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The Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event spent more than an hour in ten-handed play before it got down to the final nine, and Casey Hatmaker was still in the mix. That put the Pennsylvania pro back at a Potomac Main Event final table.

Earlier in the series, PokerNews said he had qualified online, had been coming out for Potomac’s Main Events since they returned after COVID, and estimated that this was about his seventh Main Event there.

Hatmaker’s previous Potomac Main Event run came in February, when he finished sixth in the Potomac Winter Poker Open Main Event for $37,221. That was the finish he said he wanted to top.

He also reached a final table in the $1,100 NLH event at this series and went out in ninth place. Hatmaker said he started that final table seven of nine in chips, then lost with ace-queen suited against jacks. He also praised MGM National Harbor, calling the dealers and staff great, the tournaments super well run, and the casino nicer than a lot of Vegas casinos. The Pennsylvania pro has more than $1.5 million in live earnings.

Patrick Martorella opened the Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event final table with a double-up on the first hand and finished Day 2 in front. He bagged 3,805,000 chips, just one big blind ahead of Phong Nguyen’s 3,750,000.

According to PokerNews, Martorella was all in for 975,000 with ace-king against Nicholas Verderamo’s jacks. He hit trips on the flop and improved to a full house on the river. Justin Liberto finished third with 3,530,000, followed by Kyle Smith on 2,840,000, Jonathan Moritz on 1,610,000 and Chris Kiani on 1,290,000.

The Main Event had already been whittled down to 58 players for Day 2. Thirty-five spots were paid, the field started with 280 entries, and the festival at MGM National Harbor runs Aug. 5-17 with 23 trophy events.

Day 2 produced a mix of notable names and grind-it-out cashes. Faraz Jaka was the first bustout, while Kyle Lin, Elia Ahmadian and Christian Harder also missed the money. On the bubble, Thomas Barry sent Yabetse Wedeneh and James Morris out in the same hand, with Morris covering Wedeneh by just 1,000 chips.

Tim Pool sneaked into the money and finished 34th. Samuel Rosen, last year’s fourth-place finisher, exited in 20th. Dejan Ristov turned a $25 online qualifier into $9,232 for a 16th-place finish, while Van Noy fell in 14th and Waleed Mian busted in 12th after losing a tens-versus-ace-queen race to Liberto.

Casey Hatmaker was the first player out at the nine-handed final table. Nguyen then knocked out Kevin Kwak in eighth and Verderamo in seventh before the final six bagged their chips.

Moritz earned his seat through a BetMGM online qualifier and had already locked up $37,204 for making it this far. The eventual champion will earn $154,006 from the $756,000 prize pool.

The Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event got Day 2 underway at MGM National Harbor with 58 players back from a 280-entry field. Waleed Mian led the return with 1.185 million chips, a stack that was described as nearly double the rest of the field.

As covered in the Day 1b report, Mian had bagged that huge stack after the final starting flight and was the only player above seven figures. David Van Noy was second to start Day 2 with 655,000, Justin Liberto had 638,000, Kyle Lin 586,000 and Kyle Smith 565,000.

The next wave of stacks included David Kinane, a BetMGM online qualifier, with 477,000. Casey Hatmaker returned on 351,000, while Samuel Rosen and Ari Katz each had 325,000 and Nicholas Verderamo had 247,000.

The day resumed on Level 16 with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and an 8,000 big blind ante. Levels were extended to 60 minutes, with breaks after every two levels, and the plan was to play down to the final six.

Day 2 started with 35 paid spots and Faraz Jaka as the first bustout. Kyle Lin, Elia Ahmadian and Christian Harder all fell short of the money, while Thomas Barry sent Yabetse Wedeneh and James Morris out on the bubble, with Morris covered by just 1,000 chips.

Tim Pool sneaked into the money in 34th, and the cashers included Yonnas Banteamlak in 30th, Ari Katz in 28th, Michael Bohmerwald in 25th and Samuel Rosen in 20th. Dejan Ristov also turned a $25 online seat into $9,232 for a 16th-place finish.

