For only the second time at the 2014 World Series of Poker, a day went by without any bracelets being awarded. That means Thursday will be a busy one as two tournaments with star-studded fields will battle it out until only one man is left standing.
Event #24 – $5000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em – Day Two
The 541-player field was whittled down to only 129 after a busy Day One on Tuesday, with Chris Hunichen atop the leaderboard with his 177,200 chip stack. Hunichen wasn’t the only familiar face in the upper echelons of the table as Bryn Kenney, Freddy Deeb, Kevin Saul, Calvin Anderson and Greg Merson all carried sizeable stacks into the start of Day Two. There would be some work to do, however, as the field would have to be cut in half to determine the 60 players who would earn a payday from this event.
As typical of the start of a new day, there were those who looked to improve their chip mountains or head on to the next event. The early casualties included Brandon Cantu, Sam Stein, Owen Crowe, Eddy Sabat, Christian Harder, Jennifer Tilly, Will Failla, Erick Lindgren, Michael Mizrachi and Nick Schulman in just the first two hours of the day’s action. As these players were heading to their next tournament, Matt Jarvis was able to double up through Saul and a new chip leader was crowned in Jean “Prince” Gaspard.
Gaspard would be responsible for bringing the players to the money. Battling against Nicholas Immekus, Gaspard called Immekus’ all in move pre-flop and was behind at the time. Immekus’ pocket Queens held the edge over Gaspard’s A-7 off suit and a 9-5-3 rainbow flop changed nothing. A four on the turn opened up some doors for Gaspard to a gut shot straight draw, which came home when a six hit on the river to eliminate Immekus in 61st place.
With the departure of Immekus, the parade of competitors to the Rio’s cashiers’ cage became a busy one. Dan O’Brien, Josh Brikis, Dario Sammartino, Scott Seiver, Bertrand Grospellier and Saul would all take home the min-cash ($8746), while David Pham, Manig Loeser, Stefan Jedlicka, Matt Salsberg, Jared Hamby, Dani Stern, Gaspard and Hunichen picked up a bit more money as they made the long walk out of the Rio with something to show for their efforts.
As the wee hours of Thursday morning arrived, there were still 18 players remaining in the tournament, but a big last hand would shock the tournament and crown a new chip leader. Sitting next to each other, Jarvis and Andrea Dato were two of the bigger stacks still remaining in the tournament and they decided to clash. After a Jarvis bet from the button, both Dato (small blind) and Griffin Benger (big blind) defended their chips to see an A-7-A flop. Checking to the raiser, Jarvis obliged with a bet, but Dato check-raised him and Benger got out of the way. Once Jarvis made the call, the twosome were off to the turn.
A King on that turn lit the fireworks for the hand. Dato this time led out and Jarvis didn’t back down, putting in a raise. Dato three-bet the action to 200K and Jarvis surprisingly just called. An innocuous six came on the river and Dato made his stand with his 215K in chips and Jarvis immediately called, tabling his Big Slick for the turned full house against Dato’s Big Chick (A-Q) for trip Aces. As he scooped up Dato’s chips, Jarvis became the only person in the field over one million in chips and will hold a strong lead over the remaining 17 players heading to Thursday’s play:
1. Matt Jarvis, 1.373 million
2. Jeremy Kottler, 815,000
3. Bryn Kenney, 612,000
4. David Borrat, 574,000
5. Andrew Lichtenberger, 530,000
6. Byron Kaverman, 512,000
7. Pierre Neuville, 498,000
8. Kevin Eyster, 477,000
9. Mark Darner, 475,000
10. Fabrice Touil, 448,000
11. Greg Merson, 379,000
12. Mustapha Kanit, 360,000
13. Griffin Benger, 297,000
14. Praytush Buddiga, 242,000
15. Kory Kilpatrick, 216,000
16. Amanda Musumeci, 185,000
17. Jay Dragland, 125,000
Play will resume at 1PM inside “The Mothership” at the Rio today and a champion will be determined. That person will not only capture the prized WSOP bracelet but will also take down a $622,998 payday.
Event #25 – $2500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Low Split-8 or Better – Day Two
139 players came back on Wednesday for the action of Event #25, but only the final 48 would be taking home a remembrance of their stay at the WSOP in the form of Benjamins. Cameron Tahmasebi was in the best position to be one of those fortunate 48 with his 65,200 in chips to start the day, but the pack was tightly bunched behind him as the day’s play began.
After four hours of play, there were still 59 players left in the battle as new contenders for the crown began to emerge. Konstantin Puchkov, Vanessa Selbst and Robert Mizrachi all hovered around the 100K mark to stake their claim and Tahmasebi was holding his own at that same level. It would take almost an hour for the money bubble to pop but, just before the dinner break, Julie Schneider and Christopher McHugh would eliminate both Chris Klodnicki and Dustin Leary in 48th place to send the players into the money.
Following some sustenance, players began to make a beeline to the cashiers’ cage. George Danzer, Selbst, Jon Turner, John D’Agostino, Humberto Brenes and Schneider were a part of that contingent as one of the most decorated players in the game silently made his way into the lead.
Erik Seidel, he of the eight WSOP bracelets brigade, was able to escape the scrutiny of many in the Amazon Room as he slowly ascended to the top of the leaderboard. He will start Day Three as the chip leader, but there’s plenty of competition for him in a talented leaderboard:
1. Erik Seidel, 444,000
2. Mike Leah, 374,000
3. John Kabbaj, 326,000
4. Chris Reslock, 243,000
5. Fu Wong, 224,000
6. Christopher McHugh, 222,000
7. Thomas Keller, 221,000
8. Tyson Marks, 210,000
9. Andrey Zhigalov, 197,000
10. Terrence Hastoo, 177,000
11. Joe Tehan, 152,000
12. Tom Schneider, 124,000
13. Michael Roeseler, 111,000
14. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, 106,000
15. Konstantin Puchkov, 106,000
16. Owais Ahmed, 105,000
17. Matt Glantz, 66,000
At 2PM, the 17 survivors will reconvene in the Amazon Room to determine the champion. At stake is the WSOP bracelet and the $267,327 that will go to the victor.