It was a late night thriller at the World Series of Poker on Wednesday as the final handful of players in the showpiece Poker Players Championship battled down to the final five. It went on long past the witching hour, but there was still time for at least one horror beat and a couple of icy decks before things were finally done.
When they were, it was worth the wait. The leader board features modern superstar Chris Brewer still at the summit, but it's two-time WSOP Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu, sitting in second place, who will draw the crowds to watch this one play out on Thursday. Negreanu won the first of his six WSOP bracelets in 1998 and the most recent in 2013. He now has a great chance to make it number seven more than a decade later.
With fellow all-timer Phil Ivey also at the PPC final table, there were hundreds of railbirds watching from the bleachers at the WSOP and tens of thousands more tuning into live streams and following instant updates. Ivey, however, bowed out in seventh, leaving the centre stage to Negreanu.
The Canadian Hall of Famer duly delivered, albeit aided by the dealer somewhat. Negreanu won the undisputed hand of the day in a massive pot against Bryce Yockey. And Negreanu also played a pivotal role in finally getting play done for the night when he coolered Jeremy Ausmus with a nut flush vs. second nut flush coup.
Ausmus eventually took a tumble in sixth place, which brought the tournament down to the requisite five who will contest the final day. Yes, it's Brewer still leading. He's barely put a foot wrong since wrestling the chip lead from James Obst yesterday.
But this one has been all about Negreanu. Is his name on the Chip Reese trophy after all?
Sammartino wins battle of the bridesmaids for first bracelet
Three pro players of serious repute, all best known for prominent runner-up finishes, ended up as the final three in Event #61: $2,500 Mixed. There were two men who had finished second in the WSOP Main Event -- David Williams, beaten by Greg Raymer in 2004, and Dario Sammartino, second to Hossein Ensan in 2019 -- up against Jon Kyte, recently beaten to the EPT Prague Main Event title by Padraig O'Neill.
One of them had to give up their bridesmaid tag, however, in this tournament that aimed to find the best player of Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better and Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better. This time, it was Sammartino who won the day.
After Williams' bust in third (incidentally, the only one of the top three with a bracelet already), Kyte sat with a significant chip lead. But Sammartino, sipping from a huge goblet of wine, was the one to bust Williams and draw nearer. He then won a succession of big pots, including flopping a set of threes in an Omaha hand that became a full house on a paired board, with no low hand available.
Sammartino managed to grind out the win and claim his first bracelet, boosting his $16.5 million career earnings by another $222,703. Kyte won $148,462, while Williams took home $102,335. Meanwhile, fourth place went to four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen, falling short of adding a fifth nine years since he last picked one up.
Spitale in pole position as Millionaire will finally be made
If there's one poker player in the world who will know how to make the most from a potential million-dollar payday, it's Franco Spitale. The Argentinian, who just happens to be chip leader among the six players left in the gargantuan Millionaire Maker, is among a group of players who run a non-profit in their native Buenos Aires to provide food, clothes, and general goods for the region's less privileged. In previous interviews, Spitale has described how the desire to remember where he came from helps him stay focused as a poker player, where the sums of money feel unreal.
Spitale heads to the biggest final table of his life ahead of Canada's Stephen Dauphinais and four Americans, each of whom are seeking their first WSOP bracelet. They have played for four days already, but are now guaranteed close to $300,000. The top two land seven figure scores.
There's a clear dividing line through the leader board. The top three players overnight have more than 32 big blinds; the bottom three have no more than 13. Spitale's stack of 83,600,000 is just about 42 big blinds, so these final stages of the marathon will be more of a sprint. For Spitale, just being here is a miracle. Not long ago, he was forced to abandon a stack at the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold'em Championship (PSPC) in the Bahamas because he suffered a collapsed lung during the second day of play, close to the money. He's tasted that bitter disappointment. Is the sweetness of victory now closing in?
All hail the Mad Turk
On a night when Turkey's soccer players pulled off a famous triumph over the Czech Republic to secure a place in the last 16 of Euro 24, the last remaining Turk in the $1,000 Super Seniors tournament at the WSOP rose to the very top of the counts, bagging a massive chip lead with 11 players left.
Yucel Eminoglu, who is better known as the 'Mad Turk' in the poker rooms of the UK, where he is based, has more than twice the stack of the player in second place, Buck Bucceri. Eminoglu will therefore be the favorite when this long tournament plays to its champion on Thursday — although he didn't get that Mad Turk nickname for nothing and this is not yet a sealed deal.
The other player to watch closely on the final day is Kevin Song, a bracelet winner from the WSOP back in 1997. Song took down a $2K Limit event back then, but with $4.8 million in career cashes, he knows his way around any kind of poker table.
Can Kade catch Rodriguez and Belforti?
