WSOP 2018: India`s Nikita Luther With Germany`s Giuseppe Pantaleo Make Day 3 in Event #55 – $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold ‘em, Luther Finishes 17th in Event 54

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  • PG News June 29, 2018
  • 8 mins Read

As the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is moving towards its finale with the Main Event just around the corner, the Indian challengers have been making amazing runs at the felts. Grabbing the spotlight these past few days has been Team India’s Nikita Luther who, despite her late entry at the series found herself deep in two bracelet events at the same time!

Luther was seen in action in Event #54: Big Blind Antes $3,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em and was kept at the edge with the possibility of multi-tabling as she made Day 2 in Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team NLHE. In the first event Luther raged a tough battle amid the 31 survivors who resumed the battle on Day 3 and climbed up sidestepping the eliminations. However, her dream run ended in 17th place for $18,495 (~₹12.65 Lakhs).

Luther is still very much in contention for the gold bracelet in Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team NLHE where she is paired up with Giuseppe Pantaleo from Germany and their team has bagged 260,000 in chips coming into Day 3. It’s going to be another intense final day since only 28 teams are now in the running for the bracelet. It needs no reminding that Team India`s Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java had won this very same event last year and though their title defense ended on the opening day, Luther`s deep run opens up the possibility of back-to-back bracelets at this event for Team India

Event #54: Big Blind Antes $3,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em has entered its final hours, with only four players left in the fray from a starting field of 31 players who had returned to the felts on Day 3. Barry Hutter (6,265,000) is leading the four-handed final table.

Event #56: $10,000 Razz Championship ended Day 2 and Calvin Anderson (962,000) is leading the way followed by John Hennigan (841,000) and Alex Balandin (833,000).

Event #57: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship and Event #58: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed played out their respective opening flights. The former saw Mesha James (130,200) taking on the chip lead, while the latter saw Thomas Cannuli (286,000) topping the survivors.

With Event #59: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty, Event #60: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship and Event #61: $1,000 WSOP.com ONLINE No-Limit Hold’em Championship about to start, there’s still a lot of action left to unfold at WSOP 2018.

WSOP 2018 Coverage
WSOP 2018 Coverage

Event #54: Big Blind Antes $3,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em

The 2018 WSOP fever rocked through the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino just as another prime tournament, Event #54: Big Blind Antes $3,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em edged towards conclusion. Day 3 of play is over with only four players left in contention for the bracelet. Indian pro Nikita Luther had made Day 3 alongside 30 other players but her deep run ended in 17th place for $18,495 (~₹12.65 Lakhs).

Nikita Luther
Nikita Luther

Earlier on in the play, Luther managed to improve her stack slightly to 400,000 but lost some later. She was eliminated in a hand where Jonathan Abdellatif raised from under the gun position to 37,000. Next to him, Tom McCormick called and when action fell on Luther, she moved all in with 352,000. Abdellatif moved all-in over-the-top and McCormick folded. Abdellatif turned over while Luther tabled . The board ran and clearly Abdellatif held the superior cards, sending Luther out of the event.

Meanwhile, Barry Hutter is leading the final four survivors in the tournament with 6,265,000 in chips. Diogo Viege (5,195,000), Radoslav Stoyanov (2,495,000) and Jonathan Abdellatif (1,350,000) are the other finalists in the running.

After the elimination of Kristen Bicknell (11th for $29,284), all remaining players converged to a single, unofficial final table. Ryan Hall (10th for $29,284) exited soon thereafter bringing the action to the official final table.

Subsequently, Todd Ivens (9th for $37,660), Cathal Shine (8th for $49,126), Anna Antimony (7th for $64,991), David Yan (6th for $87,179), and Tom McCormick (5th for $118552) were all eliminated in quick succession.

Barry Hutter
Barry Hutter

Four Handed Chip Counts

1. Barry Hutter – 6,265,000

2. Diogo Veiga – 5,195,000

3. Radoslav Stoyanov – 2,495,000

4. Jonathan Abdellatif -1,350,000

Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold ‘em

Two years after Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold ‘em was introduced to the WSOP schedule, and a year after an Indian team of Nipun Java and Aditya Sushant shipped the event, another Indian has surfaced in the race to bring home the gold bracelet! Paired up with Giuseppe Pantaleo from Germany, Nikita Luther has stormed her way into Day 3 with the team holding a combined stack of 260,000. The event is nearing its finale as 28 teams have bagged their chips for Day 3, all in contention for the first-place payday of $175,805.

