Kachittavong Secures His Third Cash of the PokerStars Summer Series
The second flight of Event #3: $2,200 No Limit Hold’Em at the PokerStars Summer Series at Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia was another huge success. Day 1a brought in 95 entrants and was bested by the 131 entrants that took their shot at the $500,000 guarantee tonight. 17 total players found a bag and will be advancing to Day 2.
After the dust settled it was Joseph Liberta who bagged the chip lead with a very healthy 728,000. He was quiet for much of the day but a few hands late in the day on the soft bubble helped propel him to just 5,000 more chips than Sameer Batra (723,000) who finished in second place.
There were plenty of other players who made their presence known and were involved early and often. Neal Gay (622,000) won a massive hand on the bubble to get him a top three stack, Norman Roger (601,000) stayed patient and picked his spots well on his way to a top spot, and WSOP Bracelet winner Boris Kravets (446,000) was among the big stacks for most of the day.
Final 17 Players From Day 1b
| Place | Name | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph Liberta | United States | 728,000 |
| 2 | Sameer Batra | United States | 723,000 |
| 3 | Neal Gay | United States | 622,000 |
| 4 | Norman Roger | United States | 601,000 |
| 5 | Kyle Lorenz | United States | 546,000 |
| 6 | Justin Lett | United States | 520,000 |
| 7 | Boris Kravets | United States | 446,000 |
| 8 | Soukha Kachittavong | United States | 370,000 |
| 9 | Jamie Gold | United States | 344,000 |
| 10 | Birjyot Bindra | United States | 330,000 |
| 11 | Kenny Huynh | United States | 311,000 |
| 12 | Matt Matros | United States | 296,000 |
| 13 | Evan Cutler | United States | 213,000 |
| 14 | Simon Levy | United States | 177,000 |
| 15 | Joseph Palma | United States | 140,000 |
| 16 | Joseph Drory | United States | 104,000 |
| 17 | Ron Adams | United States | 67,000 |
2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold (344,000) found a bag and will return on Day 2 to see if he can regain some of that main event magic here in Philadelphia.
The most intriguing story coming out of Day 1b certainly must be Soukha Kachittavong (370,000). Kachittavong finished seventh in Event #1 and shipped Event #2 by way of a heads up chop. One thing is for sure, Kachittavong has been crushing this series. He will return on Day 2 of Event #3 to take his shot at the trifecta of final tables and possibly even a second title. He is not shy about putting his chips to work and will absolutely to be in the mix.
In total 17 players moved on from Day 1b in the money and are ready for their shot at glory. They will all fight for their shot at the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. However they will have to wait till Sunday and players that didn’t find a bag will still have one last shot when Day 1c kicks off at 11:15 a.m. Saturday morning.
Stay tuned into PokerNews for all the action in the last event of the PokerStars Summer Series.