Two more gold bracelets will be awarded tonight at the 2013 World Series of Poker, while two other tournaments are mid-stream and one will be kicking off. Let’s see what’s going on at the Rio…
Event #18: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Taylor Paur has a substantial lead over his 13 opponents heading into the final day of Event #18. With 1.318 million chips, he is not only the only play over a million, but the only play over the 800,000 mark. Paur is a huge name in the online poker world, achieving the top spot in the PocketFives worldwide tournament rankings two years ago. He still ranks 182nd and has earned $4 million in online tournaments alone, according to PocketFives’ records.
Paur is still gunning for his first WSOP bracelet, though he has come close in the past. In 2011, he finished 5th in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event and 8th in the WSOP Europe €3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout.
Though Paur looks like the man to beat, all eyes will be trained squarely on Phil Ivey. It will take some doing, but Ivey is in contention for his 10th WSOP bracelet, having just won his 9th at WSOP Asia Pacific. With just 285,000 chips, Ivey sits in a pack of six players with stacks all below 300,000 chips.
Taylor Paur – 1,318,000
Alexander Barlow – 792,000
Adam Sanders – 605,000
Douglas Mackinnon – 557,000
Phillip Hui – 419,000
Daniel Idema – 400,000
Robert Deppe – 371,000
Tai Nguyen – 359,000
Phil Ivey – 285,000
Kyle Cartwright – 267,000
Nick Colbrese – 260,000
Ryan Austin – 233,000
James Epner – 201,000
Roy Weiss – 189,000
Event #19: $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em
Jesse Martin has a nearly 100,000 chip lead over an extremely tough final table in Event #19. He will need every single chip to beat the likes of Dario Minieri, John Hennigan, Dan Kelly, Eugene Katchalov, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Matt “ADZ124” Marafioti, and Cary Katz and claim the $224,560 first prize. Just 16 players remain in all and they will play right on down to a winner.
Jesse Martin – 402,000
Davidi Kitai – 318,000
Kristina Holst – 285,000
Dan Kelly – 283,500
Dario Minieri – 265,000
Dimitar Danchev – 237,500
Mark Herm – 236,000
Steven Kelly – 163,000
John Hennigan – 135,500
Kevin Vandersmissen – 132,000
Eugene Katchalov – 121,500
Vincent Bartello – 100,000
Bertrand Grospellier – 77,500
Chris Johnson – 76,500
Matt Marafioti – 70,000
Cary Katz – 44,000
Event #20: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
Monday was Day 1 of Event #20, which saw 1,014 players lay out the $1,500 to test their skills as Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better. Almost a four-fifths of the field was eliminated on the first day, as just 219 remain for the start of Tuesday’s Day 2. There is still a ways to go until the money, which starts at 117th place. Colorado’s John Larson is the chip leader with 73,700 chips while Thomas Besnier is second with 66,600. Some notables still in field include Brian Hastings, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Gavin Griffin, Juan Carlos Mortensen, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, and Mike Sexton.
John Larson – 73,700
Thomas Besnier – 66,600
Guillaume Rivet – 57,300
Pierluigi Giglio – 53,900
Eric Sclavos – 53,600
Won Goag – 53,100
Brian Hastings – 47,900
Dale Beaudoin – 47,900
Calen McNeil – 47,800
Robert Turner – 47,700
There is one tournament starting today, Event #21: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em.
