After missing the first few hands of the level after the dinner break, including his blinds, Andreas Kniep was back and in a hurry to collect some chips. He first shoved all in from under the gun and the action folded around.
On the next hand, Jareth East raised to 1,000,000 from under the gun and Kniep defended his big blind. The flop came and the action checked around to the on the turn.
Kniep led out for 2,000,000 and East called to see the on the river. Kniep checked this time and East shoved all in, putting Kniep to the test for his remaining 5,550,000 chips.
It took over six minutes in the tank, along with some talking to himself, for Kniep to come to the conclusion of making the call. East turned over but Kniep held for the better two pair.
Chance Kornuth raised to 1,000,000 from under the gun and Chase Bianchi three-bet to 2,600,000 on the button. The blinds quickly folded and so did Kornuth.
On the next hand, Lewis Spencer raised to 1,0000,000 from under the gun and the action folded to ClubGG Qualifier Vasu Amarapu in the small blind who three-bet jammed for 8,400,000. Kornuth folded his big blind but Spencer asked for a count. After two minutes, Spencer opted to fold.
Alejandro Lococo raised to 1,000,000 from the middle position and Kornuth three-bet to 3,000,000 from the small blind to get the folds.
Vasu Amarapu went from $50 into potentially millions in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, which you can follow here, thanks to signing up for the Club GG poker app.
On the dinner break of Day 7, Amarapu was at around 25 big blinds, a bit below the average stack. He was well in contention for the gold bracelet and the $8 million prize. With 20 players remaining, he's guaranteed at least $241,800, an incredible return on investment (ROI) for what he paid to get into poker's world championship event.
"The fifty bucks that I spent, that's the best thing that happened to me in my life," Amarapu told PokerNews in a Day 6 interview, referring to the monthly fee to play on the Club GG app.
The Next Chris Moneymaker?
If not for an article on PokerNews, Amarapu might not be in this position. That's not us tooting our own horn, the potential future world champion said as much.
"I read an article on PokerNews, and right away I downloaded the app," the poker player said. "The steps were very clear."
Amarapu is referring to a September article written by our Jason Glatzer, which explains how to download and play on the Club GG app. He read the article, signed up, paid his $49.99 monthly fee, and won his way into the WSOP Main Event, along with a number of other Club GG members.
Amarapu's story has the potential to end up similar to Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 world champion who famously parlayed an $86 online poker satellite into poker glory.
Moneymaker's victory 18 years ago helped spark a poker boom and attracted millions of new players to the game. Much like Moneymaker, Amarapu is a Regular Joe who the average poker fan could relate to.
Not a Fluke
The current Main Event contender is no slouch on the felt. He entered the tournament with over $88,000 in live tournament earnings, and also has a $45,000 score for a third-place finish in WSOP.com Event #28: $1,000 Omaha 8 or Better in 2020.
"I've played cash games in other casinos, and tournaments here and there," Amarapu said. "But for an online thing, this is the best thing that I did in Massachusetts."
He's referring to joining Club GG in September, where he played under the screen name "Tight." Amarapu had no luck in his first Main Event qualifier on the app, but earned his way back into a qualifier the following week, and the rest is history.
The Illinois native is ecstatic to be in this position, and he's also thankful for the opportunity just to compete in the WSOP Main Event for the first time.
"I usually don't play no-limit hold'em, but I've been working on the game for a long time without playing live," he told PokerNews.
Winning the bracelet would be a dream come true for Amarapu, as would earning life-changing money. He now has a chance to climb to the top of the poker mountain, all because of the Club GG app, which he proudly acknowledges.
"Club GG app is the best app that can happen to you," Amarapu claims. "Please install, please try tournament poker for $50 for the rest of your life."
Lewis Spencer raised to 1,000,000 from under the gun and Alejandro Lococo three-bet to 2,400,000 from the hijack. The action folded back to Spencer who made the call.
The flop came , Spencer checked and Lococo bet 1,200,000 which Spencer called.
The turn was the and Spencer checked again. Lococo fired a bet of 1,500,000 over the line for Spencer to fold.
Jareth East opened to 1,000,000 on the button and Jack Oliver in the small blind and Sean Ragozzini in the big blind both called.
Ragozzini led out with a bet on the flop and East raised to 1,800,000. Oliver folded and Ragozzini called.
Ragozzini led out again on the turn with a bet of 2,600,000. East called.
The river brought the and Ragozzini shuffled his large yellow chips before betting 7,000,000 to be nearly all-in with just 25,000 behind. East thought for a few minutes and then held up and sent his cards into the muck.
Ragozzini asked if his opponent wanted to see and showed for four-high.
Mitchell Halverson and Jareth East are the short stacks on Feature #2 and have been tanking the longest ever since the dinner break in order to reach the next pay jump.
Luckily for both of them, they each picked up a pot recently. Halverson raised to 5,500,000 in the cutoff, leaving himself with just 500,000 behind. Demosthenes Kiriopoulos thought about it on the button but elected to fold, as did the blinds.
On the next hand, Andreas Kniep raised to 1,000,000 on the button and East pushed all in from the small blind. Kniep slid him the 1,000,000 chip and mucked his cards.