A player raised to 2,500 in early position and another player in middle position moved all in for 23,500 and in the cutoff, Fei Li moved all in for more which saw the initial raiser fold A?Q? face up.
Middle Position: K?Q?
Fei Li: A?K?
The board ran out 4?5?6?5?K? and the ace-king held up to send another big pot Li's way.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
179,000
79,000
|
79,000 |
The under-the-gun player opened before Spencer Hudson jammed for around 26,500 on his direct left. Oliver Bunting called off his 22,000 stack from middle position, which prompted the original raiser to fold.
Oliver Bunting: A?A?
Spencer Hudson: J?J?
Bunting was way ahead with his rockets until Hudson made a full house on the K?K?J? flop to become the huge favorite. The 6? turn changed nothing. However, the K? river improved Bunting to a superior full house while counterfeiting Hudson.
Bunting collected the pot after the wild runout to leave his opponent on crumbs.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
45,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
4,500
4,500
|
4,500 |
Alex Fitzgerald opened to 1,200 from the button before Patrick Zidek made it 4,800 from the small blind. Fitzgerald jammed for just north of 20,000 and Zidek called.
Alex Fitzgerald: 10x10x
Patrick Zidek: J?J?
Zidek had Fitzgerald crushed, and there was no saving grace for the at-risk player as the board ran out with the 5?6?7?4?7?.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
52,000 | |
|
Busted |
Igor Pinheiro opened to 1,500 from early position and was called by David Rosenbloom from the cutoff. Pinheiro continued for 2,000 on the K?9?6? flop and was called.
The 8? turn checked through to A? river. Pinheiro fired out 20,000 which put Rosenbloom all in for his last 8,000. Rosenbloom called off for his tournament life.
Pinheiro tabled his A?Q? and Rosenbloom, whose cards where never shown, passed his chips to Pinheiro and he left the tournament room.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
39,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
|
Busted |
Arturas Astrauskas just dragged in a huge pot which the table briefly recapped to PokerNews.
There was a raise and a call before Arturas Astrauskas called on the button. The big blind then three-bet to 5,700 and action folded back to Astrauskas. The latter then jammed for 31,000, and the big blind called as the slightly bigger stack.
Arturas Astrauskas: 2x2x
Big Blind: KxQx
It was a big flip early on in the day, but the big blind was immediately drawing dead as Astrauskas made quads on the 2x2x6x flop. The big blind ended up with an irrelevant two pair following the Kx turn and Qx river and Astrauskas dragged in the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
65,000
32,400
|
32,400 |
Wim Verhaegen opened to 800 on the button and was called by the small blind. The big blind three-bet to 3,600, and both players called.
The big blind continued for 5,300 on the 5?3?2? flop and was called by Verhaegen. The small blind then jammed for 21,600 which pushed out the big blind but Verhaegen quickly called.
Small Blind: K?Q?
Wim Verhaegen: 6?4?
Verhaegen was ahead with his flopped straight but would need to dodge his opponent's flush outs.
The A? turn and 4? river kept Verhaegen ahead and he scooped in the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
55,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
||
It's time for another edition of the $1,100 PokerNews Cup, which kicks off at 11 a.m. local time inside the historic Golden Nugget, Las Vegas.
Today sees the first of three starting flights get underway and then the fields will merge for Day 2, which takes place on Sunday, July 2. A winner will be crowned Monday, with the action being live-streamed with cards-up coverage.
The PokerNews Cup comes with a $1,000,000 guarantee and is also running as a Mystery Bounty tournament for the first time ever. The Mystery Bounty element comes into play on Day 2, where the bounty prizes will range from $500 to $100,000.
| Date | Time (PDT) | Event | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thur, June 29 | 11 a.m. | PokerNews Cup $1M GTD Mystery Bounty Day 1a | $1,100 |
| Fri, June 30 | 11 a.m. | PokerNews Cup $1M GTD Mystery Bounty Day 1b | $1,100 |
| Sat, July 1 | 11 a.m. | PokerNews Cup $1M GTD Mystery Bounty Day 1c | $1,100 |
| Sun, July 2 | Noon | PokerNews Cup $1M GTD Mystery Bounty Day 2 | - |
| Mon, July 3 | 2 p.m. | PokerNews Cup $1M GTD Mystery Bounty Final Table | - |
For the $1,100 buy-in, players will receive a 30,000 stack. To make it through to Day 2, entrants must finish in the final 12.5% of the Day 1 fields.
There will be a 15-minute break after every three levels, with a 60-minute dinner break scheduled after Level 9. All levels until the final table will have a 40-minute duration.
Late registration closes upon the start of Level 13, which will be around 9 p.m. local time.
Players may register for Day 1A, and/or Day 1B, and/or Day 1C. If a player entered any starting flight and has been eliminated from the tournament, they may reenter the flight and/or register for any subsequent starting day(s).
Players should note that seating may be limited for this event.
A player who advances to Day 2 is prohibited from entering a subsequent starting flight. A player that has advanced to Day 2 who enters another starting flight in error will be disqualified from the subsequent flight and will not be entitled to a refund of their tournament reentry buy-in. The player will be permitted to play Day 2 with their Tournament chip stack from the original starting flight.
Last summer, Gary Gelman took down the record-breaking 2022 PokerNews Cup. At the end of the five days of action, the New Yorker took home the $202,725 grand prize.
The last installment drew a huge field of 1,245 entries, blowing past the $1 million guarantee and creating a prize pool of $1,207,650, which made it the largest prize pool in Golden Nugget history.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Gelman | United States | $202,725 |
| 2 | Daniel Hinh | Australia | $142,175 |
| 3 | Forrest Kollar | United States | $92,095 |
| 4 | Eoin Starr | Ireland | $68,185 |
| 5 | Patrick Caulfield | United States | $51,555 |
| 6 | David Von Schnehen | United Kingdom | $41,650 |
| 7 | Levi Klump | United States | $34,380 |
| 8 | Scott Stewart | United States | $27,120 |
| 9 | Steven Sarmiento | United States | $20,275 |
Be sure to stick with PokerNews to keep up with all the action from Downtown Las Vegas.
