James Calvo and Gaurav Raina to Battle for Bracelet in Event #29
Day 3 of the 2017 World Series of Poker Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em has come to a conclusion and two players out of a 1,086-entry field remain in contention for the gold bracelet and first-place payout of $456,822 that comes along with it.
James Calvo (9,600,000) and Gaurav Raina (4,000,000) are set to return at 1 p.m. local time on Sunday to determine the champion. The action will resume with 30 minutes left in level 31 at blinds of 60,000/120,000 and a running ante of 15,000.
Who are the two contenders for their respective maiden bracelet?
James “Jim” Calvo is from Quincy, Illinois and now lives in Naperville. Calvo is 51 years old, has four children and works as an attorney and real estate investor. He has two WSOP cashes so far for $17,099 in total.
Gaurav “Gary” Raina, born in Livingston, New Jersey, and currently resides in Athens, Georgia, is a 33-year-old poker pro who previously worked in sales. Thus far, Raina has two WSOP cashes for a combined total of $9,749.
They have something else in common: Calvo and Raina outlasted two former WSOP bracelet winners on this final table with Eddy Sabat bowing out in fourth place and Asi Moshe following in third place.
| Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Calvo | United States | 9,600,000 | 80 |
| Gaurav Raina | United States | 4,000,000 | 33 |
A total of 30 players returned for Day 3 and three early casualties set up the last three tables. Among those to bust thereafter were Jonathan Abdellatif (27th), Curt Kohlberg (26th), Federico Butteroni (24th), John Dolan (22nd) and Day 1 chip leader Pablo Fernandez (19th) for $13,186 each.
Former Asian Player of the Year Pete Chen fell in 15th place after a roller coaster day that ultimately saw him run with ace-king into pocket aces. Chi Zhang followed in 13th place when his ace-jack found no help against the pocket tens of Asi Moshe on a nine-high board.
Fewer than 10 minutes later, the field was reduced to the last 10 hopefuls. Jamie Armstrong had a kicker problem with ace-four against ace-king and Tom Thomas ran with king-ten suited into the pocket aces of Griffin Abel. Thomas flopped a flush draw and turned a king, but a blank jack on the river was of no help. These quick elimination set up the following unofficial final table:
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asi Moshe | Israel | 2,295,000 | 77 |
| 2 | Sadan Turker | United Kingdom | 740,000 | 25 |
| 3 | Griffin Abel | United States | 1,285,000 | 43 |
| 4 | Eric Cloutier | Canada | 875,000 | 29 |
| 5 | Giuseppe Pantaleo | Germany | 1,850,000 | 62 |
| 6 | [Removed:153] | Sweden | 1,025,000 | 34 |
| 7 | James Calvo | United States | 1,275,000 | 43 |
| 8 | Scott Margereson | United Kingdom | 755,000 | 25 |
| 9 | Gaurav Raina | United States | 1,040,000 | 35 |
| 10 | Eddy Sabat | United States | 2,445,000 | 82 |
Final Table Action So Far
Eddy Sabat and Asi Moshe were at the top of the counts, but the duo was soon separated when Moshe rivered trip jacks with ace-jack and took a big pot off Sabat. Moshe followed that up with another big pot with two pair versus inferior two pair, and suddenly Sabat dropped into the middle of the pack.
Sadan Turker lost the vast majority of his stack when paying off the rivered nut flush by Giuseppe Pantaleo and would soon after join the rail. Down to just over two big blinds, Turker pushed all in with pocket sixes and [Removed:153] reshoved with pocket sevens from middle position. The board ran out king-high and Turker had to settle for a payday of $25,728.
Scott Margereson became the first casualty on the official final table. He previously lost most of his chips with king-queen suited against ace-jack and lost a flip with pocket queens against the ace-king of Eric Cloutier when two aces appeared on the flop.
In hand #22 of the final table, second-placed Giuseppe Pantaleo clashed with chip leader Asi Moshe and got his stack in with jack-ten suited for the nut straight on the flop. Moshe looked him up with ace-seven suited for the bottom pair and nut flush draw. Pantaleo walked away from the table, fearing the worst, and the kind of diamonds immediately left him drawing dead.
[Removed:153] was the next to fall. He three-bet all in with pocket kings and Eric Cloutier as initial raiser called with ace-queen suited to flop an ace and send the Swede to the rail in 7th place. Cloutier's fortune would not last long, as he lost half of his stack in a three-way all in with pocket queens against the ace-king of Griffin Abel and the pocket nines of Eddy Sabat. A nine on the flop and king on the river let Sabat triple up, while Abel was left very short and busted the very next hand.
Only a few hands later, Eric Cloutier shoved with the ace-eight off suit and Asi Moshe quickly called with ace-king off suit out of the big blind. Cloutier picked up a gutshot on the turn, but his kicker ended up second-best to eliminate the Canadian in 5th place.
Eddy Sabat lost a big all in with ace-queen suited against the ace-ten of Gaurav Raina and the latter finished him off soon after. Raina pushed from the small blind with king-queen. Sabat called for his last 11 big blinds with king-nine and failed to get there.
Until then, Asi Moshe was cruising at the top of the counts but this changed in a matter of few hands. He first lost a few pots to James Calvo and called the five-bet shove of Calvo with ace-jack versus ace-queen to lose the vast majority of his stack. The very next hand, Moshe shoved from the button with nine-eight suited. Gaurav Raina called with ace-king in the big blind and the board ran out king-high.
What followed was more than 70 hands of heads-up play and it could have been over only two hands in, but Raina doubled. Calvo doubled back into the lead and had his foe at risk in hand #116 with pocket sevens versus ace-queen. A queen appeared on the river and Raina stayed in contention to see both bag up after ten full hours of play.
Final Table Results at a Glance
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $456,822 | ||
| 2 | $282,276 | ||
| 3 | Asi Moshe | Israel | $199,718 |
| 4 | Eddy Sabat | United States | $143,148 |
| 5 | Eric Cloutier | Canada | $103,957 |
| 6 | Griffin Abel | United States | $76,506 |
| 7 | [Removed:153] | Sweden | $57,068 |
| 8 | Giuseppe Pantaleo | Germany | $43,154 |
| 9 | Scott Margereson | United Kingdom | $33,087 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide hand-for-hand coverage until a winner is crowned, so make sure to tune back in when the heads-up recommences.