Only one player in the last 13 of Event #60: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em has previously won a World Series bracelet, and with all due respect to two-time winner Chris Klodnicki, he is going to need to do miraculous work with a seven big blind stack coming back on the final day to deny us a brand new champ.
It looks at this stage like a two-horse race between chip leader Noel Rodriguez and his closest challenger Justin Belforti, with the two of them sitting with 77 and 75 big blinds, respectively. Brandon Mitchell, in third, has only 30 big blinds, by comparison.
This tournament might also be the one to give us a first female winner of the year, with the brilliant Vanessa Kade currently sitting in fourth place. Kade is highly accustomed to vast fields. In 2021, she won the biggest ever Sunday Million tournament held on PokerStars, defeating a field of 69,876 for a $1.5 million payday. By comparison, this 1,773-entry field, and first prize of $676,900, may seem small fry. But all 13 will be dying to win it nonetheless.
More big fields condense
Three big blinds separate the top four players in the $600 Poker News Deepstack event, with Kenny Huynh just a nose ahead of Michael Dobbs, Sihao Zhang, and Una Kelly. A starting field of 5,110 is down to only 60 in this one, with $283,701 prepared for the winner to be decided on Friday.
Huynh has a bracelet from an online event held in 2020, but it's fifth-placed Darryl Fish who is probably the best known player of those remaining — at least after Kathy Liebert bust in 61st to end the day. Fish is a WPT and WSOP Circuit event winner, with close to $5.3 million in career earnings. He'll consider himself overdue for a bracelet. Still a long way to go in that one, though.
Finding a final table in a quiet corner
Away from the sound and the fury of the big field or big buy-in events taking place on Wednesday, the final table of Event #63: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw also filled its last six seats. France's Michel Leibgorin, a European grinder extraordinaire, heads the field, leading American duo Charles Tucker and David Funkhouser.
Taiwan's Tzu Peng Wang, whose previous highest career cash was for $624 in a Daily Deepstack earlier this week at the WSOP, sits in fourth. Wang knocked out three-time bracelet winner David Baker to end the day and guarantee at least $19,087 when the tournament plays out on Thursday. The winner will get $123,314.
Catching up on some Day 1s
With such an incredibly hectic schedule on Day 30, there's just a bit of time to take a quick look at the early stages of some other events taking place.
It was Day 1 in three events: Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack, Event #65 $5,000 Seniors High Roller, and Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship. All of these will come into sharper focus over the coming days, but there are a couple of items worth noting now.
Firstly, Angela Jordison took the chip lead in the $5K Seniors High Roller, hoping to go better than her third place finish in a $1K event in 2022. Jordison tops a talented field, which also features high roller regular Keith Lehr in the top 10 and, further down the counts, players of the caliber of Cliff Josephy, Marcel Luske, Mike Matusow, Farzad Bonyadi, and John Juanda. There's still fun to be had in this event.
The $10K PLO Championship is even more star-studded and topped at this early stage by James Chen. Chen already has one bracelet from this WSOP and has a narrow lead over Jim Collopy at this stage. The fearsome Finns are well-represented, with Eelis Parssinen and Juha Helppi in the top 20 (and plenty more further back), while Josh Arieh and Michael Mizrachi, two American all-game specialists, sit in eighth and ninth.
Photo of the day
Hand of the day
There's never exactly a bad time to spike a one-outer straight flush, but it rarely gets better than when you do it at the final table of one of the most prestigious poker tournaments on the calendar. Daniel Negreanu hit his miracle card with six players left in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, securing him a second-place stack heading into the last day of this event.
The unfortunate victim was Bryce Yockey, a player who had lost a similar pot to this one in the same tournament in 2019.
The hand took place this time during an Omaha Hi/Lo phase, with Negreanu holding 
. He flopped top pair with a straight draw when the first three community cards fell 
, then improved to a flush draw after the 
turn.
The 
river was exactly what he needed, particularly since Yockey was sitting with 
for a full house. Negreanu confessed how lucky he had been to win it, while Yockey did well to chuckle it off.
Tweet of the day
Robbi Jade Lew is literally giving money away.
Video of the day
We all have our favorite hand. But do we have as good an explanation as to why?
The day in numbers
9,558
Days since Daniel Negreanu won his first WSOP bracelet. Is the man they used to call 'Kid Poker' going to make it seven on Thursday?
10
Tournaments taking place simultaneously on Wednesday across all corners of the conference facilities at Horseshoe/Paris.
41
Levels of play, of one hour each, in the Millionaire Maker so far. That's 41 hours at the tables, nearly a real week of work.
Day 30 gallery
Coming up on Day #31
With a $50K buy-in, nine variants, and levels of 100 minutes, the Poker Players Championship is the truest test of a WSOP player's mettle. Today, it finally ends. There are five players left and they will name a champion tonight.
