After three days of battle amongst some of the world’s greatest poker players, David Baker – the ‘ODB’ version, not the ‘Bakes’ one – will head the six men who will contest the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship final table at the 2015 World Series of Poker this afternoon.
19 players returned from the original 84 players who started the tournament on Tuesday, squaring off over a 10-game format (No Limit Hold’em, Seven Card Stud, No Limit Deuce to Seven Single Draw Lowball, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Eights or Better, Razz, Pot Limit Omaha, Limit Hold’em, Badugi, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Eights or Better and Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Lowball in case you want to get your game at home going) that would be a true test of any poker player. Leading the way was Abe Mosseri (1.201 million in chips) at the start of Day 3 (as he had during last year’s festivities), joined by former PPC champion Matthew Ashton (1.068 million) and John Racener (1.03 million) as the only players over the million chip mark. Rounding out the Top Five at the start of Day 4 were two-time WSOP bracelet winner John Monnette (948,000) and a player that has come thisclose to winning a bracelet at this year’s WSOP, Mike Gorodinsky (945,000).
Mosseri would knock out Lamar Wilkinson rather quickly in 19th place to bring the tournament to three tables, but there was still a long way until the players reached the money let alone the final table of the tournament. As the tournament proceeded (slowly), Baker rose from the pack and, after taking nearly all of Shawn Buchanan’s chips, captured the chip lead with 1.92 million in chips. Gorodinsky was also active over this span, taking down Monnette to pull close to Baker on the ladder.
It took more than seven hours – and a dinner break – before the men who would take home some cash from the Poker Players’ Championship were determined. In Limit 2-7, Joe Cassidy made a raise on the button and, after a three-bet from Mosseri, made the call. Both players drew two cards and Mosseri continued to be aggressive, putting another bet in the center of the felt that Cassidy called all in for less. Surprisingly, Mosseri took two cards again while Cassidy only picked up one. Taking the final draw, both men would draw one and Mosseri tabled a K-9-7-3-2 for a King low, not usually the best hand in this discipline of poker. Cassidy showed a 7-5-4-2 and squeezed out his final card that, unfortunately for him, paired his five and left him out of the tournament on the money bubble.
After Cassidy’s departure, the players would whittle the field from 12 to six in only about four hours. Ashton, Racener, Justin Smith, Mosseri, Buchanan (after a stirring comeback from being on the most extreme of short stacks) and final table bubble boy Jason Mercier all finished in 12th through seventh places, respectively, as Baker and Gorodinsky continued to helm the field as they will on Friday afternoon.
1. David ‘ODB’ Baker, 3.227 million
2. Mike Gorodinsky, 2.589 million
3. Jean-Robert Bellande, 2.188 million
4. Chris Klodnicki, 2.13 million
5. Ben Sulsky, 1.462 million
6. Dan Kelly, 1.003 million
For the casual fan, the unfamiliar name would be that of Sulsky, but underestimating him would be a huge mistake. Sulsky is one of the top online cash game players in the world, playing under the names ‘Sauce123’ on PokerStars and ‘Sauce1234’ on Full Tilt Poker with a specialization in Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em. Sulsky may only have three career live tournament cashes on his resume (he did finish fourth in the 2013 WSOP $10,000 Heads Up event), but his skills fit in well with the remainder of the table.
These men will return to the Amazon Room and “The Mothership” at 2PM (Vegas time) this afternoon. At stake is putting your name on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy (and joining such poker luminaries as its namesake Chip Reese, fellow Poker Hall of Fame member Scotty Nguyen, Freddy Deeb, David Bach and Michael Mizrachi, the only two-time champion of this event), taking one of the most cherished WSOP bracelets that there is and pocketing the $1,270,086 in first place prize money.
