Player’s 2nd tournament cash a big one in WSOP Main Event

George Holmes hardly plays poker tournaments, but helium is becoming a Main Event specialist.

Holmes was holding onto 2nd spot presumption with 5 players near astatine the last array of the World Series of Poker Main Event, the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship, precocious Tuesday astatine the Rio.

The players were acceptable to proceed for 1 much elimination, past the last 4 volition instrumentality Wednesday to find who walks distant with the bracelet and $8 million. (The WSOP awards trophy bracelets for tourney victories.)

Holmes, 49, of Atlanta, has cashed lone 1 different clip successful a poker tournament, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database: 213th successful the 2019 Main Event for $50,855.

Now he’s guaranteed astatine slightest $1.8 cardinal for 5th spot retired of the tract of 6,650.

“I lone play the Main Event,” Holmes told PokerNews. “I’ve been to a WSOP Circuit halt successful North Carolina a fewer years ago, but this is the lone WSOP lawsuit I travel retired to play.”

Holmes said helium concentrates connected currency games and plays successful a play location crippled successful Atlanta.

He was astir retired the doorway connected Day 7. According to PokerNews, helium was down to conscionable implicit 1 large unsighted (475,000) aft losing an all-in pot. Holmes went all-in against 4 callers and won to get backmost to 2 million.

A mates of hours aboriginal helium had 20 million, and by the extremity of the day, helium was 2nd successful chips with 83.7 million.

“It’s a chaotic ride. It’s surreal,” Holmes said. “I don’t adjacent deliberation I’ll beryllium capable to instrumentality it each successful until it’s over.”

Holmes and everyone other astatine the last array were looking up astatine high-stakes standout Koray Aldemir. He came into the time connected apical with 140 cardinal chips and built a monolithic pb astatine 253 cardinal with 5 players left. (No 1 other had much than Holmes’ 51.9 million.)

Aldemir flopped a afloat location with pouch nines connected a jack-jack-nine flop and stake each the way. Alejandro Lococo called each the mode with pouch tens and went from 2nd successful chips to retired successful seventh for $1.225 million.

Aldemir aboriginal knocked retired Hye Park successful sixth for $1.4 million.

Aldemir, a Germany autochthonal who lives successful Austria, has much than $12 cardinal successful vocation tourney earnings, according to the Hendon Mob. He has much than $3 cardinal successful net successful WSOP events, but has ne'er won a bracelet.

The time started with 2 speedy eliminations.

Chase Bianchi, the lone subordinate astatine the array already with a bracelet, shoved his abbreviated stack successful with king-queen and mislaid to the ace-king of Jack Oliver. Bianchi won $1 cardinal for ninth.

Jareth East followed connected the adjacent hand. He went all-in with ace-jack and mislaid to Holmes’ pouch queens. East got $1.1 million.

This is simply a processing story. Check backmost for updates.

Contact Jim Barnes astatine jbarnes@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV connected Twitter.