As the 2016 World Series of Poker’s $10,000 Championship Event played out its second Day 1 on Sunday, two tournaments were looking to crown champions. The “Big One High Roller” concluded its action late Sunday night, while the Ladies’ Champion was crowned in rapid fashion on Sunday afternoon.
Event #65 – $10,000 Ladies’ No Limit Hold’em World Championship
At the start of Sunday, nine women had the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Susie Isaacs, Barbara Enright, Starla Brodie, Nani Dollison, Jennifer Tilly, Svetlana Gromenkova and defending champion Kristen Bicknell (also a 2016 WSOP bracelet winner) to become the Ladies’ Champion. Wendy Freedman was the leader of the tournament, holding 909,000 in chips, while her nearest competitor, Amanda ‘Mandy’ Baker, cobbled together 675,000. Once the ladies came to the felt at noon on Sunday, they played aggressively and, for lack of a better way to put it, like the Rio was on fire, determining a champion in slightly more than four hours.
Baker came out of the gates quick, knocking off Yaxi Zhu in ninth place to creep closer to Freedman with 860,000 chips. In defeating Freedman on Hand 25, when Baker forced Freedman to abandon her cards on an A-J-8-Q-6 board with no flush draws, Baker assumed the lead and became the first player to crack the million chip mark. Freedman would attempt to get back in the mix by knocking off Nicole Schwartz in eighth place, but would then turn around and double up Xiu Deng to fall to 320,000 in chips.
Freedman’s fall would provide the momentum for another player on the table. Courtney Kennedy would get into a blind versus blind battle with Freedman and had the edge with her pocket tens over Freedman’s pocket eights. The 9-7-3 on the flop teased both players but missed, while the deuce didn’t connect on the turn. When the river came, it had two lines of four hearts – but it also included two more hearts in between the lines, giving an unnecessary set to Kennedy and knocking out Freedman in seventh place.
Kennedy would continue a slow, steady pace with her chip stack consistently going upwards. She took down Musumeci in fifth place to crack the two million chip mark and, by the 100th hand of the final table, broke three million chips to take a dominant lead. Only Baker, who eliminated Natalia Breviglieri in fourth, could attempt to keep up, but Kennedy would parry that attack when she eliminated Deng in third. Going to heads up play, Kennedy held nearly a 7:1 lead.
While Baker would get one double up during the heads up battle, that would be the only hope that Kennedy would give her. On Hand 128, Baker would move all in for 420,000 in chips, hoping it was enough to push Kennedy of mediocre holdings. Unfortunately for Baker, Kennedy didn’t wake up with mediocre holdings; Kennedy made the call and tabled Big Slick to put Baker at a significant disadvantage. Once the K-10-4-7-6 board was dealt, Kennedy’s Ace played to earn her the Ladies’ Championship.
1. Courtney Kennedy, $149,108
2. Amanda Baker, $92,121
3. Xiu ‘Michelle’ Deng, $64,401
4. Natalia Breviglieri, $45,683
5. Amanda Musumeci, $32,889
6. Shelly Johnson-Ochoa, $24,037
7. Wendy Freedman, $17,837
8. Nicole Schwartz, $13,443
9. Yaxi Zhu, $10,292
Event #67 – $111,111 One Drop High Roller
While he might have been denied his quest for the title at the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl at Aria just before the start of the WSOP, poker professional Fedor Holz is at least wrapping it up nicely. After an extended battle with fellow pro Dan Smith, Holz picked up his first WSOP bracelet in taking down one of its largest buy in tournaments, the $111,111 One Drop High Roller.
Smith and Holz were a part of the 13-man field coming back on Sunday for the final day of action, with Smith actually holding the lead over a powerful field. Along with Holz, such names as inaugural “Big One for One Drop” champion Antonio Esfandiari, defending World Champion Joe McKeehen and powerful international pros Niall Farrell and Adrian Mateos were just a few of the challengers in the pack. Of those men, Esfandiari was in the worst shape, scraping into the final 13 with only 1.65 million chips compared to Smith’s 22.5 million.
One of the first hands of play would see the rich get richer and the poor depart, albeit in dramatic fashion. Esfandiari pushed all in only 20 minutes into the day’s action, getting a lookup from Smith in the big blind. Esfandiari held the initial edge, his pocket sevens in the lead against Smith’s 10-9, but it would change on the J-9-8 flop. Smith looked more comfortable but the turn would provide some drama. A seven hit the felt that gave Smith a straight but opened up some outs for Esfandiari to a full house. Looking for the board to pair or the final seven for quads, Esfandiari would instead see a Queen to make Smith’s straight better and end his run in 13th place.
Once Scott Seiver was dispatched by Holz in ninth place, the official WSOP final table of eight was determined. Smith was still the sizeable chip leader at 21.975 million, but new challengers emerged in Holz, Brian Green and Jack Salter. It was at this time that Holz caught fire, eliminating all but one player (Farrell, who was eliminated by McKeehen in eighth place) on his way to three-way action against Smith and Day One chip leader Koray Aldemir. Once Smith took down Aldemir in third place, heads up was set but with Holz a dominant leader (56.275 million) over Smith (35.25 million).
The heads up fight would be an entertaining one, with Smith battling back to reassume the lead after about 90 minutes of play. With two talented players, it looked as if it would come down to a clash of strong hands and, on Hand 129, it did. On a J-8-6-9-6 board, Holz would have his stack in the center and an obviously distraught Smith agonized over whether to make the call or not. After deliberating for quite some time, he made the call and turned up a 9-8, good for two pair. The river delivered for Holz, however, and his 6-5, giving him trips and a huge double up that saw him rocket back to the top. Four hands later, Holz would take the rest of Smith’s chips in rivering a backdoor flush to beat Smith’s Aces up and take the One Drop High Roller title.
1. Fedor Holz, $4,981,775
2. Dan Smith, $3,078,974
3. Koray Aldemir, $2,154,265
4. Jack Salter, $1,536,666
5. Brian Green, $1,117,923
6. Joe McKeehen, $829,792
7. Nick Petrangelo, $628,679
8. Niall Farrell, $486,383
Event #68 – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship Event
The players flocked to the tables for the second of three Day Ones at this year’s $10,000 Championship Event. A total of 1733 players came to the races on Sunday, bringing the total numbers to 2497 entries to this point. To best last year’s figures (6420 players), almost 4000 players will have to swarm the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino on Monday, not impossible if the past is any indication.
Andrey Zaichenko will be the man who will rest easy as he emerged from the Day 1B carnage with a leading 292,700 in chips. That barely bested Kenny Hallaert, who bagged up 269,400 in chips, Kevin Powell (219,800), Luo Chang (203,800) and Eric Afriat (200,500), but all of these men garnered enough chips to join Zaichenko on the overall leaderboard for the Championship Event.
1. Gary Sewell, 312,500
2. Alvaro Lopez, 306,200
3. Andrey Zaichenko, 292,700
4. Kenny Hallaert, 269,400
5. Scott Neuman, 226,000
6. Sean Case, 222,500
7. Kevin Powell, 219,800
8. Matthew Ashton, 212,600
9. Luo Chang, 203,800
10. Eric Afriat, 200,500
All eyes will be on the Rio this after at 11AM (Pacific Time) as Day 1C begins its trek to the championship. On Tuesday, Days 1A and 1B will combine for Day 2A and Day 1C will return for Day 2B on Wednesday. It is all in the long drive to what will conclude this November with the crowning of poker’s next World Champion.