There's a terrific final day in store in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), where three players who have all been described in terms like 'brat' or 'enfant terrible' remain in contention at the business end of the tournament.
The most prominent, and the oldest, is Phil Hellmuth, the original Poker Brat, who bagged the fourth biggest stack (906,000) of 15 players remaining overnight as he hunts a record-extending 18th bracelet. The 60-year-old is still prone to the occasional meltdown despite his advancing years, and with the similarly-combustible Luke Schwartz (774,000) only one rung beneath Hellmuth in the leaderboard, the chances of Wednesday fireworks must be considered high.
If you add to the mix the former online whizkid Viktor Blom (674,000), who sits in ninth, this is already a mouthwatering line-up. Schwarz and Blom -- aka 'FullFlush' and 'Isildur1' -- are long-time sparring partners in the online nosebleeds, though both tend to cut more measured figures in person these days. That's not the case for Hellmuth who, one suspects, will blow up at some stage...unless he goes all the way to the title.
The chip leader is Qinghai Pan (1,581,000), whose two previous WSOP bracelets have both come in smaller buy-in online events. Third-placed Andrey Zhigalov (1,135,000) also has two bracelets, both in HORSE tournaments and one from this year, while Alex Livingston (594,000), currently in 10th, is also a two-time previous champ.
Eyes fixed on this one on Wednesday. It seems certain to be a cracker, with $411,051 and the bracelet ready for the winner.
Negreanu Seeks PLO Salvation After Big Bet Flip Pain
It's never really clear by what metric a player of Daniel Negreanu's stature measures success at a particular WSOP. Is it money made, vlog clicks registered, final table appearances, or something else?
One suspects it's probably mainly about silverware, and so the early going on Tuesday at the WSOP represented another disappointing near miss for Kid Poker. The Canadian No 1 recorded his fifth top 10 appearance of the summer in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet event, which was also his ninth WSOP cash of the year. But he was flipped to the rail in fourth, earning $60,792, but not adding to his bracelet haul.
PokerOrg's Adam Hampton watched the tournament play out, and stuck around to see Aaron Kupin, who knocked out Negreanu, go on to land a first WSOP bracelet.
“It was so huge,” Kupin said of the moment he dashed Negreanu's hopes but set himself on the path to victory.
Read the full tournament report.
However, one of the joys of the WSOP is that when one door closes, another quickly opens, and Negreanu got over his Big Bet disappointment by way of an even bigger bet.
Negreanu was one of 88 entries registered on Day 1 of the $100,000 PLO High Roller, the biggest non-hold'em event of the summer, which has the potential to become the biggest six-figure buy-in PLO event ever held. The $100K PLO event at the Triton Super High Roller Series trip to Montenegro in May currently holds that record, with 93 entries. But registration remains open through the first two levels on Day 2 in Vegas, and at least five more entries seem probable.
Negreanu's challenge got off to a fine start. He multiplied his 600K starting stack by close to five, finishing the day with 2,800,000 in chips. Only two players in the field have more at this stage: chip-leading Arthur Morris (4,055,000) and Maxi Lehmanski (2,945,000).
Spanish PLO specialists Sergio Martinez and Lautaro Guerra round out the top five, with 2,705,000 and 2,400,000, respectively. But this field is littered with the absolute elite of the four-card game, with the top 10 also featuring the likes of Richard Gryko, Eelis Parssinen and Sam Soverel.
Wang Lands Bracelet No 3
On the subject of Pot Limit Omaha, the official PLO World Championship -- aka Event #74: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship -- played to its winner on Tuesday, crowning American Michael Wang as its new title-holder.
Wang had been down to less than one big blind earlier in the tournament, but ran it up through two days to earn a $1,394,579 top prize and a third, "validating" career bracelet.
Michael Zulker was second ($929,688) and overnight chip leader Quan Zhou made it to third ($650,567).
Kabrhel goes again in Mini Main Event
Whether there are five or 5,000 players left in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament, the focus of attention is often Martin Kabrhel. For someone who is yet to win a bracelet this summer, the Czech high roller -- high-volume high roller, more like -- has earned more column inches than almost anyone else.
And here are some more.
The reason this time is that Kabrhel is currently sitting in second place of five players remaining in the monstrous $1,000 Mini Main Event, which paused at that stage late on Tuesday. The starting field weighed in at 10,794 entries, so this is another startling performance.
American Alexander Yen is the latest player to have their own performance overshadowed by Kabrhel. Yen is the chip leader, whose stack of 189,500,000 represents 38 big blinds. Kabrhel has 166,500,000 in second, ahead of Vadzim Lipauka of Belarus (156,000,000), John Ishak of Hungary (85,000,000) and Poland's Bartlomiej Swieboda (50,500,000).
Of those, only Kabrhel is a former bracelet winner, and he will feel characteristically bullish about his chances of claiming a fourth career WSOP win when the tournament plays out on Wednesday.
Another Chance for Low Stakes Grinders
The $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship gave low-stakes hold'em players another chance at glory on Tuesday, and 5,667 of them seized the opportunity with the aim of lasting the 17-level opening day.
By the time the bags came out, 635 had managed it, with all of those guaranteed at least $1,200 of the prize pool of more than $3 million.
The bubble burst when first Sean Troha and then Carson Nennstiel went out in 853rd and 852nd place, on the same hand. Both player suffered bad beats -- jacks losing to 
and 
losing to 
, respectively -- but the remainder of the field celebrated making the money.
Three players built their stacks to more than 1 million on the opening day Prasad Vemulapalli, who leads with 1,542,000, Caleb Levesque (1,156,000) and Thanh Ha Duong (1,057,000).
