Today at the 2013 World Series of Poker will be a busy one as three tournaments will play down to a champion. The biggest non-Championship Event in the history, the “Millionaire Maker,” and Event #7, the $1000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, were supposed to work their way down to the final table on Monday, but they finished close but not quite there. In the other, 20 players remain with a player from last year’s same final table looking to better his finish from 2012.
Event #6 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em “Millionaire Maker” – Day Three
With 6343 players starting the event on Saturday, it might be considered quite the achievement for the 133 runners who returned on Monday for Day Three of the tournament. Alas, there was still a great deal of work to be done as the plans were to play down to the final table or the “10 Level Rule,” whichever came first.
World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Open champion Andy Hwang was at the top of the ladder at the start of the day, sitting on a stack of 912,000 chips that ably put him in that position. As with the start of play for any tournament, the short stacks looked to “double up or go home,” meaning that players such as Byron Kaverman, Tyler Patterson, John Monnette and Joshua Pollock were out the door within the first hour of play. While this was occurring, the big storyline of the day was just getting started.
Dan Kelly came into the Day Three action with “only” 277,000 in chips, but was able to add a nice stack of chips in a highly interesting hand. After Kelly raised from the button, Travis Johnson three bet the action to 27K and Kelly made the call with his position. An 8♦ 3♦ 3♠ flop brought another bullet out of Johnson, which Kelly called, and the duo would check a 10♠ on the turn. A 5♥ on the river brought another bet out of Johnson and, after a long deliberation, Kelly called and showed 7♦ 5♦ for a busted flush draw but a rivered two pair. Johnson only stared at the board before incredibly sliding his cards to the muck as Kelly scooped up the chips to move to 445,000.
This was Kelly’s course through much of the day as he rapidly ascended the leaderboard. About an hour later, Kelly’s stack had doubled again to 960,000 and cracked the one million chip mark in eliminating Raja Kattamuri. Hwang, on the other hand, began to slide from his lofty perch, losing the chip lead to Chris Hunichen after inexplicably calling a seven-bet from Hunichen (holding pocket Aces, naturally) with only a raggedy Ace.
Only four hours into play, there were 54 players remaining from the original 133 who started the day and the carnage would continue. Hwang would be one of those who would fall before the dinner bell sounded, his Big Chick outkicked by Ed Robertson’s Big Slick, and Robertson would ride those chips to hit the five million mark by the dinner break. At this point, there were 28 players remaining and the potential for making the final table was within reach.
Coming back from dinner, however, the players settled in for a post-meal siesta it seemed as there were few eliminations. Kelly, after suffering a few setbacks before dinner, began to march again as he eliminated Sterling Lipscomb in 20th place to close in on three million chips and blasted past the four million mark in bumping off Robertson in 17th place. As the clock passed the midnight hour (and headed to the final level of the day), twelve players were still in contention for the “Millionaire Maker” championship.
After Roger Johnson and Jeffrey Hagen were dumped from the tournament in twelfth and eleventh places, respectively, the ten survivors came together to make one more elimination or finish off the level. Kelly was a big chip leader at this point but, on the last hand of the night, he would double up Robert McVeigh to fall from that perch heading to Day Four this afternoon.
1. Ben Chen, 5.865 million
2. Dan Kelly, 4.130 million
3. Justin Liberto, 3.8 million
4. Chris Hunichen, 3.43 million
5. Robert McVeigh, 3.175 million
6. Michael Bennington, 2.995 million
7. Jonathan Gray, 2.745 million
8. Joe Kuether, 1.365 million
9. Theron Eichenberger, 595,000
10. Upeshka DeSilva, 550,000
These players are all guaranteed at least $82,205 for coming back to the tables on Tuesday, but they all are eyeing becoming the world’s next millionaire (or extending their bankrolls for a couple of the pros) by taking down the $1,199,104 first place prize.
Event #7 – $1000 No Limit Hold’em – Day Two
148 players came back on Monday for Day Two of Event #7 and, like their counterparts in the “Millionaire Maker,” were unable to get to an official final table. The ten men who made it to that point, however, potentially make it one of the more exciting final days of the early part of this year’s WSOP.
Eric Baldwin would start the day as the chip leader and, although he had some difficulties throughout the day, was able to triple his stack to be a part of the fun and games this afternoon. After staying out of the limelight for much of the day, poker pro Amit Makhija was able to leap up the standings after eliminating three players – Ronald Crabtree (16th), Kelvin Gates (13th) and Cole Jackson (11th) – to bring the final ten men to the table. Makhija’s elimination of Jackson came on the final hand of the night and would put Makhija into the chip lead heading to Tuesday’s “unofficial” final table.
1. Amit Makhija, 1.101 million
2. Jess Dioquino, 921,000
3. Matt Waxman, 892,000
4. Jason Koon, 692,000
5. Brent Hanks, 533,000
6. Tuu Ho, 419,000
7. Eric Baldwin, 348,000
8. Robert Dreyfuss, 297,000
9. Jacob Jung, 240,000
10. Scott Yelton, 167,000
When the “official” final table is determined this afternoon, it will be one of the stronger ones of this year’s WSOP. Makhija, Waxman, Koon, Hanks and Baldwin all have solid tournament poker resumes, but the newcomers have shown they aren’t afraid to mix it up with the “big boys.” At the end of tonight, one of these men will have the WSOP bracelet on their wrist as well as a fresh $305,952 in their pocket.
Event #8 – $2500 Eight Game Mixed – Day Two
192 players came back yesterday to continue the festivities of the Eight Game Mixed event but, unlike the Day One action, Day Two would see a host of players dumped out fairly quickly and also short of the money.
With only 40 players taking down a payday in the tournament, such names as Greg Raymer, John Myung, Allen Kessler, Richard Ashby, Marco Traniello, Bryan Devonshire, David Williams, Scott Seiver, Jeff Lisandro and Kathy Liebert were gone well before the bubble was reached. After Matt Woodward was eliminated on the bubble, such surviving short stacks as Kyle Bowker, “Miami” John Cernuto and Andy Bloch all would claim their paydays.
Coming back for the final level of the night, 24 players were still in contention for the title, but it didn’t look good for one of them. Greg Mueller, who was the runner-up in this tournament in 2012, doubled up Eric Crain after Crain hit trip Jacks on the flop and added the case Jack on the river to drop to only 110,000. “FBT” didn’t back down, using a big hand in Seven Card Stud and another in Omaha Hi/Lo to push his stack back into the Top Five, where he will have to be considered a strong contender to better his finish from last year.
1. Marco Johnson, 354,300
2. Steven Wolansky, 312,400
3. Chris Tryba, 287,800
4. Dario Alioto, 261,400
5. Greg Mueller, 258,200
6. Michael Hurey, 213,300
7. Robert Mizrachi, 157,000
8. Michael Malm, 135,100
9. Benjamin Pollak, 133,000
10. Eric Crain, 117,700
There are 20 players left in the tournament, which will also crown a champion tonight in a very difficult discipline. The eventual champion will take home the WSOP bracelet and a $225,104 bankroll boost.
