Guarantee Smashed As Kollar Leads Day 1b In the PokerNews Cup; Himmelbrand Bags Big
The $1,100 PokerNews Cup Mystery Bounty saw the second of three flights conclude today. A total of 812 players came out to play this event which saw only 102 players make it to the end of the day. Last year’s flight got 455 entrants and with this near doubling the entrants, the $1,000,000 guarantee has been passed with one flight to go.
The total number of entries is already at 1,316 which beats the number from last year already when 1,245 players showed up to the Golden Nugget. There's a full flight to go in this already record-breaking tournament.
Leading the way is Forrest Kollar who ended the night with 695,000. Kollar put in a deep run last summer in the PokerNews Cup, finishing in third place for his best tournament score of $92,095.
Just behind him Norman Michalek, who ended their day with 682,000. The New Jersey resident has amassed over $500,000 in earnings with his best score coming from a runner-up finish in a WSOP online bracelet event for $192,073. With this stack built for the second day, he could easily find himself winning many grand prizes in this mystery bounty tournament.
Also bagging a big stack is New York grinder Greg Himmelbrand (574,000). With $2,300,060 in live earnings, Himmelbrand sees a wealth of experience that will go with him into the second day of this mystery bounty. With two MSPT titles under his belt and many other titles to his name, Himmelbrand looks to get his first major Golden Nugget title.
Other notables who made their way through the day included Samuel Bifarella (644,000), Viet Vo (544,000), Tim Garles (449,000), Donny Rubinstein (336,000), Josh Prager (271,000), Xuan Liu (144,000), and Will “The Thrill” Failla (103,000), each looking for a chance to knock out players to get unknown prizes, as well as a shot at the PokerNews cup.
Play ended with 3:15 left on the clock in Level 17 with blinds at 4,000/8,000. The 102 players will come back to this level along with the other two flights unless the following flight ends earlier.