If giving players the needle were a handicraft artform, surely Martin Kabrhel would be on the way to completing the Bayeux Tapestry of poker.
On the sharp end in the $5K PLO was short-stacked Nick Schulman, who performed (and performance-showed) a big river bluff against Kabrhel, briefly silencing him. Shaun Deeb had called the clock on the Czech pro, and did it again the following hand – prompting a request for an apology, a refusal and a frosty atmosphere until a tension-relieving table break.
Social media is abuzz (is it ever not?) with this three-way contretemps between Schulman, Kabrhel and Deeb. "Say my name," Schulman reportedly said to Kabrhel, on showing his bluff. Plenty will be doing just that today.
Where are they now? Deeb and Schulman busted in 55th and 24th place respectively (cashing for $12,903 and $20,070) while Kabrhel remains in the running as the final table looms. Currently top of the counts is Jeremy Trojand, with prior bracelet winners Lawrence Brandt, Caleb Furth and fantasy player Ryan Riess at the other end of the chip scale. The winner will collect $620,696 from a prize pool of over $3.4 million.
Fantasy players Roberts and Mao make the last five in the $5K 8-Max
Fantasy players made up two-thirds of the unofficial nine-handed final table in Event #3, the $5K 8-Handed NLH, racking up plenty of early points for their teams. The five-handed battle to the finish begins at 3pm (livestreaming commencing at 5pm) with Christian Roberts in the lead. Not only is Roberts himself a fantasy player, but mid-stacked Renji Mao has made the last cut, too; both are looking to secure their second WSOP bracelet.
Antonio Galiana, Gaetan Balleur and Fred Normand round out the 8-Max final. Galiana is also in the hunt for a second title, which, if it comes in this event, will bring with it $582,008 in prize money. Everyone returning for the final day is guaranteed at least $137,948 for making it through (most of) a field of 693.
Among the multitude of fantasy players making Day 3 but no further (finishing in 25th place or higher) were Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau, Justin Saliba, 'Texas' Mike Moncek, Georgios Sotiropoulos and Justin Liberto.
Heads roll in $25K Heads-Up Championship
The one-on-one slugfest that is heads-up poker has brought the capped (and stacked) field of 64 down to 16 in the $25K Championship event. The remaining combatants’ next battle will result in either the rail or the money; $500,000 awaits Sunday’s winner, with a not-so-min $86,000 going to those who fall in the round of eight.
The small-field, big buy-in bracelet dream is over for Frankie Cucchiara, valiant 'regular guy' whose prior HU victories over the likes of Phil Ivey and Patrick Leonard (and unceasing pre-WSOP practice) brought deserved optimism from backers. He’ll now be setting his sights on the next event with fellow bustees Kristen Foxen, Jeremy Ausmus, Scott Seiver and Danny Tang.
Heavyweight clash of the day had to be that between Phil Ivey and Alex Foxen, with Foxen taking both stacks through to round 3. Read more on the Heads-Up Championship here.
Second Championship event on its way
The next $10,000 Championship event will be in Omaha hi-lo, running May 31 to June 4. There’s already been a warm-up in this poker variant at this year’s WSOP – the 910-entry $1,500 version – that brought David Shmuel his first bracelet and $205,333 in prize money.
Mixed game heavy hitters like Robert Mizrachi, Todd Brunson and Scott Clements all cashed in this one; the equivalent, perhaps, of those stretches joggers do leaning on benches in the park (if they awarded prize money to those who did them best).
