Jaime Staples has documented his deep run in the $5,300 partypoker Millions Main Event as he chases the biggest victory in his poker career.
The tournament, which began with 1,084 players last weekend, smashed the $5 million guarantee (prize pool hit $5.4 million) on the partypoker poker site. Only 28 of those original players are still standing, and the pay jumps are about to become massive.
Monday's session saw some high-profile pros hit the virtual exits. That includes Dan Shak (137th place for $10,912), Jason Koon (128th place for $11,490), Kristen Bicknell (124th place for $11,490), Adrian Mateos (98th place for $12,872), Darren Elias (92nd place for $12,872), Steve O'Dwyer (85th place for $13,931), Chance Kornuth (65th place for $15,864), and Jake Schindler (45th for $18,818),
Manfred Hermann was the last to bust on Day 2 in 29th place ($27,724). That put the tournament on hold for a day as the players all called it a night to get some rest and prepare for an important Day 3 on Tuesday.
For Staples, one of the most popular poker Twitch streamers ever, it's a huge opportunity and the biggest of his poker career. He's been streaming the partypoker Millions Main Event since he began play.
"I don’t know what to say, chat, we have 7,400 viewers here,” Staples told his Twitch audience as he signed off after Day 2. “Thank you all so much for tuning in. This is the hypest moment of my poker career, 11 years in, the hypest moment of the stream. I am so excited to come back tomorrow and stream for you all.”
Staples is a partypoker ambassador and is representing the poker site quite well this week. He finished Day 2 with 30,667,945 chips. Dzmitry Urbanovich is the only other partypoker pro to advance to Day 3. The Polish poker pro enters the second-to-last day of the event with 39,376,294 chips.
Valentyn Kazantsev finished the session with the biggest stack at 68,852,752. Oliver Weis sits in 2nd place with 66,475,886.
Playing for some serious money
On Day 3, the pay jumps are about to get massive. As it stands, each remaining player is guaranteed at least $27,724. But the winner will take home $892,275 on Wednesday. So, the pressure is going to be on Staples, who is chasing the biggest score of his 11-year career, and everyone else left in the field.
The major pay jumps begin at the final table when the pay jump from 10th place ($54,542) bumps to $72,260 for 9th place. Tuesday's session is scheduled to play down to the final nine, all of whom will come back on Wednesday to play down to a winner.
Staples will be streaming his Day 3 play, and he hopes Day 4, on his Twitch channel.
Staples isn't the only familiar face still chasing the huge 1st place prize. Urbanovich, the other partypoker pro, has over $6 million in live tournament cashes. Daniel Dvoress, who won a WSOP bracelet this summer ($1,500 Millionaire Maker on GGPoker for $1.5 million), bagged a small stack (17,684,505). The Canadian pro finished Day 1 with the chip lead. He's been on quite a heater lately having recently won a WSOP bracelet and the WPT Mike Sexton Classic on partypoker.
Dvoress is one of the most underrated poker players in the world. He quietly has over $15 million in live tournament cashes and has been crushing it online as well.
Featured image source: Flickr
