Venetian Big Stack 2018

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James Carroll shined at Venetian again, but unlike last time, he didn't have to share the spotlight after a chop.

Justin Ligeri Bags Big Stack on Day 1b of MSPT Venetian. Bracelet Winner Pekarek Continues to Chip Up. Quack, Quack for One of Minnesota's Best. Back-to-Back Eliminations Vault Josh Prager Up the. Current and Upcoming Tournament Series Please check back for updates. Previous Tournament Series DeepStack Extravaganza I January 27-March 1, 2020 Schedule Structures & Results DeepStack Extravaganza New Year's December 12, 2019-January 12, 2020 Schedule Structures & Results DeepStack Extravaganza IV October 28-December 1, 2019 Schedule Structures & Results $225,000.

Two years ago in February, he chopped a big DeepStack Extravaganza event here for $184K apiece. At MSPT Venetian $1,100 this time around, after a small saver that still left the vast majority of the first-place money in play against William Chao, Carroll came out on top for the trophy and $180,850 in a field of 1,009.

It's step one in recapturing the momentum from his stellar 2019 — he cashed for just shy of $1.3 million — that was halted by coronavirus. He said it was just his fourth live tournament since the lockdowns hit and put the kibosh on most live poker.

'It's nice to stop that online grind,' he said. 'Probably the best I've ran in a tournament in a single day in my life. Just had a lot of big hands and got paid a lot.'

Official Final Table Results

Venetian Big Stack 2018

Carroll got some heat early in the day and was cruising with a big stack of about 100 blinds, but where he really started to take over was at the final two tables. There, he opened constantly and swept up blinds while also showing up with some big hands when players tried shoving on him, and he soon had about 20% of the total chips with the final table still yet to convene.

From those final two tables on, it seemed Carroll was locked in a collision course with Chao. Despite being in second place, Chao still had almost double the chips of the third-place Bill Lewis when the final table went to battle.

Chao tested Carroll early with a four-bet and did his best to keep pace even as Carroll collected a couple of knockouts, of Lewis and Veselin Dimitrov.

In fact, Carroll did slip into second momentarily, but he recovered with the good run he referenced when he three-outed Daniel Sammarco shoving king-three suited into queens in a blinds battle. He then dispatched Daniel Jones — it was a day of near misses for Daniel Joneses as a more famous one bubbled the NFL playoffs — and looked to be in complete command with a big lead heads up against Chao.

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However, Chao let him know he wasn't going quietly with a three-street value play holding top pair on a pretty coordinated board. That put him down only about 14 million to 10 million.

With deep stacks, the two opted to look at the numbers and quickly agreed to a $10K saver that tightened the payouts a bit.

'He's a super tough player,' Carroll said. 'So, I didn't mind doing a small saver. But, I wanted to get some heads-up practice in live and make sure the money still meant something.'

In the end, he wouldn't get much practice at all. He turned on the aggression with a couple of three-bets that got through, and when Chao three-bet him, Carroll four-bet jammed ace-nine. Chao opted to go with ace-six suited and was left wanting when each player paired his ace but the kicker of Carroll played.

Carroll said it'll be onwards for him as he plans to play the WPT in Florida next, and he'll presumably be right back to his adopted home city for the following WPT events in March at Venetian.

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Venetian Big Stack 2018 Olympics

The Venetian has amped up the DeepStack Extravaganza III schedule for the summer of 2018, guaranteeing more than $31 million across 150 events between May 14 and July 29. That represents 40 events more than what was offered last year and $10 million more in guaranteed prize pools.

Like last year, the new schedule will begin in mid-May, but has been extended for about a week, stretching nearly to the end of July. The series will wrap up on July 29 with three events plus the finale of the $400 NLH Closer which features a $400,000 guarantee and five starting flights that all play down to 5% of the field.

Also note that beginning May 26, DSE III events will be played in the Sands Hall G Convention Center. Events prior to May 26 will be held at the Venetian.

Venetian Big Stack 2018 Results

Some of the series highlights:

• May 28-30: $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Summer Kick Off ($500,000 guarantee)
• May 31-June 2: $600 No-Limit Hold'em SuperStack ($500,000 guarantee)
• June 1-3: $1,600 Pot-Limit Omaha MonsterStack 8-Max ($250,000 guarantee)
• June 3-8: $1,100 Mid-Stakes Poker Tour Event ($3.5 million guarantee)
• June 7-July 1: $400 NightStack with eight starting flights, Day 2 July 1 ($1 million guarantee)
• June 12-14: $600 Seniors Event ($600,000 guarantee)
• June 18-22: $1,600 Mid-States Poker Tour Event ($3 million guarantee)
• June 28-29: $1,600 No-Limit Hold'em Bounty ($700,000 guarantee)
• June 30-July 3: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack ($750,000 guarantee)
• July 5-8, July 9-12: $1,100 Summer Saver I & II ($1 million guarantee each)
• July 14-19: $5,000 Card Player Poker Tour Event ($2 million guarantee)
• July 24-29: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Closer ($400,000 guarantee)

You can find the complete Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza III summer offerings below.

2018 Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza III Schedule

*denotes two-day event

_{Lead image courtesy of Venetian}

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