Former Airman Carroll Leads Final Eight in Event #71: $500 Salute to Warriors
Day 2 of a fast and furious Salute to Warriors is in the books with the remaining eight earning themselves a day of rest to enjoy and celebrate July 4th.
A start-of-day field of 287 went through the bubble and 15 full levels of play before a final table was reached. Leading the way is Taylor Carroll who has clear water between him and the rest of the pack
Carroll retired from the airforce in 2015 after spending the best part of six years at Barksdale Air Force Base performing maintenance on the B-52H bomber.
"I mean it's got to be a vet that wins it," he said after bagging up 13,525,000 in chips, ahead of Susan Faber (7,280,000), Dean Yoon (6,845,000) and Chris Canan (6,105,000).
Final Table Draw
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Annaloro | Venezuela | 1,265,000 | 6 |
| 2 | Susan Faber | United States | 7,280,000 | 36 |
| 3 | Rob Stark | United States | 3,655,000 | 18 |
| 4 | Taylor Carroll | United States | 13,525,000 | 68 |
| 5 | Dean Yoon | United States | 6,845,000 | 34 |
| 6 | Kulwant Singh | United States | 2,225,000 | 11 |
| 7 | Chris Canan | United States | 6,105,000 | 31 |
| 8 | Jordan Knackstsedt | Canada | 2,050,000 | 10 |
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $121,161 |
| 2 | $74,785 |
| 3 | $53,887 |
| 4 | $39,248 |
| 5 | $28,897 |
| 6 | $21,510 |
| 7 | $16,190 |
| 8 | $12,323 |
Day 2 Recap
With the tournament just 28 players off of the money at the restart, it was always going to be a matter of when not if the bubble burst or hand-for-hand play was reached. In fact, the tournament clock had only just ticked into the second level of the day when Patrick Watts ran ace-queen into the ace-king of Gauthier Abribat to burst the bubble, guaranteeing the 259 players that remained $699.
Notable eliminations in the money included Martin Zamani (200th - $758), Gregory Kolo (162nd - $803), Weiyi Zhang (143rd - $865) and Mike Sexton (142nd - $865). Sexton ran ace-king into the pocket kings of Chris Canan midway through the day, and the former member of the 82nd Airborne Division failed to catch up and was eliminated.
With the blind levels just 40-minutes long, there was a steady stream of eliminations and the chip stacks continued to grow. From the average of 150,000 at the start of the day, to well over a million as the players approached dinner break.
Dean Yoon, Taylor Carroll, and Taehyung Kim all featured prominently at the top end of the leaderboard as Robert Cheung (117th - $945), Arkadiy Tsinis (60th - $1,788) and three-time bracelet winner Ben Yu headed out the exit.
By three tables Lu Chen had jumped to the top of the counts ahead of Yoon and Carroll, and the Chinese player pulled further ahead by two tables with Susan Faber and Jose Annalaro behind him.
However, Chen endured a tricky time of it, doubling up players left and right to eventually bust in 11th place for $7,387. He called a shove on a two-space board with ace-queen of spades only to have run into the pocket kings of Carroll.
Final Table
This saw Carroll hold more than double second-place chips with nine players remaining. The elimination of South Korea's Taehyung Kim saw us reach eight players when play was halted ahead of the live streamed final table on July 5th.
Thanks for tuning in to the continued PokerNews coverage of the WSOP. We hope you enjoy your July 4th celebrations if you are indeed celebrating, and we look forward to welcoming you back for the conclusion of this event in two days time.
In the meantime, why not check out our coverage of the 2019 WSOP Main Event!