Poker Hall of Fame nominee Men “The Master” Nguyen took home his seventh World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet by winning the $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud World Championship. He banked $395,000 and recorded his 67th WSOP cash, good for the second most all-time behind Phil Hellmuth’s 76.
Nguyen also has 38 WSOP final table appearances and is tied for second with T.J. Cloutier in that department. Nguyen told WSOP officials following his win why his seventh bracelet carried a significant meaning: “This is very, very big for me. The last two bracelets I won were in 2003, and now it’s 2010. I have not won any bracelets because a lot of people have come into our poker world. I haven’t won because it’s kind of hard now. It’s hard to break through.” Four of Nguyen’s seven bracelets have come in Stud.
Nguyen defeated Brandon Adams heads-up after spiking a king for a pair on his final card, besting Adams’ pair of queens. Adams took home $243,000 for his efforts. The Full Tilt Poker pro logged his second six-figure cash in a WSOP tournament. In 2007, the Boston resident took 69th in the Main Event for $130,000. In 2006, Adams final tabled the Championship Event of the Tunica WSOP Circuit stop for $114,000.
Here’s how the final eight cashed out in the Seven Card Stud World Championship, the 10th event on the 2010 WSOP schedule:
1. Men “The Master” Nguyen – $394,800
2. Brandon Adams – $243,958
3. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis – $152,788
4. Nikolay Evdakov – $110,629
5. Joe Cassidy – $86,461
6. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – $68,949
7. Vladimir Schmelev – $55,991
8. Sirious Jamshidi – $46,206
The buzz in the Rio on Sunday has been around Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who sits atop the leaderboard in commanding fashion in Event #11, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, with nine players remaining. Dwan holds a stack of 2.4 million, well ahead of the 1.9 million belonging to online poker pro Austin “quietwinner” McCormick. Dwan is in the hunt for his first WSOP bracelet, a distinction that likely would have landed him a spot in the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions.
Dwan and McCormick recently tangled in a sizable pot when McCormick check-called a bet of 238,000 from Dwan on a board reading 2-3-4-10-2. Following a call from McCormick, Dwan showed A-10 for tens-up and McCormick tossed his cards into the muck. McCormick then dismissed Nicholas Phillips in 10th place with K-8 of spades after spiking a flush against Phillips’ A-Q of diamonds.
Here are the chip counts as of 7:30pm PT in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event:
1. Tom “durrrr” Dwan – 2,650,000
2. Austin “quietwinner” McCormick – 1,939,000
3. David Randall – 1,803,000
4. Simon Watt – 1,375,000
5. Jason Young – 1,304,000
6. Eric “Avril Sharapova” Ladny – 969,000
7. Marvin Rettenmaier – 730,000
8. Michael Smith – 622,000
9. Kyle Winter – 502,000
Dwan stands to scoop $614,000 if he can take down Event #11 and all nine players remaining are guaranteed to cash for $45,000. Dwan also stands to take down a bundle in side bets. According to the Grand Rapids Press’ Josh Slagter, Dwan could land as much as $2 million in side action should he score a bracelet, adding even more fuel to his fire.
Meanwhile, a total of 3,042 players entered the second open $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event on the 2010 WSOP docket. The winner will take home $472,000 and the top 324 players will finish in the money. Among those dismissed on Sunday, the second of two starting days in the event, were Berry Johnston, Nam Le, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Jason Mercier, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, Humberto Brenes, J.C. Tran, Annette Obrestad, Joe Cada, and Jerry Yang.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2010 WSOP.