After their kickoffs to start the 2014 World Series of Poker on Tuesday, two tournaments reached (or came close to reaching) their endpoints. Event #1, the Casino Employees Event, crowned a champion on Thursday – a day later than expected – while the pro-packed Mixed Max tournament will crown theirs later today.
Event #1 – $500 Casino Employees Event
While they may have had a long battle on Wednesday night, the mano y mano showdown between Roland Reparejo and Cory Emery fizzled out in only six hands on Thursday.
Reparejo, holding 1.795 million in chips to Emery’s 735,000, never let Emery get out of the gate as they decided the title. In a mere six hands (ten minutes of play), Reparejo would take the championship. On the final hand of the tournament, Reparejo limped in from the button and immediately called after Emery pushed his remaining stack to the center of the felt. Reparejo’s A-Q was out in front of Emery’s J-8, but the flop provided some intrigue. Emery would catch his eight, but Reparejo would catch his Ace also. Looking for another eight or a Jack to make two pair, Emery instead saw a ten and a deuce fall on the turn and river, locking up the championship and the WSOP bracelet for Reparejo.
1. Roland Reparejo (United States), $82,835
2. Cory Emery (United States), $51,037
3. Charles Nguyen (United States), $33,073
4. Olivier Doremus (United States), $24,203
5. John Taylor (United States), $17,975
6. Brian Wong (United States), $13,528
7. Marcin Sobczak (United States), $10,308
8. David Luttbeg (United States), $7947
9. Kevin Chiem (United States), $6192
Event #2 – $25,000 Mixed Max No Limit Hold’em
The Day Three action for Event #2, the $25,000 Mixed Max tournament, saw the final sixteen survivors (also the number paid in the tournament) return to the felt on Thursday to work down to the final two who would decide the championship. Although Al Decarolis was in the lead with his 1.261 million in chips, the other players who had seven-figure stacks – J. C. Tran (1.251 million), Vanessa Selbst (1.224 million) and Jason Mo (1.214 million) – were packed together behind him as the day’s play began with four, four-handed tables.
Selbst began to make her charge at a third WSOP bracelet from the start of play. In a blind versus blind battle with Noah Schwartz, Selbst bet enough out of the small blind to commit Schwartz to action and, when the cards were turned up, Schwartz actually had the best of it. His A-4 was ahead of Selbst’s Q♠ 2♠, but a K♦ 8♠ K♠ flop technically put Selbst in the lead. A Queen on the turn further enhanced Selbst’s hand and, once an insult-to-injury 3♠ hit the river, Selbst had come from behind to make a flush and eliminate Schwartz from the tournament only ten minutes into play.
Schwartz would have plenty of company as the early action dropped several other contenders. Barry Hutter (15th, $54,945), Calvin Anderson (14th, $63,158) and Nick Schulman (13th, $63,158) would depart within the first hour and bring the tournament down to three tables. The hits kept coming as Kevin Song (12th, $72,617), Richard Lyndaker (11th, $72,617), Brian Green (10th, $85,342) and Darren Elias (9th, $85,342) headed to the rail only half an hour following Schulman’s departure.
Down to two tables, Decarolis (2.8 million chips, courtesy of eliminating Elias) held a sizeable advantage over Selbst (1.63 million) and the twosome would end up on the same four handed table to continue the tournament. Looking to get into the game, Mo (1.43 million) and Tran (1.32 million) had to contest each other if they were to make the heads-up segment once four players were reached.
The chips continued to fly around the room as Aaron Jones (8th, $112,752) and Ryan Fee (7th, $112,752) exited the Rio only ten minutes after two table play began. After taking a break from the carnage, Tran would continue it with his elimination of Robert Tepper. Tepper, who had moved all in pre-flop from the button, couldn’t shake off Tran (who looked him up from the big blind), but he was in the lead to head to the flop. His A♦ 7♥ was slightly ahead of Tran’s K♥ J♦ and the board proved to make the hand interesting.
The 3♠ 8♦ 9♦ flop kept Tepper in the lead and, after a 7♦ came on the turn, he would get a key double up if he could avoid any non-diamond King, Jack or any ten on the river. Stunningly, the 10♦ came to Tran’s rescue on the river, giving him a straight flush and sending Tepper to the cashier’s cage to collect his $171,461 for his sixth place finish.
Down to five players, the battle still raged as the survivors looked to make the heads-up round. Getting from 16 players to the final five had taken slightly more than two hours; it would take almost four hours before the Final Four were determined with Matt Giannetti’s elimination in fifth place ($171,461) at the hands of Decarolis.
Going to the heads-up round, Decarolis (the #1 seed with 3.435 million in chips) seemed to have a massive advantage over Selbst (#4, 525,000), while Tran (#2, 3.35 million) and Mo (#3, 2.51 million) looked to be a closer fight. The two tables, playing side by side, saw Selbst start to fight her way back (at one point, she won five straight hands) while Tran slowly bled chips from his stack to Mo. On their 34th hand of play, Mo would eventually eliminate Tran in fourth ($290,622) to seal his place in the Championship Final.
The Decarolis/Selbst fight would take much longer, however. After more than sixty hands of play, Selbst had pulled to within 300K in chips of Decarolis and, another forty hands later, the duo were virtually dead even. They still would battle it out for another 25 hands until Selbst, holding a slight lead, defended her blind from a Decarolis raise. On a 4-9-7 flop, Selbst check-raised Decarolis for his stack and, after he called, Decarolis saw the bad news. His Big Slick had been caught by Selbst’s 9-8 and, following a Jack on the turn and a five on the river, Selbst locked up her spot in the Championship Final.
Mo will have an advantage (5.86 million) against Selbst (3.96 million) when they clash on Friday afternoon for the first open bracelet of the 2014 WSOP. Seeing how she battled from the shortest stack at the start of the heads-up matches, however, there are few that will bet against Selbst taking down her third career WSOP bracelet and the $871,148 payday.