As a heatwave caused temperatures on the Strip to hit triple digits, and with several events reaching a big-money climax, keeping your cool was essential on Day 10.
But to quote those eminent 21st century philosophers, Outkast, ‘what’s cooler than being cool’? ‘Ice cold’ is the correct answer, as Erik Seidel was to find out in the $5,000 NLH event. The 10-time bracelet winner hit the chilliest of coolers in a heads-up pot vs Sami Bechahed, hitting the flop with 96% equity which increased to 98% on the turn when the two got in all-in.
Seidel had it locked up, barring one unlikely out on the river which, as you might guess by now, came in to send Seidel to the rail. He took the most horrendous of bad beats with his customary good grace, but we suspect he’ll be seeing the 
in his nightmares for some time to come. You can click here to read our full hand breakdown, as well as watch the whole filthy business play out.
Seven players return on Friday to finish the $5,000 NLH and fight for the $660,284 top prize, led by Eddie Ochana of Illinois.
Choice win for Mizrachi
The scheduled three days wasn’t quite enough to finish the $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship, so three players returned for an extra day to close it out. Robert Mizrachi held most of the chips when play began, and all of them when it ended. Mizrachi takes home $333,045 and his fifth WSOP bracelet, putting him in an elite bracket of five-time winners that features only 37 other players.
That group includes Robert’s younger brother Michael, who’s also on five. Honestly, siblings can be soooo annoying. And it doesn’t look like big brother Mizrachi is done for the summer; not when he tells us he’s playing his best game right now.
Debut bracelet wins in PLO8 and Deepstack
We're no fashionistas, but wearing five gold WSOP bracelets at once might be a little much, not to mention feel a little heavy. Strapping on your first one, however, should make you feel on top of the world.
If you want to know what it’s really like, you’d probably want to ask Caleb Furth, winner of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event. Furth outmuscled a field of 1,277 for his first WSOP win, banking $261,361.
It wasn’t his first big score playing with four cards in his hand, as Furth took down the $5K PLO at last year’s North American Poker Tour, so perhaps he’s not as blown away by his new jewelry as we would be. When asked what it means to him, he told reporters “The win mostly means $265,000. I'm pretty happy about the money.” Ice cold, brother, ice cold.
While we’re talking Omaha, the $1,500 PLO is down to the final 10, led by Germany’s Grzegorz Derkowski (9,680,000) who’s locked up only his second WSOP career cash. His opponents heading into Day 3 include Dylan Weisman (5,970,000), Chino Rheem (3,655,000) and Steve Zolotow (2,940,000).
Meanwhile, over in the $800 NLH Deepstack, TJ Murphy nabbed his first bracelet after a hard-fought win. Murphy hit the final table with a monster lead but didn’t have it all his own way, though when the chips stopped flying, he had them all. For outlasting a field of 4,732, he picks up a prize of $368,977 - a return on his investment of over 460x.
Are you not entertained?
Elsewhere on Day 10 at the WSOP, much of the action - and biggest crowds - centered around the Gladiator, and no we’re not hinting at Phil Hellmuth’s latest WSOP cosplay (been there, done that). The $300 Gladiators of Poker NLH drew 3,972 entrants for Day 1a, and we’ll have a winner for you later today.
Just kidding - this one’s gonna run for a while, with starting flights going off daily until Sunday and a final table not expected until next Tuesday, June 11.
Another event that kicked off on Thursday was the $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw, in which 574 entries were reduced to 157. It’s expected to play down to a final table today, and there are plenty of big names still in the hunt.
Mixed-game guru Benny Glaser ended Day 1 sixth in the chip counts (201,500), a chip away from Nathan Gamble in fifth (202,000) and behind Carol Fuchs in fourth (218,500). Chicago’s Bradley Maltz (385,000) has a healthy lead at the top of the pile, which also features Alex Livingstone (173,000), Yuval Bronshtein (105,000) and at least two David Bakers - ‘ODB’ with 161,000 and ‘Bakes’ with 103,000. 87 of the 157 remaining will make the money, with $146,516 awaiting the last one standing.
