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Monday, November 18, 2024 5:53 PM Local Time (about 33 days and 22 hours ago)
Just six hopefuls came into today from the starting field of 757 in Event #11: $1,700 Main Event. This lineup saw some of the best that the Chicagoland area, each of them waking up with a sizable score of $38,601 locked up. After roughly five hours of play, that lineup was just reduced to one standing above the rest of them.
It was Illinois' own Jeremy Lenz who ended up taking down the tournament, earning the ring, the spot on the Wall of Winners, and a career best score of $194,977 to take home tonight.
"I used to do online before black friday," Lenz went about his poker playing experience "I had played one of the earlier events this week and did pretty well in it, so that basically bankrolled me into the main event (referencing his 27th place finish in Event #2: $600 No-Limit Hold'em), then I came in and ran good."
Lenz turned 39 years old yesterday and it seems that the birthday wishes worked their magic to ensure him this title. The money he assures will go to more practical matters.
"I am going to pay my house off, taxes and mortage," he mentioned where the money would be going "it's getting pricey out here."
"I knew coming into today that this would be a final table full of strong players," Lenz said in reference to his competition today "they were all incredible today. I was preparing as much as I could because I knew they wouldn't be coming in light."
With five players left, Lenz drifted down to four big blinds after a few costly hands against Richard Bai saw him fall well behind the chip average.
"My immediate thought was despair," Lenz described his situation rather frankly "but I have been going up and down all tournament and you just need to reset. Once I tripled up after, I realized I wasn't that short. Have to just readjust and evaluate."
One thing that Lenz was unaware of was his winning of the 2025 WSOP TOC seat, a nice little bonus to his day.
"Holy cow, that's great," Lenz said when hearing about the seat. "Now that I've won this tournament, I might go head to Harrah's(Cherokee) and then probably Verona. I really prefer the circuit when it comes to poker, looking forward to all of it."
Final Table Results
Jeremy Lenz - $194,977
Cero Zuccarello - $120,506
Roland Israelashvili - $88,976
Richard Bai - $66,514
Caleb King - $50,350
Dana Marie Muse - $38,601
Ryan Johnson - $29,976
Natan Lidukhover - $23,584
Blake Borden - $18,801
Day 3 Action
It would be a massive cooler that would see the first of the players at the final table depart as Richard Bai raised then called with kings against 2-time WSOPC ring winner Dana Marie Muse's queens. The flop rolled out to contain a king and a queen on it and both players got all of their chips into the middle to create a pot worth over 100 big blinds. Muse was unable to get quads after that and she collected $38,601 for her sixth place finish.
Jeremy Lenz began to spiral in some pots against Bai and eventually he was down to just four big blinds. He would eventually triple up with ace-king against Cero Zuccarello's and Caleb King's ace-ten.
Bai took a commanding lead after this pot, nearly holding half of the chips in play with five players left. His kryptonite would come in the form of Roland Israelashvili as he would first lose a flip to Israelashvili when the 11-time WSOPC champions' eights held up. Then Israelashvili managed to double up a second time through Bai when his jack-ten would best Bai's ace-king. Shortly after Bai would get involved in another all in confrontation, this time with Lenz. Bai's ace-queen would flop two pair, but Lenz' jacks would run out Broadway to survive and double, leaving Bai to sit towards the bottom of the chip counts.
King would end up clashing as well with Israelashvili as he moved in his final 25 big blinds with nines against Israelashvili's open, only to learn that he had queens. No help would come on the runout and the Ohio player would exit the tournament in fifth place for $50,350.
It was around this time that Bai had rebounded up from the short stack and sat neck and neck with Zuccarello and Lenz, but once more he got involved in a pot with Israelashvili. In this particular instance, Bai would bet twice before Israelashvili would lead the river and Bai would move nearly all in. Israelashvili would move all in for his last remaining half a big blind and Bai folded, finding out after that Israelashvili had flopped quads and his bluff was always doomed to fail. The following hand he would see his ten-seven fail to improve against Zuccarello's ten-eight and the two-time WSOPC champion would exit in fourth for $66,514.