It's been a similar grind in the Millionaire Maker. After four days and 10,939 entries, this one is also at its final table. Today's the day when we'll find out whose tough week at the mill will end with a shiny new bracelet.That's not all: the $1,000 Super Seniors event plays to a winner, as does Event 60: $3,000 NLH. That's four bracelets to be handed out on a bumper day for bling.
Day 3 of $600 Poker News Deepstack, plays to a final, the $5K Seniors High Roller, and the $10K PLO Championships play their Day 2s.
As if all of that wasn't enough, three more events get started, numbers #67 through #69 on the schedule. The latter two are the self-explanatory $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em and $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better. Meanwhile, the $500 Salute to Warriors is a regular enough Hold'em event, with the added bonus that "$40 of each entry will be donated to the United Service Organizations and other veteran organizations." It attracted 4,303 entries last year, a lot of money going to good causes.
Results
Event #61: $2,500 Mixed: Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dario Sammartino | $222,703 |
| 2 | Jon Kyte | $148,462 |
| 3 | David Williams | $102,335 |
| 4 | Jeff Madsen | $71,810 |
| 5 | Federico Ottenio | $51,315 |
| 6 | Matt Vengrin | $37,354 |
| 7 | Joey Couden | $27,709 |
| 8 | Scott Blackman | $20,954 |
| 9 | Paul Zappulla | $16,159 |
| 10 | Jose Ferro | $12,713 |
Full results on WSOP
Ongoing events
Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em (last six)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franco Spitale | 83,600,000 |
| 2 | Stephen Dauphinais | 68,700,000 |
| 3 | Justin Carey | 63,900,000 |
| 4 | Harvy Jackson | 25,200,000 |
| 5 | Paul Saso | 22,600,000 |
| 6 | Charles Kersey | 9,800,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Brewer | 10,465,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | 7,635,000 |
| 3 | Dylan Smith | 4,030,000 |
| 4 | Bryce Yockey | 3,670,000 |
| 5 | David Benyamine | 900,000 |
Results so far on WSOP
Event #59: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em (last 11)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yucel Eminoglu | 15,900,000 |
| 2 | Buck Bucceri | 7,725,000 |
| 3 | Sean Jazayeri | 7,050,000 |
| 4 | Paul Runge | 6,750,000 |
| 5 | Gary Fisher | 4,975,000 |
| 6 | Michael Minetti | 4,875,000 |
| 7 | Manelic Minaya | 4,600,000 |
| 8 | Kevin Song | 4,400,000 |
| 9 | Philip Muller | 4,375,000 |
| 10 | Gregory Nichols | 3,500,000 |
| 11 | Felix Barriga | 2,675,000 |
Results so far on WSOP
Event #60: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em (last 13)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noel Rodriguez | 15,425,000 |
| 2 | Justin Belforti | 15,050,000 |
| 3 | Brandon Mitchell | 6,050,000 |
| 4 | Vanessa Kade | 5,625,000 |
| 5 | Victor Paredes | 4,550,000 |
| 6 | Marc Foggin | 4,375,000 |
| 7 | Benjamin Gold | 3,875,000 |
| 8 | Paolo Boi | 3,700,000 |
| 9 | Juan Vecino | 3,700,000 |
| 10 | Huihan Wu | 2,520,000 |
| 11 | Jiang Pu | 2,375,000 |
| 12 | Ravi Shankar | 2,025,000 |
| 13 | Chris Klodnicki | 1,475,000 |
Results so far on WSOP
Event #62: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Huynh | 5,920,000 |
| 2 | Michael Dobbs | 5,805,000 |
| 3 | Sihao Zhang | 5,605,000 |
| 4 | Una Kelly | 5,565,000 |
| 5 | Darryll Fish | 5,130,000 |
| 6 | Hector Berry | 4,660,000 |
| 7 | Kuan-Yu Lin | 4,650,000 |
| 8 | Diogo Cardoso | 4,600,000 |
| 9 | Kenneth Kemple | 4,550,000 |
| 10 | Harrison Ashdown | 4,175,000 |
Results so far on WSOP
Event #63: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw (last six)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michel Leibgorin | 3,995,000 |
| 2 | Charles Tucker | 2,325,000 |
| 3 | David Funkhouser | 1,645,000 |
| 4 | Tzu Peng Wang | 1,515,000 |
| 5 | Ali Eslami | 1,485,000 |
| 6 | Owais Ahmed | 410,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Summers | 1,750,000 |
| 2 | Jamie Robbins | 1,700,015 |
| 3 | Shinya Nakajima | 1,625,000 |
| 4 | Hanibael Saneh | 1,605,000 |
| 5 | Zachary Robinson | 1,380,000 |
| 6 | Mishel Anunu | 1,340,000 |
| 7 | Jason Singleton | 1,320,000 |
| 8 | Kenneth Nicoletti | 1,315,000 |
| 9 | Guilherme De Castro | 1,315,000 |
| 10 | Brent Gregory | 1,315,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 12 | Koray Aldemir | 1,245,000 |
| 29 | Nick Guagenti | 1,000,000 |
| 74 | Justin Pechie | 710,000 |
| 77 | Lexy Gavin Mather | 670,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #65: $5,000 Seniors High Roller No-Limit Hold'em
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angela Jordison | 707,000 |
