$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28: 75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,334

After no action for an entire level, we lost three players in three hands to set the final table with nine players remaining. Julio Delgado holds a huge lead at the start with second place Shane Melert holding about half Delgado’s amount.

Seat 1: Drew Dodge – 775,000 (6 bb)
Seat 2: Manny Minaya – 3,120,000 (25 bb)
Seat 3: Alan Thomas – 1,900,000 (15 bb)
Seat 4: Julio Delgado – 15,450,000 (124 bb)
Seat 5: Jerry Argento – 900,000 (7 bb)
Seat 6: Shane Melert – 8,050,000 (64 bb)
Seat 7: Wally Maddah – 1,600,000 (13 bb)
Seat 8: Josh Babcock – 3,900,000 (31 bb)
Seat 9: Joel Deutsch – 4,325,000 (35 bb)

Remaining payouts:

1st: $74,650 + WPO trophy
2nd: $49,760
3rd: $36,770
4th: $27,460
5th: $20,710
6th: $15,790
7th: $12,160
8th: $9,470
9th: $7,450

10th: John Bollette – $7,450
11th: Marco Capaccioli – $5,930
12th: Chris Tryba – $5,930

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28: 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  12 of 1,334

If folded to Shane Melert on the button and he raised to 200,000. Manny Minaya shipped all in for 2,250,000 from the small blind, Chris Tryba folded his big, and Melert called with the bigger stack.

Minaya:
Melert:

Minaya was in trouble and needed help to double up. The changed nothing, he paired his four on the turn but was still behind. The double came on the river and he sat back down to stack his new chips.

Manny Minaya – 4,700,000 (47 bb)
Shane Melert – 1,800,000 (18 bb)

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27: 50,000/75,000 with a 75,000 ante
Players Remaining:  12 of 1,334

Alan Thomas opened to 150,000 from the hijack and Shawn Sorgi moved all in for 625,000 from the cutoff. The button and blinds folded and Thomas called.

Thomas:
Sorgi:

Sorgi was in a lot of trouble with the smaller pair but made a set of fours on the flop. The turn was safe but Thomas his the two-out river for a bigger set.

Alan Thomas – 2,775,000 (37 bb)
Shawn Sorgi – Eliminated in 13th Place ($4,770)

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27: 50,000/75,000 with a 75,000 ante
Players Remaining:  14 of 1,334

Josh Babcock opened to 175,000 from the cutoff and Luke Torres came along from the big blind to see the flop. Torres checked, Babcock continued for another 200,000 and Torres called.

The turn was , Torres checked, Babcock bet 700,000 and Torres check/raised all in for 1,400,000. Babcock quickly called and we saw the damage.

Babcock:
Torres:

A huge cooler with 15 players remaining and Torres could not find a king on the river to exit the tournament.

Josh Babcock – 4,900,000 (65 bb)
Luke Torres – Eliminated in 15th Place ($3,890)

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27: 50,000/75,000 with a 75,000 ante
Players Remaining:  15 of 1,334

Players are back in their seats after the dinner break and return with Julio Delgado still way out front.

Blinds are up to 50,000/75,000 with a 75,000 ante and the average stack is about 2,675,000 (36 bb).

Table 21
Seat 1: Jerry Argento – 1,450,000 (19 bb)
Seat 2: Alan Thomas – 975,000 (13 bb)
Seat 3: Shawn Sorgi – 1,075,000 (14 bb)
Seat 4: Marco Capaccioli – 1,550,000 (21 bb)
Seat 5: Shane Melert – 4,425,000 (59 bb)
Seat 6: Manny Minaya – 2,225,000 (30 bb)
Seat 7: Chris Tryba – 3,700,000 (49 bb)
Seat 8: Joel Deutsch – 3,700,000 (49 bb)

Table 22
Seat 1: Josh Babcock – 1,975,000 (26 bb)
Seat 2: Julio Delgado – 9,350,000 (125 bb)
Seat 3: John Bollette – 3,250,000 (43 bb)
Seat 4: — Empty —
Seat 5: Luke Torres – 2,200,000 (29 bb)
Seat 6: Drew Dodge – 825,000 (11 bb)
Seat 7: Wally Maddah – 1,100,000 (15 bb)
Seat 8: Nathan Lee – 2,025,000 (27 bb)

Remaining payouts:

1st: $74,650 + WPO trophy
2nd: $49,760
3rd: $36,770
4th: $27,460
5th: $20,710
6th: $15,790
7th: $12,160
8th: $9,470
9th-10th: $7,450
11th-12th: $5,930
13th-14th: $4,770
15th: $3,890

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25: 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  15 of 1,334

Level 25 came to an end and tournament staff sent the 15 remaining players on a 30-minute dinner break. We will grab the two-table lineup and chip counts while they are gone.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25: 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  16 of 1,334

Julio Delgado’s time outside the top spot did not last long. We caught the end of the biggest hand of the tournament with the board reading and about 2,000,000 in the pot. David Meagher’s approximately 2,600,000 went in the middle against Delgado’s bigger stack.

Meagher:
Delgado:

Meagher’s kings were outflopped by Delgado and his trip tens. Meagher was looking for one of the two remaining kings in the deck but missed the river to send the huge pot to Delgado.

Julio Delgado – 7,445,000 (124 bb)

17th: Craig Grainger – $3,200
18th: David Meagher – $3,200
19th: Paul Lambrakis – $3,200
20th: Asif Mohammed – $3,200

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25: 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  19 of 1,334

Event 1 is down to 19 players, the blinds are up, and we have two new big stacks in the shrinking field. John Bellotte is up to 3,620,000 and it looks like some of that came from Julio Delgado who is sitting with 2,900,000. Shane Melert is currently leading with 3,845,000 with one more level till the dinner break.

Blinds are up to 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante and the average stack is about 2,110,000 (35 bb).

21st: Anthony Askey – $2,670
22nd: Jesse Hadley – $2,670
23rd: Andrew Johnson – $2,670
24th: Sam Kim – $2,670

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24: 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  24 of 1,334

As the tournament moved into Level 24, Matt Lea was eliminated in 25th place. Tournament staff paused the clock and the 24 remaining players redrew new seats at the last three tables.

Blinds increased to 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante and the average stack is about 1,680,000 (33 bb).

25th: Matt Lea – $2,250
26th: Branda Lane-Worley – $2,250
27th: David Rylander – $2,250
28th: John Gordon – $2,250
29th: Stephen Blackman – $2,250
30th: Carlos Frontela – $2,250
31st: Joey Zahn – $2,250
32nd: Doug Marro – $2,250

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23: 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  28 of 1,334

Action folded to the button, he opened to 80,000 and Marco Capaccioli three-bet shipped for 670,000 from the small blind. Manny Minaya thought about coming along in the big blind but folded before the button called.

Capaccioli:
Button:

It was a race and Capaccioli connected his ace immediately on the flop. The turn and river finished the board and Capaccioli found a double.

Marco Capaccioli – 1,420,000 (36 bb)