Meanwhile, Aditya ‘bitti’ Agarwal and Jasven Saigal’s team that had also made it to Day 3 of the event but busted out before they could reach the money.

After bagging her chips for the day, Luther updated her fans on Twitter.

Earlier in the day, Team Pantaleo that included Luther hit a full house when team led by Moshe Rosenfield raised to 2,600 from late position and Pantaleo made the call from the big blind. They both checked through the flop to the on the turn. Pantaleo bet 4,000 and Team Rosenfield called. The river brought , and Pantaleo bet 11,300. After a while Team Rosenfield called. Pantaleo tabled for the turned full house and Team Rosenfield lost the hand.

Later, Team Pantaleo won some chips in a hand where the Team of Kyle Simpkins raised to 6,200 from the hijack and Manig Loeser shoved all in for 10,900 in total from the small blind. Pantaleo called from the big blind and so did Team Simpkins. They both checked through the remaining streets on the rundown. While Team Pantaleo revealed for two pairs, aces and tens with the jack-kicker on the board, team Loeser tabled for the same two pair but had the higher king-high kicker. With that they tripled up while Team Simpkins mucked their hand.

Right after the Team headed by Spencer Flores was eliminated by the Team of Andrew Wilson,Luther eliminated Sergei Gurin. Gurin of Endrit Geci’s Team announced all in and Luther made the call. Gurin revealed while Luther tabled . The board and Luther’s ace-high held, sending Team Gurin out of the tournament..

The team of Bon-Koo- Bienvenido Caballero is leading the way coming into the final day with an impressive stack of 828,000. Following them are William Reymond- Ami Alibay (706,000), Adam Lamphere – Ao Chen- Yijie Zhang (705,000). The other big stack holders are, Manig Loeser – Joelle Parenteau – Daniel Weinand (615,000), Johan Lees – Jesse Mason (602,000) and Salah ‘Papa’ Levy – Francis Mariani – Cord Garcia (585,000).

Only 155 teams were guaranteed to make the money spots and two hours into play on Day 2, the money bubble burst. The two teams of Tobias Hariefeld – Christian Rudolph and Gerald Dunn- Juan Rodriguez were eliminated during hand-for-hand play at the same time, and since they were on different tables, they split the payout (155th for $1,502).

Andrew Barber – Sam Razavi – Dan Smith and Erik Seidel teamed up and announced that all their winnings in the event will go to the REG Charity. They eventually cashed out $2,252 at 72nd place.

Other notable eliminations featured Fraser MacIntyre – Barny Boatman (62nd for $642), James Akenhead and Yiannis Liperis (61st for $641), Ashley Sleeth – Jesse Sylvia and Dylan Hortin (118th for $525), Dara O’Kearney – Alan Widmann – Daiva Byrne and Benny Glaser (121st for $394).

Bon Koo
Bon Koo

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 2

1. Bon Koo – Bienvenido Caballero – 828,000

2. William Reymond – Ami Alibay – 706,000

3. Adam Lamphere – Ao Chen – Yijie Zhang – 705,000

4. Manig Loeser – Joelle Parenteau – Daniel Weinand – 615,000

5. Johan Lees – Jesse Mason – 602,000

6. Salah Levy – Francis Mariani – Cord Garcia – 585,000

7. Gabriel Neto – Carlos Caputo – 546,000

8. Thomas Gangloff – Bryan Boser – 504,000

9. Shalev Halfa – Oshri Lahmani – 492,000

10. Loni Harwood – Haixa Zhang – Kelly Minkin – 480,000

Event #56: $10,000 Razz Championship

The 52 participants who had bagged on Day 1 returned to the felts at the start of Day 2 to compete for the WSOP gold and the first-place prize money of $309,220. Following 39 eliminations, 13 runners are left and leading from the front is Calvin Anderson (962,000) followed by John “World” Hennigan (841,000) and Alex Balandin (833,000).

