scott Baumstein is at the other end of the spectrum after having a superb last level on Day 3. Baumstein won two monster pots against Farid Jattin to sit atop the leaderboard with 4,240,000 chips. He barely inched out Yiannis Liperis who also finished strong with 4,210,000 chips.
There will be plenty more notables and interesting stories to keep an eye on as the day unfolds and the final table dreams become reality. Mikita Badziakouski who also received a Platinum Pass, albeit not necessarily needed with his poker resume, will start the day with 1,910,000 chips. Griffin Benger (1,560,000), Scott Stewart (1,120,000), and Tony Gregg (905,000) are all previous WSOP Main Event final tablists who know what it takes to conquer this type of field.
The cards will get back in the air at 12 noon local time here in the beautiful Bahamas. The blinds will resume on level 25 at 25,000/50,000 and a 50,000 big blind ante. The schedule dictates that the day will end once the final six players have been reached, but that is always subject to change based on the pace of play. There will be a 20-minute break after every two levels with a dinner break still up in the air.
The livestream will begin at the start of the day and you can catch all of the action on the Twitch channel via the 'Livestream' tab. The holes cards will be shown on a 30-minute delay. You can also catch all of the action right here with the PokerNews live reporting team throughout the entire event.