Pre flop from the cutoff George Rakitzis raised to 35k and Steven “Cyprus” Christopher called in the big blind.
Flop: 10♣2♠9♠ Christopher bets 30k and Rakitzis calls
Turn: 10♥ Christopher bets 50k and Rakitzis calls
River: 8♥ Christopher bets 115k, Rakitzis moves all in for 257K total and Christopher eventually folds and shows a 10 for trips. Rakitzis shows he had Q♥J♥ for the nut straight
Pre flop Kevin Grabel UTG made it 25k one caller and BB shoves all in for 318k and Grabel makes the call.
BB: AJ
Grabel: 1010
Flop: 4QA gives BB top pair
Turn: 10 giving Grabel a set and his opponent needs a K for a straight to catch up
River: J giving BB 2 pair which is not enough to win the hand and he’s eliminated in 9th place.
The final 9 have redrawn to combine into a final table. They are also on the bubble as once one more player is eliminated the final 8 players will be in the money.
On table 1 action folded around to the blinds and SB called and Kevin Grabel checked the big blind.
Flop: 853 SB bets 30k and Grabel calls
Turn: J SB shoves all in for 240k and Grabel calls.
SB: KK
Grabel: J3 for 2 pair
The river is a blank for Grabel to hold up and knockout opponent in 10th place.
A couple minutes later on table 2 Brian Porterfield had raised UTG and action folded to Shaun O’Donnell on the button who raised all in for 320k and Porterfield called.
O’Donnell: 88
Porterfield: JJ
The board was no help to O’Donnell and ended up giving Porterfield a set of jacks to win the hand and eliminate O’Donnell in 10th place.
The last hand before dinner break Mike Hager had raised pre flop, Rich Scardina 3-bet and Hager called.
Flop: A♠10♠4♥ Hager checks, Scardina bets and Hager calls
Turn: 5x Hager bets 120k and Scardina flats
River: K♠ Hager moves all in for 640k, Scardina tanks for several minutes and eventually makes the call with AA for top set. Hager shows 710 for a pair of 10’s.
Scardina currently has close to 4x the chip average with over 2M in chips and has the chip lead.
| Place | Payout |
| 1 | $52,992 |
| 2 | $31,133 |
| 3 | $19,504 |
| 4 | $13,248 |
| 5 | $10,304 |
| 6 | $8,096 |
| 7 | $6,624 |
| 8 | $5,299 |
The 2500 even is already down to just 11 players with 8 players making the money. The final 11 players are on a 75 minute dinner break. Play will resume at 7:10pm
24 year old Nick Beetel from Jackson, NJ is the Big Stax 1500 XXXVII Champion. Beetel plays poker recreationally, and this is his first Big stax cash and largest live cash by over 100k (next biggest cash $7,500).
Congratulations on a well earned victory!
Benny “Benz” Bianco with about 7.5M in chips and Nick Beetel with roughly 15M in chips have decided to do an ICM chop.
Benny “Benz” Bianco taking second place for $104,000
Pre flop Nick Beetel raised to 250k, short stack Rami Kakoraiev moved all in for his final 1.3M and Beetel called.
Kakoraiev: 1010
Beetel: KJ
Board runs out AJ8 8 2 for Beetel for a pair of Jacks to eliminate Kakoraiev in 3rd place for $56,808