| 2 | Michael Bickel | 616,000 |
| 3 | Scott Andrews | 544,000 |
| 4 | Steve Jelinek | 539,000 |
| 5 | David Goodkin | 516,000 |
| 6 | Levan Karamanishvili | 506,000 |
| 7 | Michael Vela | 492,000 |
| 8 | Keith Lehr | 473,000 |
| 9 | James Pifer | 437,000 |
| 10 | Daniel Fuhs | 431,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 21 | Cliff Josephy | 349,000 |
| 49 | Marcel Luske | 257,000 |
| 52 | Mike Matusow | 253,000 |
| 72 | Farzad Bonyadi | 212,000 |
| 133 | John Juanda | 98,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Chen | 675,500 |
| 2 | Jim Collopy | 636,500 |
| 3 | Shawn Stroke | 546,000 |
| 4 | Nino Pansier | 514,500 |
| 5 | Daniel Barriocanal | 505,500 |
| 6 | Fahredin Mustafov | 455,000 |
| 7 | Cuba Levenberry | 421,000 |
| 8 | Josh Arieh | 410,000 |
| 9 | Michael Mizrachi | 405,000 |
| 10 | Kazuhiko Yotsushika | 400,500 |
| Notables | ||
| 14 | Eelis Parssinen | 390,000 |
| 15 | Juha Helppi | 384,000 |
| 19 | Maxx Coleman | 361,000 |
| 28 | Danny Tang | 315,000 |
| 81 | Alex Foxen | 202,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
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 #16: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Brent Hart (USA)
- Event #17: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack - TJ Murphy (USA)
- Event #18: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha - Dylan Weisman (USA)
- Event #19: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship - John Racener (USA)
- Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold'em - Stephen Winters (USA)
- Event #21: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (6-Handed) - Brek Schutten (USA)
- Event #22: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw (6-Handed) - Aaron Cummings (USA)
- Event #23: Event #23: $1,500 SHOOTOUT No-Limit Hold'em - Dan Sepiol (USA)
- Event #24: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Sean Troha (USA)
- Event #25: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Daniel Vampan (USA)
- Event #26: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Schulman (USA)
- Event #27: $1,500 Big O - Michael Christ (USA)
- Event #28: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em - Evan Benton (USA)
- Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship (6-Handed) - Phil Ivey (USA)
- Event #30: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack - Alen Bakovic (Canada)
- Event #31: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Nicholas Seward (USA)
- Event #32: $1,500 Seven Card Stud - Richard Ashby (UK)
- Event #33: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack (8-Handed) - Alex Manzano (Chile)
- Event #34: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout - Antonio Galiana (Spain)
- Event #35: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Phillip Hui (USA)
- Event #36: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack (8-Handed) – Timur Margolin (Israel)
- Event #37: $10,000 Big O Championship – John Fauver (USA)
- Event #39: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Sergio Aido (Spain)
- Event #40: $1,500 Razz – Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #41: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot - Xixiang Luo (China)
- Event #42: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship - James Obst (Australia)
- Event #43: $1,500 Mixed: PLO Hi-Lo 8; Omaha Hi-Lo 8; Big O - Magnus Edengren (Sweden)
- Event #44: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Jared Kingery (USA)
- Event #45: $10,000 HORSE Championship - Maksim Pisarenko (Russia)
- Event #46: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship - Khang Pham (USA)
- Event #47: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em - Chris Hunichen (USA)
- Event #48: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) - Chris Vitch (USA)
- Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em - Erlend Melsom (Norway)
- Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship - George Alexander (USA)
- Event #51: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout - Peter Park (USA)
- Event #52: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em – Mostafa Haidary (Australia)
- Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed - Yuri Dzivielevski (Brazil)
- Event #55: $250,000 Super High Roller – Santhosh Suvarna (India)
- Event #56: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball (2-7, A-5, Badugi) – Patrick Moulder (USA)
- Event #57: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em – Frank Funaro (USA)
- Event #61: $2,500 Mixed: Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Dario Sammartino (Italy)
