It has been a roller coaster day for Valentin Vornicu and his aggressive playing style resulted in heavy swings to his stack. Ultimately, he was left with fewer than half the starting stack and ended up in action against Yueqi "Rich" Zhu minutes after coming back from the break.
On a flop of , Zhu from under the gun check-raised from 2,500 to 6,500 and Vornicu in late position made the call to see the on the turn. Zhu pushed all in and Vornicu called for what appeared to be 11,000 remaining.
Valentin Vornicu:
Yueqi Zhu:
The river was the blank and Vornicu was eliminated.
All remaining players have been sent into their third 20-minute break of the day. When they return, they will play half of level four before heading into a 90-minute dinner break. Below are some highlights of the previous level.
On one of the outer feature tables, John Hesp's run in the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event has come to a conclusion courtesy of Taylor Carroll.
On a flop of , Carroll bet out and Hesp raised. Carroll shoved and Hesp called all in holding to be up against Carroll's .
Hesp was in the lead with his ace-high and nut flush draw, but when the turn and river landed the and , Carroll completed his straight and eliminated Hesp.
As Hesp exited the feature table area he gave each player a jovial handshake, and then concluded it with a fist-pump to one of the ESPN camera operators.
With 39,600 in the middle, there were three players still in the pot and Maria Ho was all-in. The board read , and the first player to show his hand tabled for a pair of aces and a busted flush draw, while Ho tabled for a set of threes and the third player showed for a pair of nines. Ho scooped the pot, getting more than three times her stack.
Players have been sent on their second 20-minute break. What started with a field of around 900 entries at noon has since almost doubled with more than 1,700 players in action. When they return, action will resume in Level 3. Here’s a look at some recent highlights from the tables:
Michael Monicatti had built his stack up to just over 80,000 but he was about to find even more chips on the back of a heater. Monicatti got all of the chips in the middle with an opponent who was at risk for around 40,000. Monicatti turned over and was up against the .
The board ran out and Monicatti's aces held on to eliminate his opponent. Monicatti was up from his seat and clapped his hands as he just pulled in a big pot.
He barely got back in his chair before the next hand was dealt. Monicatti raised it up in middle position and was called by Xianjun Yin in the cutoff. The flop came and after a bet and a couple of raises, Yin found himself all in for a little over 30,000.
Monicatti was up from his seat again with laid out in front of him. Yin had plenty of outs with and Monicatti was cheering for his hand to hold up. The turn was the and the river brought the as Monicatti claimed another victim.
From middle position, Ben Myers opened to 1,200 and found a caller from the small blind.
The flop landed and after the small blind checked, Myers bet 1,400. The small blind called, and both players checked through the on the turn.
The river fell the and the small blind led out for 2,500 and Myers snap-called. The small blind tabled his , and Myers quickly revealed his to collect the pot.
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Playing the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is a dream for many poker players. While some are lucky enough to play it each and every year, for others it’s a one-time bucket list sort of thing.
Ben Myers falls into the latter camp. The 48-year-old from Florida is playing in the WSOP Main Event for the first time thanks to his participation in a 22-week-long poker league at the SKC Poker Room. He failed to win the league, coming in second, but fortunately for him, there were two $10K seats up for grabs.
“The league was a very different strategy than any other tournament I've played, as it was more important to try and make the final table every week than it was to actually win,” Myers told PokerNews. “Points progressed the further you made it and there were nice payouts to the top three players on a weekly basis.”
Not surprisingly, the small stakes poker player and part-time Uber driver has been looking forward to this day.
“I feel ready. I'm now at the point where I have taken everything learned and have applied to my game to hopefully give me small percentage edges for the Main,” he said. “Previously, when living in Vegas, I played satellites to play two $1,500 events – unsuccessfully. I believe the 12-year layoff was supposed to happen for a reason.”
Formerly ingrained in the corporate world for a decade and a half, Myers has found that while he doesn’t make the money he used to, a life of cards and driving is much more agreeable.
“I've been blessed to have been out of the corporate world now for about 15 years,” he said. “Even though I made two or three times more [money] with a six-figure salary back then, I'm 10 times happier now having been able to jump back into my passion of poker. This passion got taken away from me for about 10 years. Previously, I was having some success while living directly in Las Vegas.”
Now living in Florida, where there are plenty of poker rooms, Myers has not only reconnected with the game but taken it more seriously, especially after he played his way into the WSOP Main Event.
“As you're aware, we have some amazing talent on the Florida Gulf Coast," he continued, "I've been extremely fortunate to have had some poker training with one of our best, Michael Laake, who also writes some very informative articles in Ante Up Magazine. I've also immersed myself in everything poker from books, Vlogs, YouTube, etc.”
For Myers, it’s the culmination of a long life of playing games. When he was young, there would always be some sort of game being played for money at family functions, be it dice, Scrabble and, of course, poker.
“A lot of times I was able to quadruple my allowance,” Myers said with a laugh. “Since then, I’ve been mostly self-taught, although I have also been blessed to surround myself with a good network of other players who I have a lot of respect for.”
Speaking of people he has respect for, Myers has a poker hero who happens to also be playing in the Day 1b field.
“Daniel Negreanu,” Myers said when asked about his favorite poker player. “His ability to read people and extract information from them is beyond admirable. He also serves as a great ambassador to the game itself. All of his attributes, I look to emulate. That being said, I would want nothing more than to play against him in the Main. To be the best, you have to beat the best.”
, Zhu from under the gun check-raised from 2,500 to 6,500 and Vornicu in late position made the call to see the 
on the turn. Zhu pushed all in and Vornicu called for what appeared to be 11,000 remaining.
and Vornicu was eliminated.
, Carroll bet out and Hesp raised. Carroll shoved and Hesp called all in holding 
to be up against Carroll's 
.
and 
, Carroll completed his straight and eliminated Hesp.
for a pair of aces and a busted flush draw, while Ho tabled 
for a set of threes and the third player showed 
for a pair of nines. Ho scooped the pot, getting more than three times her stack.
with roughly 9,500 in the middle, Kenny Hallaert bet out 5,500 from the small blind and his opponent on the button called.
and both players checked as the 
completed the board on the river.
.
and after a bet and a couple of raises, Yin found himself all in for a little over 30,000. 
laid out in front of him. Yin had plenty of outs with 
and Monicatti was cheering for his hand to hold up. The turn was the 
and the river brought the 