Despite holding over half of the chips in play three-handed, Israelashvili's time at the top of the counts would be short lived as he eventually got his chips in with ace-nine against Zuccarello's eights to lose half of his stack, then the other half would be lost in another ace-nine confrontation against Lenz's jacks. This would leave Israelashvilli with just a couple of chips left and he would fall in third place when his king-seven failed to improve against Zuccarello's ace-eight. The 11-time WSOPC winner collected $88,976 for his efforts.
Lenz would begin heads up with a 2:1 lead that would grow as only 20 minutes would pass before a winner was crowned. Zuccarello moved in his final ten big blinds with queen-six only to find himself up against Lenz's aces and he was eliminated from the tournament in second place for $120,506.
Monday, November 18, 2024 12:15 PM Local Time (about 34 days and 4 hours ago)
Just a reminder that PokerOrg is where you can go for all your coverage from here at Grand Vic.
Updates, highlights, and more will be available on PokerOrg Instant LIVE. Bookmark and follow along there.
An official winners recap will be posted upon completion of the event.
Monday, November 18, 2024 10:35 AM Local Time (about 34 days and 6 hours ago)
There sits an empty space on the Elgin Wall of Winners. A plaque sits there, but a name and face is yet to be decided. From a starting field of 757 that created a prize pool of $1,146,855, to the 81 hopefuls that came tomorrow in hopes to sit at the finals, to just six contenders. Each one of these six is guaranteed $38,601, but all eyes on the first place prize of $194,977.
Leading the final six is Richard Bai who sits with 7,945,000. At the start of the day, Bai started with a solid stack just outside of the top ten and then things started to go his way. A cooler of kings versus aces against Xing He would see the kings crack He's aces and after that, Bai continued to amass chips up to the final table. Bai's rings were won at Potawatomi and Hammond over five years ago, so a win here would make a full midwestern set of rings.
Sitting behind him is Cero Zuccarello who sits with 6,725,000 in his quest for his first ring. Zuccarello has many cashes all up and down the midwest, with even a 63rd place in the 2013 WSOP Main Event, good for $123,657 which is his career best score. He has final tabled WSOPC Main Events twice before and tomorrow afternoon, it will be time for Zuccarello to put the old adage of "third time is the charm," to the test.
Illinois tournament regular Jeremy Lenz (5,875,000) sits rounding out the podium with his quest for his first ring. Yesterday Lenz kept a relatively low profile throughout the day, but his steady accumulation of chips throughout had him flirting with the chip lead quite a few times. He has now put himself in podium position as he has already secured a career best score that more than doubles his Hendon Mob earnings.
Right behind him is two-time WSOPC ring winner and last woman standing Dana Marie Muse (5,350,000) who sits very comfortably with over fifty big blinds. Muse had been heads up for a ring earlier in the week when she finished second in Event #13: $400 No-Limit Hold'em to Jim Young. Like Lenz, Muse has already collected her best live score and with her experience at running deep and collecting rings, she looks to be the first woman to win the WSOPC main here at Grand Victoria.
Ohio tournament legend Caleb King (3,245,000) spent large portions of the day towards or at the top of the leaderboard and still remains focused on his first WSOPC ring. With over a half a million in lifetime earnings, the Ohio player has made a name for himself over the past number of years with multiple five figure scores nearing 100k. His first ring is just five players away if he can claim it.
Last but certainly not least 11-time WSOPC ring Winner Roland Israelashvili (1,145,000) who will be looking to add to his already wonderfully decorated WSOPC resume. Israelashvili also recently won his first WSOP bracelet to put him into the new winners' bracket, but he has been a winner on the tour for well over a decade. Israelashvili has become a staple of any WSOPC stop and his many rings are a testament to his skil, experience, and longevity with the game.
Players will begin at 12:00 P.M. with 57 minutes left in Level 27 with blinds at 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 big blind ante and play will continue until a winner is crowned.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 12:09 PM Local Time (about 40 days and 4 hours ago)
The World Series of Poker returns to Paradise in The Bahamas this winter. It's not too late to make your plans to enjoy the sunshine in December while playing for 15 bracelets on the felt.
If you haven't booked yet, October is a great time to take advantage of the "Early Bird $100k Paradise Package." You can get a free 14-night stay, entry into the $1 million Super Saver Invitational, exclusive player's lounge access, and complimentary VIP airport pick-up.
For all details and the full schedule, click here.
