The player in middle position raised to 2,200 and Steve Drury called from the hijack along with the player in the big blind.
The dealer fanned a flop of and the big blind checked. The player in middle position bet 3,200 and Drury was the only caller. The completed the board and this time, the player in mid-position checked. Dry fired a bet of 7,000, that was enough to claim the pot.
Rick Salomon has been eliminated when he ran with a straight into the full house of Jesse Sylvia. New in the Orange section is NFL star Richard Seymour, who entered before the start of Day 2c.
Scott Blumstein had 5,800 in front of him on the button and called a reraise to 12,300 from the big blind, Mark Swartz. The flop was and Swartz immediately moved in. Blumstein shook his head and peeled his cards one last time before mucking them.
The former Main Event champ has had a less than fruitful run of late after initially running up the 45,000 he started with.
On a four-way flop of , Fedor Holz ended up all in for fewer than 25 big blinds and Hai Nguyen pushed for 29,000 to force out the other two players.
Fedor Holz:
Hai Nguyen:
The turn and river brought no help and Holz was eliminated.
"What did you have in the other hand?" he asked Tabari Miller, who replied "I had a set of fours." Holz mentioned he had kings, in a hand which presumably cost him a lot of chips, and headed to the rail.
A raise to 2,300 came in from the player under the gun, and the player in the hijack called and when the action folded to Manig Loeser in the small blind he three-bet to 11,500.
The initial raiser called before the hijack folded, and the flop fell .
Both players checked, and Loeser bet 18,000 when the was revealed on the turn.
Loeser's opponent called, and after the fell on the river, both players checked to a showdown.
Marius Johansen opened from the hijack to 2,400 and was three-bet to 5,300 by Josh Arieh, who was on the button. Johansen called and the flop came . Johansen checked and Arieh continued for 3,500. Johansen confirmed the amount and tossed in chips to call.
The turn was and Johansen checked. Arieh fired again for 8,000 and Johansen made the call. The river came and Johansen checked once more. Arieh emptied the clip, firing a third barrel for 11,000 and Johansen made the call.
Arieh tabled quickly before turning it over and mucking it upon seeing Johansen show , good for the flush and the pot as he nears the quarter-million mark in chips.
An open raise by Garrett Garvin resulted in a three-bet to 6,600 and Dean Baranowski called from one seat over. Leon Tsoukernik pushed all in from the small blind and Garvin quickly folded. The three-bettor reluctantly folded and Baranowski called all in.
Dean Baranowski:
Leon Tsoukernik:
The flop gave Tsoukernik top set, but Barakowski had outs with the spades and two queens. Baranowski turned the and the river was a blank.
Earlier this summer, 35-year-old Chris Dotson, a boiler operator from New Jersey, won a competition hosted by PokerNews’ sister company, Oddschecker. Today, he’ll live his poker dream of playing in poker’s premier event.
Dotson flew cross country late last week and immediately headed to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to register for Day 1c of the tournament. While there, he got to meet 2003 WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker and was interviewed by Joey Ingram on PokerNews social media channels. It’s been a whirlwind experience even before he fired the tournament, and believe it or not it almost didn’t happen.
“I saw a tweet from PokerNews mentioning the giveaway, clicked through the article and decided not to bother,” Dotson revealed. “Then a couple of hours later I saw the tweet again, figured what the heck, and filled out the giveaway. I’m sure glad I changed my mind.”
Chris Dotson meeting Chris Moneymaker at the 2019 WSOP
A World of Experience
Dotson grew up with two younger brothers, sons of a father in the Air Force. As such, they moved a lot and lived in locales such as Hawaii, Japan, and New Zealand.
“I moved back to the USA from New Zealand, and the family continued on to Australia, where my mom and youngest brother are still living,” said Dotson. “The old man is retired now, working as a contractor for the Air Force up in Alaska.”
"I guess I first learned to play poker while living in New Zealand, but never really played much until moving back to New Jersey."
For Dotson, he entered the workforce straight out of high school and is on a career trajectory to become an operating engineer. As for his love of poker, the seed was planted half a world away from the bright lights of Las Vegas.
“I guess I first learned to play poker while living in New Zealand, but never really played much until moving back to New Jersey,” said Dotson, who also revealed he’s a big fan of video games, board games, and escape rooms. “I then started playing tournaments in my local poker league and would play a bit online. That’s when I started taking things more seriously and progressed to taking trips to Atlantic City to play in the local casinos.”
Eyes on Vegas
Dotson first visited Las Vegas for the WSOP back in the mid-2000s, though back then it was just as a fan and to meet friends from the Full Contact Poker (FCP) forums. It wasn’t until 2014 that he fired a trio of bracelet events, all no-limit hold’em at the $1,000, $1,500, and $2,500 price points. Until today, those marked the biggest buy-ins he’s ever played.
“I’ve never played the Main Event,” he said. “It has always been a dream. This will be my first time, I’m so excited.”
Joey Ingram and Chris Doston
When asked about his proudest poker accomplishment to date, Dotson thought for a bit before answering.
“Not really sure what my proudest accomplishment would be,” he said. “I would probably say finishing runner-up in the poker league end-of-year finals, but no one remembers second place.”
Dotson often roots for the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Heat, and Team USA, and when it comes to poker he has some favorites.
“This is a hard question to answer, I certainly have a bunch of players I could pick as a favorite,” he responded when asked about his favorite poker player. “Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, but if I had to choose one it would probably be John Racener.”
Dotson survived the Day 1c flight and is still in action here on Day 2c.
and the big blind checked. The player in middle position bet 3,200 and Drury was the only caller. The 
completed the board and this time, the player in mid-position checked. Dry fired a bet of 7,000, that was enough to claim the pot.
and Swartz immediately moved in. Blumstein shook his head and peeled his cards one last time before mucking them.
flop, and Pupillo checked the 
river, and Pupillo tabled 
for a missed gutshot straight draw and a pair of sixes. His opponent mucked.
, Fedor Holz ended up all in for fewer than 25 big blinds and Hai Nguyen pushed for 29,000 to force out the other two players.
against the 
flop gave Kadosh a pair of kings and the 
and he was sent to the rail.
but lost out to 
and Johansen checked once more. Arieh emptied the clip, firing a third barrel for 11,000 and Johansen made the call.
quickly before turning it over and mucking it upon seeing Johansen show 
, good for the flush and the pot as he nears the quarter-million mark in chips.
river was a blank.