Arieh bursts the bubble
Over in the $25,000 High Roller NLH event, the 216 entrants played down to 76, and as expected, there are few to no soft spots to be had.
Brandon Wilson (1,388,000) leads the way, fresh from victory in the $25K High Roller at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, while the chasing pack includes the likes of Artur Martirosian (988,000), Justin Bonomo (715,000), Nick Petrangelo (675,000), Phil Ivey (411,000), Andrew Lichtenberger (267,000) and Daniel Negreanu (126,000). And that’s an extremely condensed list, given the talent-heavy field - if we missed you off, we’re sorry.
And speaking of sorry, our commiserations go to Josh Arieh, whose defense of the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship he won last year hasn’t gone exactly to plan. Just 20 of the 83 players who made it to Day 2 would get paid, and Arieh went out on the stone bubble in 21st when his 
couldn’t outrun the 
of Louis Hillman.
WSOP crusher Marco Johnson (1,100,000) leads 14 players heading into Day 3, but a stacked field featuring the likes of Juha Helppi (525,000), Chad Eveslage (415,000), Ronnie Bardah (405,000) and Nick Shulman (245,000) means there’s all kinds of work to be done before this one’s over.
Photo of the day
Even with our incredibly talented team of photographers out on the floor, we couldn’t resist sharing this shot from the PokerGo livestream. Was Sami Bechahed surprised to hit the one-outer to eliminate Erik Seidel in our hand of the day? You tell us.
Hand of the day
Or hand of the decade? Sorry to repeat ourselves, but when you flop 96%, turn 98%, get it all in, and lose? That’s worth seeing again (for us, that is, Erik Seidel might want to scroll on past).
Tweet of the day
Back with us, Erik? Chance Kornuth made a royal flush in a WSOP High Roller and didn’t even get close to our hand of the day. And that’s only partly down to the fact the video is just five seconds long.
Video of the day
Erik, if you’re still reading, here’s a handy guide from Nikki Limo on dealing with those elimination blues.
The day in numbers
461x
The return on investment for TJ Murphy’s $800 bullet in the Deepstack NLH event
2%
The probability of Sami Bechahed’s 
beating Erik Seidel’s 
with one card to come
77
WSOP tournaments still to come this summer
Results
Event #13: $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship (6-handed)
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Mizrachi | $333,045 |
| 2 | Michael Martinelli | $215,848 |
| 3 | Ryutaro Suzuki | $144,431 |
| 4 | Ben Lamb | $99,885 |
| 5 | David Bach | $71,476 |
| 6 | Richard Bai | $52,985 |
Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-handed)
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caleb Furth | $265,361 |
| 2 | Gan Jiang | $176,891 |
| 3 | Walter Chambers | $125,665 |
| 4 | Andreas Frohli | $90,468 |
| 5 | Michael Machugh | $66,014 |
| 6 | Andrew Paterson | $48,833 |
| 7 | Tom Koral | $36,628 |
| 8 | Mathias Bayer | $27,862 |
Event #17: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy 'TJ' Murphy | $368,977 |
| 2 | Raymond Mancini | $246,031 |
| 3 | Tao Chu | $183,237 |
| 4 | Vernon Barruga | $137,551 |
| 5 | Hai Nguyen | $104,079 |
| 6 | Dimitre Dimitrov | $79,385 |
| 7 | Yuvaraj Rai | $61,042 |
| 8 | Michael Willis | $47,320 |
| 9 | Harry Lodge | $36,986 |
Ongoing events
Event #16: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (final 7)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eddie Ochana | 14,135,000 |
| 2 | Alexander Queen | 8,865,000 |
| 3 | Brent Hart | 8,345,000 |
| 4 | Daniyal Gheba | 2,900,000 |
| 5 | Shant Marashian | 2,665,000 |
| 6 | Kartik Ved | 2,610,000 |
| 7 | Taylor Black | 1,635,000 |
Event #18: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha (final 10)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grzegorz Derkowski | 9,680,000 |
| 2 | Dylan Weisman | 5,970,000 |
| 3 | Andreas Zampas | 4,000,000 |
| 4 | Chino Rheem | 3,655,000 |
| 5 | Abdul Almagableh | 3,025,000 |
