Monday, May 31st: Player Of The Month Leaderboard Sees Major Shift Up Top, As Darkhan Botabayev Takes Hold Of First Place Spot (1 Tournament Remaining)!!!!

ICYMI: It's likely that the Player of the Month leaderboard is going to be around for a while, but we may be hard press to see a closer race down the stretch.  With just two events remaining in the month, it looked at if Friday's performance by Pedro Palacio, locked up a second straight POTM win.  Darkhan Botabayev (Sunny Isles, FL) was in a group of players that were within striking distance of that top spot, and he decided to show out last night.  Botabayev had a significant chip lead four-handed, and ended up taking home first place money in a chop, along with 30.72 leaderboard points.  Darkhan is now (13) points ahead of Palacio, with only tonight's tournament remaining!!! 

Because of the "Final Table Finish" payout structure (with heavy numbers to those who cash), we can still see a lot of movement on the leaderboard.  Official results from yesterday afternoon's tournament are listed below:

1. Darkhan Botabayev (Sunny Isles, FL) $3,072
2. Millicent Berman (Pompano Beach, FL) $2,540
3. Lavern Fross (Palm Beach, FL) $2,021
4. Gary Khutorsky (Miami, FL) $1,767
5. David Coughlin (Lighthouse Point, FL) $732
6. Alfred Berchielli (Lake Worth, FL) $605
7. Arthur Holmes (Miramar, FL) $529
8. Eduardo Borrelli (Miami, FL) $472
9. Eugene Alkes (Boca Raton, FL) $417
10. Jacqueline Williams (Pompano Beach, FL) $362
11. James Powers (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $362
12. Steven Flacco (Boca Raton, FL) 4362
13. Felipe Martinez (Stuart, FL) $310
14. Oren Rosenthal (Miami, FL) $310
15. Karin Powsner (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $310
16. Raul Jimenez-Diaz (Miami, FL) $264
17. Jerrold Solov (Pompano Beach, FL) $264
18. Michael Weinberg (Delray Beach, FL) $264
19. Seth Medoff (Pompano Beach, FL) $227

Tournaments: At 6:00pm this evening, the $250 No Limit Hold'em ($10,000 GTD) "Final Table Finish" returns, with a little wrinkle.  This particular tournament had such a good structure, that the final table action ran into the closing time of the poker room (players are then faced with chopping, or bagging for a Day 2).  To keep that from occurring, there will be some slight changes moving forward.

The event will be structured with 25,000 chip starting stacks, (20) minute levels, and open registration through Level 8 (and the break that follows).  The new format-wrinkle comes into play when discussing payouts, as the tournament will pay out just the final table, regardless of how many entries.  Exact payout percentages are as follows (final tables are now eight-handed):

1. 40%
2. 20%
3. 10%
4. 7%
5. 7%
6. 6%
7. 5%
8. 5%

Promotions: From 10:00am (the minute the doors open) until 11:00pm, $300 high hands will be awarded every (30) minutes. These high hands must be aces-full or better, use both hole cards, and be the winning hand (in a pot that has at least $10).  From 11:00pm until close, $100 high hands will be awarded every (30) minutes.

6:00pm: $250 No Limit Hold'em "Final Table Finish" ($10,000 GTD)

• Players start with 25,000 in tournament chips
• Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels
• Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack
• Levels will last (20) minutes