As the 2015 World Series of Poker reaches its final days, one of the major milestones of the 2015 WSOP Championship Event was celebrated on Friday. Late in the evening, the final 1000 players were determined that took home an official WSOP cash as Day Three progressed.
There were still 1796 players remaining from the original 6420 player field when the two Day Two flights joined together for the first time in the Championship Event. The overall leader was Amar Anand, who was the only player sitting over the 600K chip mark with his 603,500 in placards. It was a long way back to second place Calvin Lee’s 500,700 in chips and the remainder of the Top Ten, including top European pro Sotirios Koutoupas, were arranged around 120,000 in chips behind Lee.
With 1000 players receiving a payout from the WSOP ($15,000, not quite double the buy in but appropriate for the flattened payout structure), nearly half of those in the tournament rooms at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino (the Amazon and Brasilia Rooms) would be departing with only a story to tell about their time in the Championship Event. The departures were rapid in the early going as players looked for that “double up or go home (or to the next tournament)” play to either get back in the event or conclude their stay at the WSOP. Still, the quality of play was apparent as players got their chips in with pocket pairs that were soundly beaten (as in John Esposito’s pocket eights losing to Zach Daly’s pocket Aces) or they got it in good but were outdrawn (as in Mehrdad Danialifar’s pocket Queens getting run down by Shahriar Fahim’s pocket Jacks).
About the only misstep that Anand had during the day came very early in the action. Some of his chips would slide to Marcelo Fonseca as Anand would drop under the 600K mark. That seemed to be a mistake as, only a few hands later, Anand and Fonseca would knock heads again. On a J-3-7-5-9 board bereft of any flush draws, Anand moved all in to put Fonseca to the decision for his tournament life. After several moments of thought, Fonseca would make the call and, as Anand turned up his pocket Aces, Fonseca could only show pocket Queens as Anand got his chips back (and more) in eliminating Fonseca.
The dinner break would arrive before the money bubble would pop, making the evening meal a little less comfortable for many in the Rio’s tournament rooms. Post-dinner, there was a very large annoyance in that some players, nursing a miniscule stack, took extended periods of time to make even the smallest of decisions. This resulted in the floor men being called frequently and, in one case, one of the players attempting to scrape into the money being put on a 15-second clock to make his decisions.
With 1002 players remaining, the 2015 WSOP Championship Event officially went to hand-for-hand play that would last for only two deals. The first hand passed without incident but, on the second, both Roy Daoud and Jonas Lauck were eliminated from the tournament. The tournament was once again paused to make the announcement that the remaining players were now in the money and Daoud and Lauck high-carded for a seat to the 2016 WSOP Championship Event. Daoud drew a Jack to eclipse Lauck’s seven and he will return to Las Vegas in 2016 for the fun and games of next year’s event.
Once everyone was guaranteed $15,000, the floodgates opened up towards the cage. Alex Bolotin, Kenna James, former November Niner Amir Lehavot, Dan Cates, WPT500 at Aria champion Craig Varnell, Allen Cunningham, defending WSOP Europe champion Adrian Mateos, former World Champion Scotty Nguyen and Jeff Gross would all be recipients of the $15K min-cash. In fact, the first 11 eliminations on Saturday will still receive the $15K prize before there is a pay bump.
Anand, however, continued to have fortune on his side. In a blind versus blind battle, Anand saw the small blind limp in and made the call. On a 9♣ 8♣ ♣2 flop, Anand would move all in after the small blind checked and, after the call, tabled a J♣ 4♦ for a dubious flush draw. His opponent had hit the flop with their Q♠ 9♠, but it was short lived as the 10♣ came on the turn to give Anand an unbeatable straight. After the meaningless river card, Anand cracked the million chip mark and cruised to the end of the evening:
1. Amar Anand, 1.139 million
2. Joseph McKeehen, 1.052 million
3. Brian Hastings, 1,034 million
4. Fedor Holz, 994,000
5. Jason Roberts, 948,000
6. Emmanuel Lopez, 942,000
7. Jake Toole, 940,000
8. Chad Power, 917,000
9. Stephen Graner, 916,000
10. Dmitry Chop, 901,000
Other notables in the Top 25 include Mark Kroon (807,000), Matt Jarvis (803,000), Justin Bonomo (745,000) and Jens Lakemeier (725,000), who has to be under consideration for Rookie of the Year at the 2015 WSOP (four cashes with two in $10K events).
Play resumes at noon on Saturday, looking to bring the 661 players deeper into the money. At the end of the rainbow, someone’s dreams will be realized as they are crowned poker’s World Champion, earning the WSOP bracelet and a $7,680,021 payday.
