In addition to the two bracelet events yesterday, three tournaments moved through their early stages on Saturday. In one of the tournaments, former World Champion Joe Cada is set to take the final table, some big names remain in the first mixed game event on the WSOP schedule and the “Millionaire Maker” exceeded the expectations of WSOP officials.
Event #4 – $1500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em – Day Two
With 117 players coming back on Saturday and only 108 of them taking the minimum payday, nine players would feel the sting of disappointment. The field, led by Greg Hobson and Cada, quickly took care of the money bubble, which only lasted one hand and saw Michael (not “Timex”) McDonald’s A-J fall to Fabien Marguerite’s K-Q when a turn King appeared. From there, the eliminations came extremely quickly.
Two of last year’s contenders in the $10,000 Championship Event, Robert Salaburu and Russell Thomas, were able to pocket the minimum payday of $2871, but Humberto Brenes, Bryan Piccioli, Jonathan Duhamel and Matt Salsberg would do a bit better. Hobson and Cada went in opposite directions, however, with Cada working his way to over a million in chips by the time the clock struck midnight and Hobson being eliminated in twelfth place by Keven Stammen soon afterwards.
With eleven players still remaining, it appeared as though we would see the first tournament on the WSOP stopped by the “ten level rule,” which dictates that a day’s tournament play would end with the playing of ten levels. That rule has been adjusted a bit this year (the tournament director for an event can waive the rule if the day’s goal is within reach), but it was still implemented when the final seven men couldn’t work their way down to the six handed official WSOP final table:
1. Mike Mustafa, 1.28 million
2. Manig Loeser, 931,000
3. John Beauprez, 796,000
4. Eric Blair, 685,000
5. Joe Cada, 671,000
6. Zohar Spivack, 393,000
7. Keven Stammen, 201,000
The final seven men will gather again in the Rio’s Amazon Room (on the ESPN “Mothership” stage) at 3PM this afternoon and play down to a champion, who will take home $324,764 and the WSOP bracelet for his efforts.
Event #5 – $2500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo – Day Two
The goal for the players on Saturday was to reach the final table for Event #5 but, with 250 players remaining from the original 374 entries (and the molasses-like pace of split games), that wasn’t a realistic option. What was a given on Saturday is that the 40 players who would earn a WSOP for their tournament resumes would be determined.
Early exits from the Day Two action were quite notable. David “ODB” Baker was so sure of his demise that he actually entered the “Millionaire Maker” and was rushing back and forth between tables before he was eliminated in Event #5. Eli Elezra, on the Day One leaderboard, would run into quads early and never was able to work his way back from that, eliminated short of the money. They would have company in the likes of Brian Rast, Todd Brunson, David Williams, Bryan Devonshire, Bill Chen, Men “The Master” Nguyen and Jennifer Harman as the day’s play wore on.
As the money bubble approached, Mike Gorodinsky was moving on up the leaderboard. Coming into the day with the third place stack, Gorodinsky was devastating his opponents in climbing up to 180,000 in chips by the evening hours. After the money bubble burst following the dinner break, Gorodinsky’s stack was over the 200K mark.
Try as they might, the players were unable to reach the final table by the time play was called early Sunday morning. They were able to get down to 19 players, however, with Gorodinsky ruling the roost and with a host of top notch talent in pursuit of him for the bracelet.
1. Mike Gorodinsky, 330,500
2. Kristopher Tong, 319,500
3. Dustin Leary, 254,000
4. Alexander Lakhov, 218,000
5. George Danzer, 187,500
6. Roman Verenko, 158,500
7. Mack Lee, 150,000
8. Andrew Kelsall, 147,500
9. Matthew Ashton, 147,000
10. Randall Pace, 136,500
While they aren’t a part of the Top Ten, several pros are within striking distance, including James Van Alstyne (128,000), Owais Ahmed (121,000), and Daniel Negreanu (106,500). Those needing to do some work when the cards fly again this afternoon include David Levi (61,500), Julie Schneider (61,000), Mike Matusow (57,500) and “Bakes” Baker (41,500).
Event #6 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em “Millionaire Maker” – Day One
One of the most-hyped events of the first week of the WSOP was yesterday’s start of the “Millionaire Maker.” Utilizing two starting flights on Saturday (one at 11AM, the other at 5PM) and offering those who busted the first flight the option of re-entry into the afternoon session, 6,343 entries were received in the tournament. This is the largest non-Championship Event field in the history of the WSOP, much as officials had expected.
With the $8.56 million prize pool built, the WSOP’s guarantee of the eventual champion taking down a million dollar first place prize was easily covered. First place will now earn $1,199,104 for the championship, but there is a long way to go before that point is reached. 862 players survived the carnage on Saturday and will come back on Sunday for Day Two action. Making it through at least the Day 1A field were such players as Timothy Adams, Jake Cody, Rupert Elder and Dani Stern, but official chip counts have not been released at this point.
Play will resume in the “Millionaire Maker” at 2PM this afternoon, but it is way too early to start talking about who the champion of the event will be out of the massive field!
