There are 100 bracelet events taking place at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in this summer’s World Series of Poker, and the complications involved in scheduling all that poker means that some days will be quieter than others.
Tuesday was not one of those days.
And that’s not just because Martin Kabrhel was in action. The Czech raiser came up short on the final day of the $250,000 Super High Roller, bounced out in 7th place as Seth Davies went on to win the huge $4,752,551 top prize.
It was as exciting a tournament as we’ve seen so far, but with so much more to tell you about I suggest you head over to Dave Woods’ tournament report for all the juicy details.
Davies also talked us through his win, so if you somehow don’t know what it’s like to win $4.7M you can hear that straight from the man himself.
Phil Hellmuth goes close to bracelet #18
There’s a sense of deja vu whenever Phil Hellmuth goes deep in a WSOP tournament. After all, the man has won more events than anyone else in history, so watching him battle at the final table is not a novelty.
But Hellmuth’s 17 WSOP bracelets only tell part of the story; he has enough near-misses to fill a whole other scrapbook, and another one was added on Tuesday.
The $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo/Stud Hi-Lo event was one for poker players who have more than hold’em books on their shelves. A field packed with talent and experience was whittled down from 27 to just one on a day that saw eventual winner Jason Daly tear through the opposition with the subtlety and speed of a sledgehammer.
Which is not to suggest it was a performance lacking nuance and grace. Daly danced his way through the day, and eliminated each of his final four opponents himself. The final two were Kevin Choi and he-of-the-many-bracelets, Phil Hellmuth. The latter missed out on bracelet number 18, out in third with $112,360, with Choi banking $163,085 in the runner-up spot. Daly took $244,674, adding a second bracelet to his collection.
Check out the full story here.
Daniel Negreanu cashes another Championship event
Over in the $10,000 Razz Championship another legend of the WSOP was chalking up another cash, though we’d wager the $20,000 min-cash Daniel Negreanu received for his 19th place finish will be back in action faster than a check can clear. 12 remain in the Razz, with Ali Eslami holding the biggest chunk of chips in the overnight counts.
Sticking with some of the less popular variants, the $10,000 Big O Championship crowned a winner after five players returned for the final day. Marco Johnson started with the chip lead, Viktor Blom had his eyes on the prize, Phil Hui was focused on winning his 5th bracelet and Shawn Rice was looking to go one better than his runner-up finish at the WSOP over 20 years ago.
None of that mattered, though, as Veerachai Vongxaiburana steered his way through the lions’ den to take the win, his first bracelet and $784,353. His previous highest score was $39K.
Joey Couden: The ultimate warrior
Back to hold’em, and players in the $500 Salute to Warriors event have a new commander-in-chief following Joey Couden’s dominating final table performance.
Couden arrived at the final table with the chip-lead before taking a few stumbles and getting knocked down a rung or two, but worked his way back to the top of the counts. By the time he KO’d Roger Hendron in 7th, he had rebuilt his huge chip lead and immediately put it to good use, eliminating three more players in short order to take near-total control of proceedings.
It would take less than an hour for Couden to personally send his final six opponents to the rail, and his $187,937 prize feels well earned.
Finally, the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event was another final table that came to a relatively swift conclusion, as Tyler Patterson — cheered on by perhaps the biggest rail seen at the series so far — made short work of the competition to win $574,223 and his second WSOP bracelet.
Additional images courtesy of the WSOP.
