$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship

From the starting field of 410 entries, the final 135 players returned to the Pavilion today for the race to the money. Nine levels later, just 27 of them remain.

Chance Kornuth did the most work, finishing with 1,185,000 and the chip lead. He’s the only player with a seven-figure stack in the bag, and he’ll continue to set the pace when play resumes.

Here’s how the field will be laid out to begin Day 3:

Table 1
Seat 1: John Holley – 244,000 (24 bb)
Seat 2: John Depersio – 135,000 (14 bb)
Seat 3: Hunter Cichy – 162,000 (16 bb)
Seat 4: Jonathan Abla – 365,000 (37 bb)
Seat 5: Danny Notice – 197,000 (20 bb)
Seat 6: Josh Hillock – 240,000 (24 bb)
Seat 7: Tristan Wade – 130,000 (13 bb)
Seat 8: Matt Affleck – 628,000 (63 bb)
Seat 9: Andre Pillow – 386,000 (39 bb)

Table 2
Seat 1: Jean Gaspard – 564,000 (56 bb)
Seat 2: Brandon Miller – 122,000 (12 bb)
Seat 3: James Brown – 468,000 (47 bb)
Seat 4: Nathan Bjerno – 366,000 (37 bb)
Seat 5: Chance Kornuth – 1,185,000 (119 bb)
Seat 6: Bienvenido Santiago – 223,000 (22 bb)
Seat 7: T.K. Miles – 294,000 (29 bb)
Seat 8: Kevin Ho – 791,000 (79 bb)
Seat 9: Javier Zarco – 852,000 (85 bb)

Table 3
Seat 1: Shea Smith – 145,000 (15 bb)
Seat 2: Michael Laake – 560,000 (56 bb)
Seat 3: Alberto Rodriguez – 266,000 (27 bb)
Seat 4: Cord Garcia – 139,000 (14 bb)
Seat 5: Scott Zakheim – 102,000 (10 bb)
Seat 6: Peter Walsworth – 250,000 (25 bb)
Seat 7: John Dolan – 309,000 (31 bb)
Seat 8: Ioannis Patsourakis – 600,000 (60 bb)
Seat 9: Richard Leger – 529,000 (53 bb)

Cards go in the air at 2:00 PM, and they’ll play until a winner is determined. Everyone left is guaranteed at least $7,000, while the eventual champion will earn $264,000 and the Coco Poker Open Championship trophy.

Here are the results for the in-the-money finishers so far:

28th: Niel Blumenfield – $6,000
29th: Scott Efron – $6,000
30th: Evan Teitelbaum – $6,000
31st: Yu Tuan – $6,000
32nd: Zachary Goodman – $6,000
33rd: Jerry Wong – $6,000
34th: Steven McKoy – $6,000
35th: David Barbieri – $6,000
36th: Harvey Freedman – $6,000
37th: Mohammed Jaafar – $5,000
38th: Cory Burbick – $5,000
39th: Chris Bolek – $5,000
40th: James Carroll – $5,000
41st: Alfonso Perez – $5,000
42nd: Roberto Barreto – $5,000
43rd: Hans Winzeler – $5,000
44th: Stewart Newman – $5,000
45th: Eric Becks – $5,000

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 19: 4,000/8,000/1,000 Ante

Michael Ortiz limps in from the button, Neil Blumenfield completes from the small blind, and James Brown checks his option in the big.

The flop comes , and it checks to Ortiz, who moves all in for about 90,000. Blumenfield calls with the covering stack, and Brown folds out of the way. Ortiz is at risk, and the news is not good.

Ortiz: (top pair)
Blumenfield: (bottom two pair)

The turn and river come and , and Blumenfield’s two pair are counterfeited. Ortiz wins with kings up, doubling up and reducing his opponent to less than 40,000 chips.

Blumenfield is eliminated on the next hand, signaling the end of Day 2.

Michael Ortiz – 210,000
Neil Blumenfield – Eliminated

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 19: 4,000/8,000/1,000 Ante

Under the gun, Tommy Vu moves all in for about 180,000, and Chance Kornuth re-shoves from the button with his towering stack. When the blinds fold, the cards are turned up.

“I need to get lucky,” Vu says.

Vu:
Kornuth:

The board runs out , and Kornuth wins the pot with trip aces.

Vu is out in 31st place.

Chance Kornuth – 1,250,000
Tommy Vu – Eliminated

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 19: 4,000/8,000/1,000 Ante

John Dolan opens the pot from early position, and Steven McKoy three-bet shoves for about 125,000 in the big blind. Dolan calls with the covering stack.

Dolan:
McKoy:

The flop gives McKoy two more outs, and the turn gives him the lead with Broadway. The river is the , though, and Dolan fills up to win the pot.

McKoy is out in 33rd place.

John Dolan – 320,000 (40 bb)
Steven McKoy – Eliminated

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 19: 4,000/8,000/1,000 Ante

The purple T500 chips have been colored up and raced off, and the blue T25,000 chips are now in play. Cards are back in the air for the new level, and play will continue until 27 players remain.

There are currently five players with more than a half million chips, and one of them has a sizable chip lead over the field:

Chance Kornuth – 990,000 (124 bb)
Javier Zarco – 712,000 (89 bb)
Kevin Ho – 624,000 (78 bb)
Michael Laake – 550,000 (69 bb)
Scott Efron – 506,000 (63 bb)

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
End of Level 18: 3,000/6,000/1,000 Ante

The 40 remaining players are on a 15-minute break.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 18: 3,000/6,000/1,000 Ante

Jason Mercier moves all in for 58,500 from late position, and T.K. Miles calls on the button. The action is held while the other tables finish up, and Mercier and Miles exchange information about their hands. Mercier doesn’t like the news he receives, and he begins packing up to leave.

“Hey, that’s bad luck,” Scott Efron admonishes from across the table.

Mercier just laughs. “It’s bad luck to have the hand I have against the hand he has,” he says. When the rest of the action is complete at the surrounding tables, the cards are turned over.

Mercier:
Miles:

The board runs out , and Miles wins the pot with aces up. Mercier is eliminated on the bubble, and the 45 remaining players are all in the money.

T.K. Miles – 365,000 (61 bb)
Jason Mercier – Eliminated

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

There are 46 players left, and only 45 of them will finish in the money. The field is now on the direct money bubble, and the game is being dealt hand-for-hand until the next elimination.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Javier Zarco opens to 12,000 in middle position, and Neil Blumenfield three-bets to 29,000. Zarco calls.

The flop comes , and Zarco check-calls a continuation bet of 34,000. The turn is the . Zarco checks again, and Blumenfield checks behind.

The river is the , and Zarco leads for 89,500. Blumenfield tanks and folds. The pot is pushed to Zarco, and he’s now nipping at the heals of the chip leader.

Javier Zarco – 390,000 (78 bb)
Neil Blumenfield – 410,000 (82 bb)