The 2016 World Series of Poker’s latest two bracelet winners went to both sides of the coin to claim their trophies. In one event, it was a rather rapid affair (although it HAD been extended from the previous day), while the other tournament wrapped up early Saturday morning.
Event #21 – $3000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em
Originally scheduled to conclude on Thursday, five men had to come back on Friday due to the WSOP curfew rules regarding play of events. Will Givens was absolutely crushing the field with his 6.03 million chip stack, while Calvin Lee (4.25 million), Mark Herm (2.77 million), Martin Kozlov (1.555 million) and Steven Thompson (835,000) looked to get back in the match.
The early action saw Thompson get a big double up against Givens to get healthy again, which became a theme for the early play. Kozlov would double through Herm, Thompson through Lee, Herm through Lee…it seemed nobody wanted to depart the festivities. It wasn’t until 150 minutes of play had passed before a double up chance was defeated.
In a blind-versus-blind battle, Lee moved all in from the small blind and Kozlov, squeezing his hole cards, found something to his liking and called. Kozlov’s pocket nines were good against Lee’s Q-J off suit, and the 2-2-4 flop kept Lee in the lead. A Jack on the turn, however, changed the fortunes of the men, leaving Kozlov looking for a nine or a spade to complete his four-flush. Alas, a 5♥ wasn’t what he was looking for as Kozlov headed to the exits with a fifth place finish.
After Kozlov’s departure, the floodgates were opened. A newly revitalized Lee took down Givens in fourth and, after Thompson dumped Herm from the tournament in third place, the heads up showdown was set with Thompson holding a decent lead (8.82 million to 6.625 million) over Lee. Now the real fight was on, however.
Over a two-hour battle, Lee and Thompson shuffled chips back and forth, neither willing to give up the WSOP bracelet without a fight. The key hand proved to be Hand #169 of the final table, when Lee doubled through Thompson to take over the lead, and Lee would not look back. He slowly and methodically ground down the stack of Thompson, leading to the penultimate final hand.
After Lee limped in and Thompson checked his option, a seemingly innocent 7-5-2 flop hit the baize. Thompson bet out and, after Lee raised all in, Thompson took a moment to ponder the situation before making the call. Lee’s “computer hand” (Q-7) had struck gold against Thompson’s 8-7 and, once another five and a four rolled off on the turn and river, the tournament was over with Lee claiming the gold.
1. Calvin Lee, $531,577
2. Steven Thompson, $328,487
3. Mark Herm, $224,805
4. Will Givens, $156,281
5. Martin Kozlov, $110,389
6. Alex Queen, $79,246*
(* – eliminated on Thursday, member of official WSOP final table)
Event #24 – $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship
In what would prove to be one of the longest days of this year’s WSOP, Jason Mercier picked up his second WSOP bracelet of 2016 in defeating a difficult 171 player field – and James Obst heads up – to claim the H.O.R.S.E. crown.
Mercier was lording over the 14 men who remained in the tournament on Friday, his 1.597 million stack threatened by Jesse Martin and Nick Schulman, who were also over the million chip mark (1.244 million and 1.170, respectively). Others, such as Viacheslav Zhukov, John Monnette, Bryn Kenney and Yuval Bronshtein, also were waiting to take a piece of Mercier.
There was only one problem with that “taking a piece of Mercier” thought…Mercier didn’t want to cooperate. He would crack the two million mark in taking a pot off of Adam Friedman in Seven Card Stud and barreled past 2.5 million in winning with the Wheel against Kenney in Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo. By the time Monnette was eliminated on the final table bubble by Martin, Mercier was the only player above (WAY above) two million in chips.
Things would only get better for Mercier. He eliminated Kenney in eighth place in Razz and knocked off Bronshtein in seventh place in Limit Hold’em before Mercier saw his first adversity. Obst would cut 800K out of Mercier’s stack in Omaha Hold’em Hi/Lo, then Obst would push Mercier under one million chips in taking a huge Razz pot right after dinner. Mercier would come back, however, taking down Friedman in fourth to regain some of his former prestige.
The problem was that Obst was now the one wrecking the field. Obst took out Schulman in Seven Card Stud to enter heads up play against Mercier with more than a four million chip lead. Over the span of 45 minutes, however, Mercier would eat into that lead until it was just over a million chips. Another 15 minutes of play saw Mercier reclaim his lead and he wouldn’t look back.
As the clock closed in on 4AM in the Amazon Room, the end of the event came. During the Limit Hold’em segment, Mercier raised off the button and Obst would call for the remainder of his chips (hey, it took Mercier a bit to grind him down). Mercier was completely playing his stack as he showed a 5-3 to take on Obst’s Q-J off suit. The odds improved for Mercier on a 10-4-2 flop, giving him an open-ended straight draw along with his two live cards against Obst’s over cards. An Ace on the turn gave Mercier the Wheel, but it also opened the door for Obst to make Broadway with a King on the river. Instead, an innocent deuce came to give Mercier his second bracelet victory of 2016 and his fifth bracelet win overall.
1. Jason Mercier, $422,874
2. James Obst, $261,354
3. Nick Schulman, $183,779
4. Adam Friedman, $131,519
5. Mikhail Semin, $95,817
6. Jesse Martin, $71,089
7. Yuval Bronshtein, $53,729
8. Bryn Kenney, $41,383
The latest win by Mercier catapults him into the lead in the 2016 WSOP Player of the Year race and also puts a bit more heat on Vanessa Selbst. According to their prop bet (which has become rather acrimonious), Selbst would owe Mercier a $1.8 million payday should he take a third bracelet this WSOP. With more than 40 events remaining (and apparently a highly motivated Mercier), it is going to be a sweat for Selbst (unless Mercier shows some…mercy).
The third event that was supposed to award a bracelet on Friday has been pushed to Saturday. After reaching the WSOP curfew, the $2000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #23 on your schedule, saw two men left standing. Thus, Viliyan Petleshkov and Cesar Garcia will return at 1PM (Pacific Time) to resume their fight. Petleshkov will have the advantage over Garcia, 8.715 million to 5.48 million, but neither man is looking like they want to end this quickly (heads up play has already gone for more than 90 minutes). At stake for these men is the WSOP bracelet and a decent payday of $447,739 (second place doesn’t earn the bracelet, but a $276,660 haul isn’t bad either).
