Alejandro Lococo opened from the cutoff to 9,000 and Andy Wilson three-bet to 40,000 from the big blind. Lococo then four-bet jammed all in and Wilson called it off, putting himself at risk of elimination.
Andy Wilson:
Alejandro Lococo:
After seeing that his clubs were no good, Wilson needed to hit a king or queen to survive. There was a king in the window on the flop, but unfortunately for him, it was followed by two aces.
The turn left him drawing dead and the completed the board for Lococo to win the hand and Wilson was eliminated.
Lococo is now one of the biggest stacks in the room with over 400,000.
The 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship drew a field of 1,014 players from 63 different countries and generated a prize pool of $24,843,000, from which the champion will take home $4,053,200. The top six finishers will earn 7-figure payouts, while the top 175 players will take home a min-cash of $35,100.
The top five nations were the United States (265 - 26.1%), Spain (132 - 13.0%), France (105 - 10.4%), Canada (87 - 8.6%), and Germany (64 - 6.3%)
The PSPC 2019 featured 1,039 players from 63 countries. The top five nations were the United States (376 - 36.2%), Canada (97 - 9.3%), United Kingdom (63 - 6.1%), Brazil (60 - 5.8%), and France (50 - 4.8%).
Dinesh Alt started the day with a shorter stack but has since been accumulating chips left and right. The latest addition to his growing tower came from a preflop contest in which he scored a fortunate knockout by sending Richard Alati to the rail.
Alati opened to 10,000 and Alt three-bet to 25,000. His opponent then jammed for 72,000 and Alt quickly called with the far bigger stack.
Richard Alati:
Dinesh Alt:
The flop further increased the lead of Alati with the nut flush draw. However, the turn gave the Swiss a pair of jacks and he retained the lead on the river.
A field of 1,014 players generated a prizepool of $24,843,000. Just 175 players will be guaranteed a slice of this, with a min-cash worth $35,100.
A seat at the final table of nine will earn a player $449,700, with six players set to cash for over $1,000,000. That includes the winner of the 2023 PokerStars Players NL Hold'em Championship who will take home $4,053,200.
The players have now gone on their second 20-minute break of the day and will return to the felt shortly. The 500-Denomination chips will also be raced off during this time.
Registration closed with a total of 1,014 runners and now the field has been cut down to only 376 remaining.
Here are some of the highlights from the past two levels:
Kitty Kuo opened to 6,500 in early position and Byron Kaverman called from the big blind. The flop fell and Kaverman check-called a bet of 9,000 from Kuo.
The turn brought the and Kaverman checked again. Kuo sized up a bet of 20,000 and Kaverman still called. The completed the board and Kaverman still checked. Kuo ripped all in, putting her opponent to the test for his remaining stack of 39,500.
Kaverman took his time in the tank for a couple of minutes before finally calling. Kuo flipped over for just ten-high while Kaverman tabled for ace-high which got a reaction from the rest of the table.
Elias Gutierrez raised to 5,000 from early position before Reddy Patur moved all-in for his final 20,000 chips. The action folded back around to Gutierrez, who made the call.
Reddy Patur:
Elias Gutierrez:
Patur’s pocket pair remained in front on the flop and turn, but Gutierrez spiked the river to score the elimination.
Dimitrios Barmpathanasis raised to 6,000 from middle position and was called by Adrian Chabbi in the hijack before Laszlo Bujtas three-bet to 22,000 from the cutoff.
Action folded back to Barmpathanasis who four-bet to 66,000. Chabbi moved all in covering both players and Bujtas called off for 156,600. Barmpathanasis open folded .
Laszlo Bujtas:
Adrian Chabbi:
It was a cooler as Chabbi's ace-king had run into Bujtas's pocket rockets. The board ran out to give Bujtas more than a double up.
Alejandro Lococo opened under the gun for 6,000 and then Ameer Wakil moved all in behind for 22,800 and action folded to Philipp Gruissem in the cutoff, who just called.
"Are you trying to trap me?" Lococo asked him when the action got back around to him.
"I cannot say anything right now, if it was heads up then I would talk," Gruissem replied.
After a few more moments, Lococo tossed his cards into the middle and the other two hands were tabled, with Wakil at risk.
Ameer Wakil:
Phillipp Gruissem:
Gruissem was the favorite going into this classic flip, and the runout of was clean for him and he scooped the pot, eliminating Wakil.
"Yes of course I was fishing for you!" Gruissem laughed and waved his finger at Lococo, who just smiled and shook his head.