PSPC Record Stands Tall at 1,039 Entries, Farid Jattin Leads 207 Survivors For Day 3

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  • Attreyee Khasnabis January 8, 2019
  • 6 Minutes Read

Its official now! The $25,000 PokerStars NL Hold’em Players Championship (PSPC) attendance record stands at 1,039 entries, collecting a monstrous prize pool of $26,455,500, making it by far the biggest $25K tournament in the history of poker!

While it is indubitable that the PSPC is a grand success, Team India’s run unfortunately ended on Day 2. Young Gun Sharad Rao (125,600), Team PokerStars pro Aditya Agarwal (80,600) and Platinum Pass winners Nikhil Segel (90,200), Raman Gujral (69,900) and Saurabh Sindhwani (65,500), who had all started the day with workable stacks, were unable to progress to Day 3.

After eight 60-minute levels of the day were concluded, Colombian pro Farid Jattin emerged as the Day 2 chip leader with a huge stack of 921,000, with Mustapha Kanit (888,000) and Griffin Benger (885,000) the other top stacks.

With 181 places assured payouts, the largest piece of the prize money cake has been reserved for the eventual champion who will take home a gigantic paycheque of $5.1 Million, including $1 Million added by PokerStars. It should also be noted that players who finish between 151st to 181st places will get their money back since the normal admin fee has been added back into the prize pool.

PokerStars has gone above and beyond to ensure the success of the tournament and while doing so has kept in mind the comfort of its players and the needs of the viewing audience. Free live stream of the PSPC accessible on all popular platforms like Facebook, Twitch and YouTube with support for several foreign languages including Russian and Spanish.

Off the poker tables, special arrangements have been made for the Platinum Pass winners and their guests. On January 5, a Platinum Pass Winners’ Welcome Reception was arranged from 20:00 – 23:00 at the Player Lounge. Winners were able to directly meet with PokerStars Team Ambassadors and other star players. There is also a PCA Player Party scheduled to take place on January 10 from 19:30 – 22:30 at the Royal Deck. Furthermore, all the players present during PSPC will have the opportunity to win exciting prizes just by showing up to play.

Day 2 Recap

Team India had ended Day 1 on a high note but unfortunately failed to carry the momentum into Day 2.

Online regular Sharad Rao (125,600) had carried one of the bigger stacks among the Indian contingent. Rao was in the thick of the action during level 11. First up, he faced Chen An Lin. Rao raised to 4,500 from the small blind and Lin called to see the flop . Lin check-called a 3,500 bet from Rao. Both players checked to see the turn . The river completed the board. Lin checked, and Rao waited for 90 seconds before announcing a bet of 26,000. Lin immediately tossed his cards, giving Rao the pot..

Soon thereafter, Rao was entangled in a three-way hand against Haoxiang Wang and Taylor Black. Rao opened to 4,500 and Black 3-bet to 13,500. Wang 4-bet to 32,500 from the big blind causing Rao to tank before shoving all-in for about 110,000. Black folded his hand, while Wang asked for a count. Ultimately, Wang mucked his cards, as Rao won the pot.

Though things seemed to have been going well for Rao for the most part, his luck eventually ran out during the penultimate level of day and he headed out to the rail empty-handed.

Perhaps one of the most inspiring PSPC stories was that of the New Delhi-based architect, Nikhil Segel who had advanced to Day 2 with a stack of 90,200.

Sadly, his run came to an end in early hours of Day 2, at the hands of Jackson Lanier. Segel lost a huge pot early on to fellow countryman and Team PokerStars India pro Aditya Agarwal. With only 19,000 left in the bag, Segal pitted his pocket eights against Lanier’s ace-jack. The 10-high flop gave Lanier the edge, and the king on the turn increased his chances of an inside straight draw. The queen on the river sealed the deal ending Segel’s dream run.

India’s poker icon Aditya Agarwal started Day 2 with 80,600 in the bag and as always kept us informed about his progress throughout the day.

Aditya Agarwal
Aditya Agarwal

Towards the last levels of the day, he eventually joined his fellow compatriots at the rail when his fell short against Atanas Pavlov‘s which bettered to three-of-a-kind nines on the runout .

However, he also tweeted that he will be playing the rest of the series, so we haven’t seen the last of him yet.

The last of the GPL India qualifiers who made it to Day 2, Raman Gujral and Saurabh Sindhwani also busted out during the course of play.

Day 2 ended with Colombia’s Farid Jattin reigning supreme with a massive stack of 921,000. The High Roller specialist was accompanied by Mustapha Kanit (888,000) and Griffin Benger (885,000) at the top of the leaderboard.

Farid Jattin
Farid Jattin

Day 1 chip leader Talal Shakerchi too had a great day at the felts and bagged 691,000 in chips. Other notable stacks include 2018 Global Poker Index (GPI) Female Player of the Year (POY) Kristen Bicknell (631,000), Christoph Vogelsang (483,000), Filipe Oliveira (479,000), Upeshka Desilva (435,000), Luc Greenwood (356,000) and Ryan Riess (354,000).

Among the players eliminated on Day 2 were several big names including Phil Hellmuth, who lost his pocket tens to John Andress‘s ace-king, and defending PCA Main Event champion Maria Lampropulos, who was coolered with the flopped second nuts against the nut straight of Theo Da Cruz Lima.

Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth

Another early elimination came in the form of ‘Poker Tourist’ Asif Warris. The UK player had won his seat to the PSPC due his persistence but in the end that wasn’t enough to carry him through to Day 3 as he fell victim to Pascal Hartmann during level 10.

The PSPC adventure is over for a number of Team PokerStars pros including the likes of Lex Veldhuis, Kevin Martin, Jennifer Shahade, Randy Lew, Fatima Moreira de Melo and Jaime Staples.

With the money bubble looming, the 207 runners will return for Day 3 action later today where the first order of duty would be to make it in the money.

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 2

1. Farid Jattin – 921,000

2. Mustapha Kanit – 888,000

3. Griffin Benger – 885,000

4. Julien Martini – 832,000

5. Athanasios Polychronopoulos – 797,000

6. Samuel Tsehai – 750,000

7. Martins Adeniya – 748,000

8. Brandon Adams – 731,000

9. Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault – 725,000

10. Ramin Hajiyev – 720,000

Content & Images courtesy: PokerStars, PokerNews

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates from the PSPC!

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