Card Player Poker Tour Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland Main Event: Noah Shefrin Leads The Final Table

Day 2 of the 2019 Card Player Poker Tour Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland no-limit hold’em main event saw six players late-register before play began, bringing the total number of entries in this $1,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed tournament to 192. With the close of registration, it was announced that the top 24 finishers would make the money, with a min-cash being worth $1,850. After three full days of tournament action, the field has been narrowed down to just nine players left with a shot at the CPPT title and the top prize of $50,680.

Noah Shefrin (pictured above) ended day 2 with the chip lead, putting 2,190,000 into the bag heading into the final table. The Glen Burnie, MD resident will be looking to add to his nearly $200,000 in career live tournament earnings with a big cash in this event.

Other big stacks heading into the final table include recent WSOP Circuit Baltimore Horseshoe high roller event runner up Jonathan Gilliam (1,337,000), 2015 World Poker Tour Maryland seventh-place finisher Joe Cashen (1,217,000) and Richie Smith (736,000), who won a $225,000 guaranteed $500 buy-in event here at Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland back in 2014.

Mukharji Uppalapati also made it through to the final day with 247,000. Uppalapati finished 18th in this event when it was first held back in January of 2018. By locking up at least $5,088 as one of the final nine, he has already surpassed the $4,052 he earned for that run in the first-ever CPPT event held in Maryland.

The day began with 66 players taking their seats, with the six new players joining the 20 survivors from day 1A and the 40 from day 1B. The action was fast and furious in the early going. Among the early casualties were 2015 World Series of Poker main event winner Joe McKeehen and 2018 WSOP six-max limit hold’em bracelet winner Yaser Al-Keliddar. Eventually, the field was narrowed down to 25, at which point hand-for-hand play began. It took over an hour for the money bubble to burst. Alan Lee was down to less than two big blinds and ultimately ran into the pocket kings of Sophia Pappas when he finally moved all-in. He failed to come from behind with Q3 and the remaining 24 players were assured of cashing for at least $1,850.

After the prolonged bubble, plenty of short stacks were knocked out in rapid succession. It took roughly three hours to go from 24 players down to to the final nine players. A full list of the players eliminated in the money can be found on the results page for the event. Noah Shefrin won one of the largest pots of the tournament to knock out Phong Nguyen in 17th place ($3,070). Nguyen got all-in with AK up against the pocket queens of Shefrin. The queens held up to win a seven-figure pot for Shefrin and extend his hold on the lead.

Tam Nguyen was the player knocked out on the final table bubble. His pocket eights lost out to the A7 of Richie Smith, who spiked an ace on the flop to take the lead and never looked back from there. Nguyen earned $4,380 as the tenth-place finisher.

Play ended for the night with 34:52 left in level 20, with limits of 6,000-12,000 and a big blind ante of 12,000. Play will resume for the final table at 1:15 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4.

Here is a look at the chip counts heading into the final table:

Here is the seating chart for the final nine:

1. Mukharji Uppalapati – 247,000
2. Noah Shefrin – 2,190,000
3. Ryan Hohner – 218,000
4. Jonathan Gilliam – 1,337,000
5. Mukala Sikyala – 611,000
6. Richie Smith – 736,000
7. Joe Cashen – 1,217,000
8. Chris Grove – 486,000
9. John Jones – 640,000

About Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland

The Poker Room at Live! Casino & Hotel is one of the largest on the East Coast, with 15,000 square feet of room and 50 tables available for 24/7, around-the-clock action. The luxurious and comfortable room will play host to 13 days of exciting tournament play, with a variety of games and formats on the schedule.

“We are excited to be teaming up with the Card Player Poker Tour for the second time,” said The Poker Room at Live! Casino & Hotel Tournament Director Jason Heidenthal. “The room opened in 2013 and since then our goal has been to make it the premier tournament destination in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area.”

The Live! Casino & Hotel first teamed up with the Card Player Poker Tour in January of 2018. The inaugural series featured 16 events, with the marquee tournament being the $1,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed no-limit hold’em main event. The tournament attracted a total of 307 total entries, blowing away the $200,000 guarantee to build a final prize pool of $307,000. The lion’s share of that was awarded to eventual champion Eric Ladny, who took home $54,022 and became the first-ever CPPT champion decided in Maryland.

Conveniently located between Baltimore and Washington D.C., Live! Casino & Hotel is open 24/7/365, features more than 200 live-action table games, approximately 4,000 of the latest slot machines, and two High Limit rooms. Those driving to the property can take advantage of the six-story parking garage with space for 5,000 vehicles. The property is home to 11 excellent dining establishments, including Bobby’s Burger Palace, Phillips Seafood Restaurant, and The Cheesecake Factory.

Players can book rooms at the Hotel, which features 310 luxurious rooms and 52 suites. The Hotel Tower is the tallest building in the county at 17 stories high! Those looking for another lodging option can check out Live! Lofts, conveniently located five minutes from Live! Casino & Hotel, which offer 250 guest rooms and suites.

For reservations check out the casino website. For more information about the CPPT, visit the tour’s homepage.

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