Mian’s run ended in 12th when he lost a tens-versus-ace-queen race to Liberto. Patrick Martorella then took over from there, doubling on the first hand of the nine-handed final table with ace-king against Verderamo’s jacks before ending the night on 3.805 million.

The final-six lineup was Martorella, Phong Nguyen, Liberto, Kyle Smith, Jonathan Moritz and Chris Kiani, with Nguyen just one big blind behind on 3.75 million. MGM’s schedule has the finalists coming back to the poker room tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time, and the eventual champion is set to earn $154,006 from a $756,000 prize pool.

The WSOP Circuit Cherokee Main Event is down to its final 11 players after pulling in 1,681 entries. Curtis King leads the field with 11.2 million chips, or 112 big blinds, and the prize pool topped $2.5 million. The winner is set to collect just over $363,000.

According to PokerOrg, that turnout made the event the third-largest Main Event in Cherokee history, and it was the biggest late-summer version of the tournament. The February edition usually brings in the larger crowd.

King has not won at Cherokee before, but he has come close. He finished second in the 2016 8-Max and third in the 2023 6-Max, and he needs at least a fifth-place finish to top his career-best score of $68,000. His second-ever cash in the event came after a win at Hard Rock Tampa a few months after his first Cherokee cash.

Ryan D’Angelo is right behind him with 9.6 million chips, or 96 big blinds. His Hendon Mob history goes back to 2006, and a third-place finish in a $2,000 bracelet event in 2008, a 2016 deuce-to-seven bracelet, a Cherokee win in 2023 and a near-miss in February, when he lost heads-up in the Double Stack Closer.

Toby Boas sits third with 8.3 million chips, or 77 big blinds, and comes in fresh off a second-place finish in the Grand Finale at the BetMGM Summer Poker Festival in Las Vegas that paid $74,000 back to Gainesville, Florida. He has never won a WSOP Circuit ring, and he is trying to improve on a fourth-place finish in this event in February.

Scott Gronroos is next with 7.7 million chips and has already secured his first five-figure score, with $23,000 locked up. Kataka Eaton follows with 7.5 million chips, and all five of her live cashes since 2019 have come on the Circuit, three of them at Cherokee; her best result remains second in Biloxi in 2019 for $6,945.

Donta Moss and Wayne Harmon are next in line, with a gap before Andrew Kelsall in eighth. Caio Sobral, Jeremy Eyer and David Sathue round out the final 11. The players are due back at 12pm ET with blinds at 50,000/100,000/100,000, and Cherokee still remains the top stop in the United States.

Izzy Einsidler survived a three-way all-in cooler at the Potomac Summer Poker Open in Maryland when his pocket aces held against Henry Black’s kings and George Karmires’ queens in the $400 40/40 event.

PokerNews said the hand started with Black opening to 2,000 from the hijack at blinds of 500/1,000/1,000. Einsidler, identified as a Virginia grinder with $25,491, three-bet to 6,500 on the button, Karmires shoved from the small blind, and Black re-jammed. Once the action was capped, Einsidler was not going anywhere with pocket rockets.

The board ran A♦ 3♣ J♣, which immediately gave Einsidler a set. The 7♣ turn gave Black a flush draw, but the 2♥ river was safe and locked up a triple up for Einsidler. Karmires stood up and put on his backpack before the runout, then was eliminated shortly after the hand. Einsidler later said, “If a club would’ve come on the river, it would’ve ruined my day.”

The cooler came in a two-day $400 no-limit hold’em event with a $40,000 guarantee. At dinner break, the field had reached 197 players and the prize pool had climbed to $65,010, well past the guarantee. As covered in our earlier Potomac report on the Super Seniors event, the series had already produced a nine-way chop before this hand.

The broader Potomac Summer Poker Open runs August 5-17 at MGM National Harbor and is listed there as a 13-day series with more than $1.5 million in guaranteed prizes across 23 trophy events. Elsewhere in the room, the $3,000 Main Event had reached its final two tables.