The action was picked up on a board of J?A?J?5?10? where Maurizio Lo Russo led from the small blind for about 725,000. It was then on George James on the button who took a moment and then moved all in while covering.
Lo Russo went deep into the tank and thought through his options for close to three minutes. He eventually slammed in a call but he got the bad news.
James was holding quad jacks to beat the nut-straight of Lo Russo. He made his exit but has a ton to be proud of. Sometimes they just have it.
On the second day of Event #8: $1,700 No Limit Holdem Main Event at the World Series of Poker Circuit Playground, the players did not disappoint. Professional Dustin Melanson emerged as the chip leader with a stack of 8,255,000. He will lead the 22 remaining players at Playground this morning to see if he can collect the ring, the massive $375,000 first-place prize, and the glory, but the other players will not make it easy.
The Main Event had a guaranteed prize pool of $1,500,000, but it exceeded expectations and reached a total of $2,490,000. At the moment, all the remaining players have secured $9,200, but they have a chance to earn an extra $1,100 if they make it to 21.
Tony Wong
Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dustin Melanson
Canada
8,255,000
83
2
Hugo Morrissette
Canada
5,885,000
59
3
Stephane Blouin-Verroeulst
Canada
4,920,000
49
4
Mohammad Feizi
Canada
4,410,000
44
5
Ran Yi
Canada
3,520,000
35
6
Robert Wong
Canada
3,345,000
33
7
George James
Canada
3,075,000
31
8
Wangchao Yuan
Canada
3,020,000
30
9
Joey Messina
Canada
3,005,000
30
10
Michael Porkolab
Canada
2,915,000
29
Nghi Van Tran
The players will be focused on the grand prize of $375,000, which would be the biggest win in many of their careers. Melanson is currently leading the game, but there are several other players who are close behind and could take over the lead with just one double. The game will resume at 11 a.m. on Monday morning with the players returning to blinds of 50,000/100,000/100,000.
Stay tuned to Pokernews for updates on this and many other events happening worldwide.
