Joseph Cashen, Ari Engel, and Cherish Andrews Bag Big On Day 1b of WPT Maryland

Day 1b of the Season XVI WPT Maryland Main Event came to a close on Sunday night from Live! Casino in Hanover, Maryland. A field of more than 300 entries turned up for the second of two starting flights, putting the total at more than 500 entries. Registration will remain open until Day 2 kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on Monday as the event pushes towards the $2 million guaranteed prize pool.

For any players looking for a last-chance qualifier, Live! Casino will hold one at 8 a.m. on Monday morning. The qualifier has a $400 buy-in and 10 seats guaranteed.

Leading the way after Day 1b was Joseph Cashen (pictured above) with a stack of 221,200, a long way from the 30,000 in chips he began play with. Cashen was on the losing end of things early on and sliding in the wrong direction, but a double up in Level 6 turned his day around.

Cashen moved all in over the top of a bet and a call on the board of Qh9c8s8h. The original bettor made the call and the other player, Vivian Leslie, folded. Cashen had turned trip eights with the Ac8d, as did his opponent with the Tc8c. The river was the Kd and Cashen doubled up to move back over the starting stack amount.

“I ran pretty well here today on my second bullet,” Cashen told WPT.com after the day. “I was in for two yesterday, too. A couple guys went all in a little weak and I had the nuts, so that helped. I ran good, enjoyed the day. I had a lot of fun playing here with all the guys.” 

Entering this event, Cashen boasted more than $120,000 in live tournament earnings. If his name rings familiar, it’s likely because Cashen placed seventh in the Season XIV WPT Maryland Main Event for $39,118.

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Closely trailing Cashen to end Day 1b was a player who is no stranger to the tournament circuit, Ari Engel (pictured above). Engel ended the day with 210,400 in chips.

Engel spoke to WPT.com about one of the biggest hands of the day for him.

“Matt Glantz opened, and then Dylan Ott three-bet too much by accident — he misclicked,” explained Engel. “I had jacks behind and I cold four-bet, and then Glantz shoved with ace-queen. It never would have played out like that without the misclick. That was a big pot — over a hundred big blinds each. Things went my way today, I guess.”

Of all the success he’s had on the felt, Engel has never made a WPT final table, and his great start in Maryland could very well lend itself to his first. Live! Casino in particular has been a stop on the tournament circuit where Engel hasn’t been able to get much going in the past.

“It’s a nice casino, but I’ve never done so well here, so we’ll see,” said Engel. “Hopefully this time it works out.”

A third player to bag more than 200,000 in chips was Cherish Andrews (pictured above).

“I had a lot of fun,” Andrews said. “It was ‘The Cherish Show.’”

Andrews is commonly known to frequent cash games, but she’s had her fair share of tournament success that has added up to more than $560,000 in live tournament winnings. At the end of the day, she was asked about playing tournaments versus cash games.

“Tournaments are way tougher playing 10 hours because you have to be at the table and can’t miss hands,” Andrews said. “In cash, I’ll get up every hour or so and walk around.”

Andrews recently finished 83rd in the Season XVI WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship for $7,175. It’s not a life-changing score for Andrews, but it is a result she’s hoping will kick start a nice run of momentum.

“I’m staying with my parents right now in Pennsylvania, who live an hour and 20 minutes away,” Andrews said. “I’m coming off a hot run at Borgata so I was like, ‘’I’ll come down and dabble.’”

In addition to Cashen, Engel, and Andrews, some of the notables to finish strong on Day 1b included Richard Foster, Art Papazyan, and Dan Heimiller. Papazyan will be someone to pay close attention to on Monday’s Day 2 as he’s the recent winner of the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event and the current leader in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race.

As mentioned, Day 2 kicks off on Monday at 12 p.m. ET from Live! Casino in Hanover, Maryland. At noon is when registration will close and that’s when the official field size, prize pool, and payouts will be announced, so stay tuned.

Keep it locked right here to WPT.com for continued coverage of the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event. The WPT Champions Cup awaits!

Source : http://www.worldpokertour.com

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