Several former bracelet winners participated in the event but not all were able to cash in. With only 18 places assured a payday, Daniel Ospina (18th for $15,256) was the first player to reach the money, followed by Scott Seiver (17th for $15,256), James Obst (16th for $15,256) and Cary Katz (15th for $15,256). Per Hildebrand (14th for $17,706) was the final elimination of the day.

Many bracelet winners were sidelined along the way today including Chris Ferguson, John Racener, Brian Hastings, Erik Seidel, Shaun Deeb and Phil Hellmuth.

Calvin Anderson
Calvin Anderson

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 2

1. Calvin Anderson – 962,000

2. John Hennigan – 841,000

3. Alex Balandin – 833,000

4. Julien Martini – 712,000

5. Mike Leah – 594,000

6. Dzmitry Urbanovich – 592,000

7. Jerry Wong – 529,000

8. Frank Kassela – 252,000

9. Allen Kessler – 238,000

10. Paul Volpe – 222,000

Event #57: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship

Pulling in a field of 696 players, Event #57: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship is currently left with only 104 contenders standing in line for the bracelet. Mesha James has the most chips with 130,200, while Vesna Kuzmanic (102,700) and Jill Pike (94,300) round up the top three stacks.

Others with notable stacks include Natasha Mercier (63,700), Sarah Casey (52,200), Molly Mossey (50,600), Kristy Arnett (38,500) and Aylar Lie (28,000).

However, there were some eminent names that did not make it past Day 1 such as Maria Konnikova, Emily Tai Kornuth, Heidi May and Katie Swift.

India’s first lady or poker Shuchi Chamaria and First Ladies award winner Muskan Sethi had also entered the event but both exited before the end of play.

The money bubble burst towards the fag end of the day and was a hard-fought play that eventually saw Tiffany Michelle and Karen Xiyo getting eliminated simultaneously and both shared the min-cash amount of $1,497, with each getting $748.

Mesha James
Mesha James

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 1

1. Mesha James – 130,200

2. Vesna Kuzmanic – 102,700

3. Jill Pike – 94,300

4. Hana Cho – 90,400

5. Alexis Sterner – 85,700

6. Tara Snow – 81,400

7. Shannon Zigner – 78,800

8. Lisa Costello – 75,900

9. Tammy Abraham – 72,500

10. Lisa Ronning – 71,100

Event #58: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed

The Amazon Room at the Rio Hotel & Casino was flooded with 595 contenders who came to participate in Event #58: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed resulting in a prize pool of $2,766,750. At the end of the day, Thomas Cannuli emerged as the chip leader with 286,000, while Andrew Graham (214,300) along with Julian Milliard-Feral (201,900) are in close pursuit.

Indian challenger Aditya Sushant had also entered the event but hit the rail after losing most of his chips in a flush vs flush hand, his ace-queen was cracked by king-queen.

Apart from the top three, other pros who managed to build up healthy stacks over the course of the day were Asi Moshe (153,300), Robert Mizrachi (140,700), Bart Lybaert (100,800), Kyle Hartree (90,100)andElio Fox (73,500).

Numerous poker heavyweights were seen in action but busted before the money bubble burst including Shaun Deeb, Kristen Bicknell, Michael Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu, Niall Farrell, Michael Marder, Esther Taylor, Ryan Laplante, Jason Somerville, Eric Baldwin and Faraz Jaka.

Thomas Cannuli
Thomas Cannuli

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 1

1. Thomas Cannuli – 286,000

2. Andrew Graham – 214,300

3. Julian Milliard-Feral – 201,900

4. Ivan Luca – 159,400

5. Jimmy Guerrero – 157,000

6. Asi Moshe – 153,300

7. Robert Mizrachi – 140,700

8. Aaron Mermelstein – 131,800

9. Jan-Eric Schwippert – 129,200

10. Romain Lewis – 124,800

WSOP 2018 Coverage
WSOP 2018 Coverage

Content & image courtesy WSOP.com

Keep following the latest updates from WSOP 2018 right here on PokerGuru!

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3. WSOP 2018: Team India’s Nikita Luther Likely to Multi-Table as She Reaches Day 3 in $3,000 Big Blind Antes & Day 2 in $1,000 Tag Team Event

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