| 6 | Steve Zolotow | 2,940,000 |
| 7 | John Zable | 2,760,000 |
| 8 | Jhojan Rivera | 2,440,000 |
| 9 | Leslie Roussell | 1,625,000 |
| 10 | Daniel Zack | 675,000 |
Event #19: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship (8-handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Johnson | 1,100,000 |
| 2 | Anthony Marsico | 985,000 |
| 3 | Justin Kusumowidagdo | 880,000 |
| 4 | Shyamsundar Challa | 760,000 |
| 5 | Maxx Coleman | 630,000 |
| 6 | Louis Hillman | 575,000 |
| 7 | Juha Helppi | 525,000 |
| 8 | Renan Bruschi | 430,000 |
Event #21: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (6-handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Wilson | 1,388,000 |
| 2 | Michael Jozoff | 1,127,000 |
| 3 | Artur Martirosian | 988,000 |
| 4 | Paul Jager | 934,000 |
| 5 | Rainer Kempe | 858,000 |
| 6 | Brek Schutten | 813,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 11 | Justin Bonomo | 715,000 |
| 14 | Nick Petrangelo | 675,000 |
| 30 | Faraz Jaka | 415,000 |
| 31 | Chance Kornuth | 412,000 |
| 32 | Phil Ivey | 411,000 |
| 69 | Daniel Negreanu | 126,000 |
Event #22: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw (6-handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bradley Maltz | 385,000 |
| 2 | Jacob Hamed | 270,000 |
| 3 | Tana Karnchanakphan | 219,500 |
| 4 | Carol Fuchs | 218,500 |
| 5 | Nathan Gamble | 202,000 |
| 6 | Benny Glaser | 201,500 |
| Notables | ||
| 17 | David 'ODB' Baker | 161,000 |
| 55 | Yuval Bronshtein | 105,000 |
| 60 | David 'Bakes' Baker | 103,000 |
| 78 | Frank Kassela | 90,500 |
| 99 | Billy Baxter | 68,500 |
| 116 | Brandon Shack-Harris | 48,500 |
Note: For events with multiple starting flights, we’ll bring you chip counts from Day 2.
Bracelet winners
- Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion – Asher Conniff (USA)
- Event #2: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em – Jose Garcia (USA)
- Event #3: $500 Kickoff No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout – Daniel Willis (UK)
- Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed) – James Chen (USA)
- Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions - Malcolm Trayner (Australia)
- Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship – Darius Samual (UK)
- Event #7: $1,500 Dealer's Choice – John Hennigan (USA)
- Event #8: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha (8-Handed) - Bryce Yockey (USA)
- Event #9: $1,500 Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Guagenti (USA)
- Event #10: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #11: $1,500 Badugi - David Prociak (USA)
- Event #12: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em - Simeon Spasov (Bulgaria)
- Event #13: $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship - Robert Mizrachi (USA)
- Event #14: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold'em - Thibault Perissat (France)
- Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Caleb Furth (USA)
- Event #17: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack - TJ Murphy (USA)
Coming up on Day #11
Chips will be flying at a couple of final tables. Just seven remain to duke it out in the $5,000 NLH, all of whom have at least $87K locked up. With over $660K up top, however, there’s everything to play for (or over half a million dollars, to be slightly more accurate - and a lot less clichéd). 10 remain over at the $1.5K PLO, and with the top two - Grzegorz Derkowski and Dylan Weisman - each having gone on a tear late on Day 2, they’ll be hoping to carry the momentum into what should be the final day.
The $25K High Roller is still crammed with stars, so railbirds seeking quality should head in that direction. Those seeking quantity, on the other hand, always have Day 1b of The Gladiator to look forward to.
Elsewhere Day 1a of the $1,500 NLH Shootout starts at noon (not a morning person? Day 1b at 7pm), while the $10,000 PLO8 Championship will get moving at 2pm.
Day #10 gallery
