The second of the Winning Poker Network´s Live Cage events took place this past weekend in Costa Rica. In total, thirteen of the twenty-eight players who took their seats in the Cage survived the two days of action – including WSOP-bound Jeff Gross, who described the Live Cage as a “great event”.
Players at Black Chip Poker and Americas Cardroom – the two leading sites on the Winning Poker Network – have an opportunity to play in a weekly $1,050 buy-in cash game called “The Cage”. The Cage is a time-based event with blinds and antes increasing every hour, but only players who survive the five hours of action finish with chips in their pockets. There is no standing up from the table unless you bust.
Every two months, the Network hosts a “Live Cage” event at the Taormina Hotel in Costa Rica. The buy-in for this event is $5,200 and, rather than lasting for five hours, the “Live Cage” takes place over two days with four levels of three hours each. Players wanting to play in the Live Cage can buy-in directly or win a package to the event in weekly “Beast & SNC 3 Live Cage PKGs” satellites with a buy-in of $55.00.
This weekend saw the second Live Cage event of the year. The event attracted twenty-eight players – thirteen of whom had qualified via the weekly satellites. Each sat down with 5,000 chips with the hope they could build their chip stacks quickly ahead of the substantially increasing blinds they would encounter on Day 2:
- Day 1: Level 1: Blinds $10/$20 – Antes $5.
- Day 1: Level 2: Blinds $25/50 – Antes $5.
- Day 2: Level 3: Blinds $40/$80 – Antes $10.
- Day 2: Level 4: Blinds $50/$100 – Antes $10.
Stavila Leads at Halfway. Gross and Roberts on His Tail
Day 1 finished with local player Dan Stavila ahead of the pack with 16,065 chips after a brutal early encounter had knocked 500 chips off his chip stack. Stavila was followed in the chip count by Jeff Gross (13,470) and Christopher Roberts (12,760) with other notable players in the chasing pack including Argentinian online superstar Juan Martin “xPastorcitox” Pastor and former WPT winner Alex Brenes.
Although Stavila´s climb to the top of the leaderboard after a poor start was impressive, it was not as remarkable as the recovery made by online qualifier Aleksandar Tojcic. Tojcic had seen his starting chip stack battered down to just 680 chips before the end of Level 1. He ground his way up to 2,975 chips by the end of Day 1, and finished Day 2 with 5,350 chips for a profit of $350. Not bad at all!
Roberts the Weekend´s Big Winner. Gross and Stavila also Survive.
Day 2 was slightly less brutal than Day 1. Whereas nine players had bust from the event during the first two levels of action, only six players were eliminated on Day 2 despite the substantially increased blinds and antes. At the end of the four levels, the player with the biggest stack was Christopher Roberts, with Jeff Gross more than trebling his buy-in and Dan Stavila falling back to fourth place.
| Winning Poker Network Live Cage May 2018 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Cash | Player | Cash |
| Christopher Roberts | $21,825 | Phil Nagy | $9,490 |
| Charles Horrocks | $18,890 | Owen Gaines | $7,665 |
| Jeff Gross | $15,435 | Juan Martin Pastor | $7,325 |
| Dan Stavila | $13,100 | Jose David Sanchez | $5,425 |
| Tyler Sumrall | $11,460 | Aleksandar Tojcic | $5,350 |
| Samuel Horrocks | $9,850 | Semen Virovlyanskiy | $4,365 |
| Alex Brenes | $9,820 | ||
Jeff Gross Describes Live Cage as a “Great Event”
During a break in the action, Jeff Gross took a few minutes to speak with the Winning Poker Network´s live reporting team. During the interview, Gross discusses the experience of playing the Live Cage and predicts there will more events like this staged in the future. Gross goes on to explain his plans for the forthcoming World Series of Poker and states he is looking forward to staying in one place for six weeks.
Could You Survive the Winning Poker Network´s Live Cage?
With two Live Cage events having been successfully completed, the next event is scheduled for the weekend of July 28th and 29th. That gives players eight opportunities to win a package in the Beast & SNC satellites – a package consisting of the $5,200 buy-in, three nights’ accommodation at the Taormina Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, $800 towards travelling expenses and $1,000 cash on arrival at the hotel.
Naturally, in order to play in the Beast & SNC satellites, you have to have an account with a site on the Winning Poker Network. So, if you do not have one already, head over to our [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/black-chip-poker/”]BCP review[/geolink] or our [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/americas-cardroom/”]ACR review[/geolink] to read about the other benefits of playing at these sites on the Winning Poker Network and to find out how you can claim a first deposit bonus up to $1,000.
