After 5,404 entries and 5 days of play, the $1,000 event came to an end with Robert McMillan taking the bracelet and $561k. This win is pretty huge for him as it nearly doubles his total live earnings, but the player is no stranger of live tournaments as the Robert has more than 100 cashes on his profile.
Robert McMillan
Event #56: 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship
A fourth bracelet is now in the hands of Ben Yu who came on top of a shark filled event, with 329 entries were registered and a $3M prizepool. The player now cumulates $7,3M in live earnings and passes Mike Matusow in the bracelet rankings.
Unfortunately for them, Matt Berkey (8th), JJ Liu (13th) and Sam Grafton (16th) were close but could not reach the top.
Ben Yu
Elsewhere in the Rio
Many events are in progress at the moment, especially the massive $400 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold’em and its 9,399 entries now has 49 players left. A few bracelet winners will return to get some more: Anatolii Zyrin, Vincas Tamasauskas, Brett Apter and Carlos Chang. All will try to put their hands on the $314,705 top prize.
Eleven players battle for the win in the $10k Event #57: Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship, including chip leader Danny Wong, Joao Vieira (4th) and Dan Smith (11th).
The legend
Also, the now 88-years-old Doyle Brunson returned for a quick appareance at the world series in the $1,000 SUPER SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em, but unfortunately he did not make it to day 2, contrary to the High Stakes Poker mythical character Sammy Farha who bagged a large stack for day 2.
We will return with more updates, including news from the $50k Poker Players Championship 6-Handed who just started!
What a comeback for Shaun Deeb! Starting the day in the 4th spot, he immediately doubled-up and managed to eliminate each of the four players at the table. It’s the second time Deeb wins this $25k high roller, and it’s now his fifth bracelet, making him jump 10 spots in the bracelets race with the 20th place, just behind Brian Rast who earned slightly more.
The player seems very serious in taking the top spot from Phil Hellmuth: “I’m gonna pass Phil eventually. It’s gonna take me a while but I’m gonna pass Phil. It’s gonna take me a decade or two but I’ll be there.”
Shaun Deeb now with $9M in total live earnings
Event #54: Nine Game Mix 6-Handed
Nicholas Julia won his first gold bracelet the $2,500 for $168,608. The player only had 3 lines on his Hendon Mob profile. Many familiar names were close but could not make it: Robert Mizrachi (6th – $23k), Mike Matusow (9th), Joe Hachem (14th) and John Racener (15th).
Nicholas “Cool shirt” Julia
The $1,000 event #52: SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship is still going strong with 16 players left. The fan favourites Eli Elizra and Barry Greenstein could not make the cut, leaving the chip lead to Christopher Cummings.
In the $10k Event #56: 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship, we now have 19 players hoping to win the $721k prize. Matt Berkey has kept the 3rd stack over the day, and he will come back today with JJ Liu (14th) and Sam Grafton (16th).
To end this recap, let’s have a look at the earnings leaderboard:
Still no bracelets at the world series yesterday but the money time approach!
In the $1,000 Event #52: SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship, 148 players remain and the bubble has popped a long time ago. David Kluchman ($663K in live earnings) has taken the chip lead and has legend Eli Elezra a few steps behind him with the 7th stack. Barry Greenstein will also come back today in the 51st position.
Eli Elezra
The $25k Event #53: High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) gets close to crown its champion as five players will return to battle for the $1,2M prize. Ka Kwan Lau currently has the chip lead and is closely followed by John Beauprez, owner of a NL Hold’em bracelet. The biggest name of the table is clearly Shaun Deeb (4th) but he will have to battle hard to make his short stack grow.
Shaun Deeb (11 cashes this year)
Seventeen players are left in the $2,500 Event #54: Nine Game Mix 6-Handed, including John Racener (10th), 2005 Main Event winner Joe Hachem (13th) and Robert Mizrachi (14th). 319 entries have been recorded and $169k will be up for the winner.
Joe Hachem
Elsewhere in the Rio, the $400 Colossus has started with already more than 4000 entrants in day 1A, and 113 remain in the $10k Event #56: 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship, featuring Matt Berkey with the 3rd stack.
Lots of tournaments have ended these last few days and unfortunately it’s time to catch our breath, but let’s have a quick look at the events currently running.
The $1,000 Event #52: SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship has weirdly enough collected the most entries in the whole series at this moment at 5,404 for a total prizepool of $4,8M! There might be a lot to say about this but we won’t run the debates!
Current chip leader Dany Georges
Maybe a little more exciting is the $25k event #53: High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed)? The tournament had 170 entries and now 39 players remain. Currently chip leading is Ben Lamb, notably followed by Joao Vieira (4th), Shaun Deeb (5th) and many more. Our $10k PLO championship winner Tommy Le still has a chance to grab the trophy with the 22nd stack. All these guys will play for the biggest prize up to date this year of $1,2M.
Daniel has lots to do at the 25k, losing 114th
The last tournament currently underway is the $2,500 Event #54: Nine Game Mix 6-Handed, currently in day 1. There is not a lot to say about it yet but we’ll give you updates about all these tournaments tomorrow!
Gershon Distenfeld has won his first bracelet in the $1,500 Shootout event and $204k, which Distenfeld pledged to donate various charities, as he did last year when he finished 8th in the $10k WSOP.com No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.
Distenfeld tries to inspire more players to do so: “I’d love to offer a challenge to every bracelet winner to give away 1% of their money to the charity of their choice. There’s no lack of needs out there. If I could have a lasting impact in the poker community, it would be that.”
Gershon Distenfeld
Event #49: No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship
Farzad Bonyadi probably smelled something when he decided to play his first tournament this year and enter event #49. The player could not hope for better as he’s now joining the closed club of 4-times bracelet winners, now at the 43rd place in the WSOP bracelet rankings!
Bonyadi after the win: “We used to play this game 20 years ago and there was no drawing to the ten or jack. Like any other game, the young blood is changing this game too. I kinda like it. I used to play the same way 20 years ago. You can say I’m an action player. I’m definitely not tight. Maybe they think I’m old and that I can’t play [aggressively]. I’m very satisfied with the way I played.”
His previous success was 16 years ago when he won a $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $594k. The Iranian born player now has more than $4,5M in live earnings.
Recreational Chicago player Darrin Wright punched his way to victory to win the $600 tournament yesterday and win $127k. Wright only live cash until then was a 20th place for $503 two years ago on the WSOP circuit.
“I just felt it. You know how sometimes you can feel something and you can feel it in your stomach, they say that’s your gut. I felt it in my gut,” Wright said, adding: “I was crashing them. If you had seen me, it was like, I knocked out so many players.”
Darrin “Tyson” Wright
Event #51: 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
Poker legend Brian Rast won his 5th bracelet in the $3,000 event! He now sits 19th in the WSOP rankings and is 26th in the all time live earnings list with more than $21M. Brian last bracelet was in 2018 when he won the Event #23: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship.
Rast had words about how he sees himself in the poker hall of fame: “I turn 40 in a couple weeks and it was on my mind to make the Poker Hall of Fame. I think I have a pretty good claim. I’ve played the biggest cash games in the world for over a decade and I’ve done a lot in tournaments as well. I just don’t think there are too many people. I wanted to come back here this year to the WSOP and show myself that I can still play great poker and be around and enjoy it and hopefully add more.”
Things will probably calm down for a few days as only two events are currently underway: the $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship and the $25k High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed). See you!
