Saturday marked the beginning of the 2016 World Series of Poker $10,000 Championship Event, but there was still some unfinished business around the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino to take care of first. In fact, one of the final “big money” tournaments of the WSOP was extended a day to determine its championship, among other events.
Event #62 – $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller
Three days wasn’t enough for the big dogs in the Pot Limit Omaha High Roller to take care of things. Thus, on Saturday three men – chip leader Jens Kyllonen (10.925 million), Tommy Le (8.65 million) and Dan Smith (3.425 million) – came back to the tables to fight it out for the latest WSOP bracelet. Per the nature of PLO, the trio came out of the gates hot and kept up a sizzling pace over their four-hour battle.
Smith got healthy – and pulled all the stacks to roughly even – in doubling up through Kyllonen. Smith potted pre-flop and, after Kyllonen defended his big blind, an 8-7♣ 5 rainbow flop hit the felt. Kyllonen fired for 2.2 million, or roughly the same amount of chips that Smith held, but Smith would put in his remaining chips and show a K-Q♣ 10-9♣ for an open ended straight draw and several other backdoor chances. Kyllonen didn’t come empty handed, showing down a Q-8-5-3 for a flopped two pair that had redraws to the boat. The K♣ helped Smith more than Kyllonen, now giving him outs to two pair if a seven came on the river, trips should another King hit or a flush should another club come to the game. On the river, the 2♣ completed the flush for Smith, bringing him to seven million chips and only 875,000 chips behind the leading Kyllonen with Le lodged between the two.
Smith would momentarily take over the lead before coming back down to earth. After a Le double through him, Smith would double up Kyllonen in a hand that basically left him on chip fumes. On a 10-9-2 flop, the chips went to the center with Smith in the lead with an A-A-Q-J over Kyllonen’s 10-8-6-4 (pair of tens). A trey on the turn kept Smith in the lead, but the thunderbolt of a six on the river gave Kyllonen two pair and the pot. After the chips were counted and dispersed, Smith was left with only 1.75 million chips; after a valiant fight, he would fall at the hands of Le in third place.
Kyllonen held slightly more than a two million chip lead at the start of heads up play, but Le would quickly reverse that situation. In fact, over a half hour span, Le built almost a five million chip lead, but that would disappear almost as quickly to a battling Kyllonen. They would go back and forth for another two hours before the final hand would be played.
On the final hand, Le would put out a pot bet, which Kyllonen called, to see a 10♦ 4♦ 2♠ flop. After Kyllonen checked his option, Le issues a 3.6 million pot bet and Kyllonen put him to the test by potting for Le’s remaining chips. Le would call and show an A♦ 9♥ 8♠ 7♦ for just the nut flush draw, while Kyllonen put down a Q-10-5-3 for a pair of tens and a straight draw (he also held a flush draw that was immaterial to Le’s dominant edge). A five on the turn wasn’t what Le was hoping for, as it now gave two pair to Kyllonen, and the river trey was red but a heart, earning Kyllonen the title of champion at the WSOP.
1. Jens Kyllonen, $1,127,035
2. Tommy Le, $696,558
3. Dan Smith, $487,361
4. Ryan D’Angelo, $347,641*
5. Veselin Karakitukov, $252,909*
6. Dmitry Savelyev, $187,724*
7. Ludovic Geilich, $142,227*
8. Sean Winter, $110,035*
(* – eliminated on Friday, part of official WSOP final table)
Event #68 – $10,000 Championship Event – Day 1A
It is the day that every poker player strives to someday be taking part in…the $10,000 WSOP Championship Event kicked off on Saturday, with a crowd gathered for the first of three Day Ones that will continue until Monday. Once the call of “shuffle up and deal” was made by 2015 WSOP Player of the Year Mike Gorodinsky, the “gold rush” was off for arguably the most prestigious title in the world of poker.
While you can’t win the WSOP Championship Event on the first day of action, you can certainly lose it as a host of players found out. Of the 764 players who made their way to the green baize for Day 1A, 567 of them would make it through the carnage to earn the right to come back for Day 2. Some of those who won’t be a part or any more action at the 2016 WSOP included a couple of Canadian pros, Mark Radoja and Greg Mueller, who were joined by Calvin Anderson, the 2015 “Last Woman Standing” Kelly Minkin, seven-time WSOP bracelet winner Billy Baxter and Court Harrington. Radoja’s departure was particularly cruel, coming late in the evening on Saturday when his pocket Aces were cracked by Shannon Shorr’s pocket Kings.
The news wasn’t all bad for poker’s most notable names and faces. 2016 WSOP bracelet winner Michael Gathy was in the Top 25 in chips at the end of the day with his 151,000 stack, but Dan Shak would top Gathy by making it into the Top Ten with his 208,400 in chips. They will both look up at Gary Sewell, who finished off the Day 1A action with 312,500 in chips.
1. Gary Sewell, 312,500
2. Alvaro Lopez, 306,200
3. Scott Neuman, 226,000
4. Sean Case, 222,500
5. Matthew Ashton, 212,600
6. Alexander Barlow, 212,100
7. Joep Raemaekers, 211,100
8. Carl Carodenuto, 210,800
9. Dan Shak, 208,400
10. Derek Chang, 205,200
The survivors of Day 1A will come back on Tuesday, joining those who make it through Sunday’s Day 1B for Day 2A play. The WSOP Championship Event will continue at 11AM Sunday morning (Pacific Time) when the Day 1B field will head to the gates.
