The 2017 World Series of Poker rumbles into its second week with a host of tournaments handing out their hardware.
Event #9 – $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Eights or Better World Championship
From the 154-player field that started the tournament, the final two men were veterans of the poker world who both had tasted victory at the WSOP before. Abe Mosseri (5.135 million) led Daniel Negreanu (2.575 million) as they came back on Wednesday afternoon to settle their score. Instead of a drawn-out battle, however, the railbirds were treated to a rather quick FOUR HANDS to determine a champion.
Mosseri would win every hand that was played, including the first when Negreanu held a very strong A♠ 3♠ 4♣ 5♣ that had a wealth of possibilities but couldn’t connect on the 10-10-4-J flop and turn. On the next hand, Negreanu would hit two pair/Queen kicker with no low, only to see Mosseri clip him with the same two pair as Negreanu but an Ace kicker. On the final hand, the chips made it to the center after a 9-5-2 flop, with Mosseri’s 8-8-6-3 holding over Negreanu’s J-6-5-3 when the board completed with two Kings.
1. Abe Mosseri, $388,795
2. Daniel Negreanu, $240,290
3. Yarron Bendor, $166,895*
4. Fabrice Soulier, $118,340*
5. Ilya Dyment, $85,702*
6. Ray Dehkharghani, $63,419*
7. Anthony Zinno, $47,975*
8. Mike Matusow, $37,120*
9. John Monnette, $29,391*
(* – eliminated on Tuesday)
Event #11 – $1500 Six-Handed Dealer’s Choice
After coming in with the chip lead for the final day of the tournament, former $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship winner David Bach picked up his second WSOP bracelet in winning Event #11.
Bach (798,500) came into Wednesday with a decent lead over Christopher Sensoli (552K) and Chip Jett (305,500), but still having some work to do just to reach the final table. He would help his own cause in eliminating Brandon Cantu in eighth place and, after a color-up break, cracked the million-chip mark in defeating Wook Kim. When Bach eliminated Jett on the final table bubble, Bach held 1.22 million chips and a commanding lead over the remaining five men.
While Bach ruled the roost, the competition for who would take him on took flight. Iacofano was quite active in trying to be that contender, but his chip stack wildly fluctuated through the entirety of the final table. While he brought Bach under a million chips in a hand of Pot Limit Omaha and knocked off Kim in sixth place, he just as quickly would turn around and disperse those hard-earned chips to the rest of the table. While Iacofano battled back in 2-7 Single Draw, Bach used the play to approach two million chips.
Bach continued to steamroll the table, eliminating Scott Milkey in fourth and Sensoli in third, reaching heads up with Iacofano while holding almost a 10:1 lead. Iacofano didn’t go quietly, winning two hands of Pot Limit Omaha, before Bach retook control while calling his game – Omaha Hi/Lo – and ended the tournament. On the final hand, a 2-9-7-10 flop and turn saw all Iacofano’s chips hit the center, with Iacofano’s A-J-9-8 catching a straight without a threat of a low draw. Bach had an on-the-turn inferior K-10-10-7, but that would change once the board paired with another seven. The resulting boat gave Bach the hand and the championship, his second WSOP bracelet of his career.
1. David Bach, $119,399
2. Kevin Iacofano, $73,779
3. Christopher Sensoli, $47,629
4. Scott Milkey, $31,550
5. Anthony Arvidson, $21,460
6. Wook Kim, $14,998
Event #5 – The Colossus III
That’s right, “The Colossus” was still going on as of Wednesday afternoon, but it was over by the evening. Nine men returned to the final table, with Mark Babekov’s 19.025 million leading the way. Also at the final table were a couple of know entities, pro player Matt Affleck and online pro Luke “Bdbeatslayer” Vrabel, but both were on a short stack (Affleck 3.5 million, Vrabel 4 million). With four other players over the 10 million mark in chips, everyone settled in for a bit of a slog to the champion.
Vrabel was the first to go, slamming his A-2 into two Big Slicks owned by Thomas Pomponio and Erkut Yilmaz, to depart in ninth place. Affleck would then head to the rail at the hands of Kent Coppock, with Coppock’s A-9 standing over Affleck’s K-J. Yilmaz, who battled against Pomponio several times, would then ship the remainder of his stack to John Hanna after Hanna woke up in the big blind with pocket Aces against Yilmaz’s pocket fours.
Now down to five players with Hanna in command (34.5 million in chips), Pomponio emerged as a challenger. He eliminated Coppock in fifth place and, after Taylor Black took over the lead after knocking off Babekov in fourth, built up enough chips to knock off Hanna in third. Still, when Pomponio entered heads up play against Black, he was almost 20 million chips behind.
That deficit disappeared on the fourth hand of heads up action. Pomponio opened the betting and saw Black three-bet him to six million chips. Pomponio stood firm, however, making it a four-bet to over 13 million. Black moved all in immediately and, just as quickly, Pomponio made his stand in calling.
Pomponio’s A-K was leading over Black’s A-10 and things looked good for Black with a ten in the flop window. There was a King in the three-card mix also, keeping Pomponio in the lead. A nine on the turn and a seven on the river didn’t change anything, giving Pomponio the huge double up and pushing him into the lead by more than 40 million chips.
Black was able to hold on for another 25 hands, but his fate was set. On the last hand, Black moved all in pre-flop and Pomponio nearly beat him into the pot with the call, showing A♦ 6♦ against Black’s J-8 off suit. Things got even worse for Black on the Q♦ Q♠ 4♦ flop and, after a trey on the turn and a seven on the river, worse became eliminated as Pomponio captured the championship.
1. Thomas Pomponio, $1,000,000
2. Taylor Black, $545,480
3. John Hanna, $406,474
4. Mark Babekov, $305,294
5. Kent Coppock, $230,564
6. Erkut Yilmaz, $175,208
7. Ralph Massey, $133,975
8. Matt Affleck, $103,090
9. Luke Vrabel, $79,827