The field is heading into the 16k big blind and the previous level brought four eliminations. They are now just 4 spots from the min-cash. Here’s the layout:
Table 48
Table 47
| Ryan Altman | 1,235,000 |
| Aaron Mermelstein | 976,000 |
| Keith Morrow | 957,000 |
| Abe Faroni | 895,000 |
| Brandon Vaysman | 803,000 |
| Nick Lee | 727,000 |
| Brett Apter | 686,000 |
| Neil Patel | 668,000 |
| Ryan Taminini | 540,000 |
| Ryan McKnight | 533,000 |
| Neal Gay | 525,000 |
| Sean Feeney | 508,000 |
| Don Himpele | 362,000 |
| Justin Liberto | 357,000 |
| Ron Sims | 356,000 |
| Aaron Shapiro | 230,000 |
| Ron Smith | 212,000 |
| David Coleman | 198,000 |
| Tsinis Arkadiy | 176,000 |
| Julian Sacks | 155,000 |
| Ernest Gozman | 95,000 |
Neal Gay moved all-in from the button for over 25 big blinds, ~256k and was called by Brandon Vaysman in the small blind. Ron Sims folded his big blind after struggling over the decision for a minute and they would be heads-up with Gay at risk.
Gay K♣10♦ vs Vaysman 8♥8♦ Pot: ~530k
Board: 10♥5♥7♦10♣2♣
Gay flips well and is rewarded with an average stack after his large open-shove. Vaysman is left with ~780k.
Keith Morrow had opened the button and was called by Nick Lee in the small blind.
Flop: J♥10♣4♠
Lee checked. Morrow continued and was called.
Turn: K♠
Lee checked. Morrow bet again and was called.
River: Q♣
Lee checked for a third time and Morrow did not slow down. He bet 95k on the end and was called on the straight board by Lee with Q♦10♦ which was good enough to take down the pot. Lee is now up over 600k after facing three-barrels and calling on the end with his two pair.
Since the redraw, only Thai Ha has found the rail as the pace has slowed a bit at the full-ring tables. There will be a break after Level 19 which will give the blog a chance to report exact counts for all remaining players.
Thai Ha opened the button and was called by Liberto in the small blind.
Flop: 4♥K♥4♠ Pot: ~50k
Liberto checked. Ha continued with a bet and was raised to 43k total. Ha called.
Turn: 6♠ Pot: ~136k
Liberto bet 67k and was called.
River: 3♦
Liberto moved all-in for 254k. Ha had about 50k more than that amount and made the call.
Liberto 4♦4♣ vs Ha K♠J♠ Pot: ~650k
Liberto gets full value from his Quads and moves back to near his high-water mark from early in the session. Thai Ha is left crippled with ~50k, less than ten big blinds.
Liberto is going for his third Final Table of this series and could take home more than his three-way chop in the 300 Main Event with an outright win in the 2500.
Table 45
Table 47
Table 48
Six more levels are scheduled for Day 2 play or if the Final Table is reached. Here are the Top 3 stacks:
There is about 20 minutes remaining in Level 17 and then the players will be leaving for dinner break. Play will resume at 7:30 PM with chip counts for the entire field which will be around 30 players with 13 getting paid. Links to the schedule, structure, and payouts can be found at the Big Stax XXIV 2500 Hub.
Patel is still in good shape and near 700k midway through Level 17.
The 2500 Main Event certainly grabbed some players who had just played the WSOPc Main Event at Harrah’s in Atlantic City and Patel is certainly one of those players. He hasn’t cashed at Parx since 2011 and plays the WSOPc all over the country. Last year, he had his two biggest scores when he won the WSOPc Main at Tunica for $192,152 and also an $800 event at the Deepstack Extravaganza in Vegas for $190,976. After notching his two best scores in 2017, Patel is up to ~$640k in live earnings.
