Event #28: MONSTER STACK $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
The WSOP Monster Stack is down to the final nine, with two former bracelet winners still in contention.
Brazilian Fernando Konishi has the chip lead, with around 25% more chips than Asi Moshe who is currently in second place. Moshe won a bracelet in a $1,500 NLHE event last year. In 4th place is Hoyt Corkins who has two bracelets to his name and over $1.5 million in WSOP winnings.
In the later stages, Corkins managed to defeat a pair of kings with his 9-3 after turning two pair, sending Jeremy Halaska to the rail in 13th place.
The tournament now goes into its fifth day when the bracelet and first prize money of $1,286,942 will be decided.
Event #30: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Only Argentinean Ivan Luca and Czech Artur Rudziankov are left to play for the $1,000 NLHE bracelet.
Luca is a big favorite with a chip stack of 7,780,000 against Rudziankov’s 2,985,000. For both players this cash will be their first at a WSOP event, making the clash one for each to remember no matter who wins.
Chris Moorman and Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier couldn’t find the cards or luck they needed, and both fell just short of the final table in 10th and 11th respectively.
Today’s loser will pick up a check for $219,976 while the winner will get $353,391, and of course the coveted WSOP bracelet.
Event #31: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
The $301,314 first prize and a fourth WSOP bracelet have gone to Jeff Madsen in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event.
The 30 year old won his first two bracelets at the tender age of 21, and has made a total of 11 final table appearances in WSOP events. When he made a final table, he has come away with the bracelet 36% of the time, that is a record that will be tough to sustain.
“I think the competition is the most important thing to me,” Madsen said afterwards. “When I started out, I wasn’t thinking about winning 14 gold bracelets (the high mark held by Phil Hellmuth). If I just keep playing my game, I’ll rank up the stats.”
French real estate investor Jean-Marc Thomas almost had the amateur player dream come true, as the chip lead switched between the final two players several times. After two hours of heads up play, Thomas had to settle for second placed money of $185,548 when Madsen made trip sixes.
2009 Mixed Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha bracelet winner Rami Boujai finished in third.
Event #32: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed
James Obst has almost two million chips and the chip lead heading into Day 3, but he will have to fight off players of the caliber of Nacho Barbero, Tuan Le and Jason Mercier if he is to win his first bracelet.
After 550 players entered, the first prize was set at a sizeable $633,357, out of a total prize pool which reached over $2.5 million
Event #33: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
Now down to just 16 players in the low buy-in Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event, Jon “Pearljammed” Turner is in with a good chance of making back-to-back final tables. He finished fifth in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship which ended immediately before this event started.
Toby Mulloy starts the day as the chip leader but there are six former bracelet winners in the final 16. Phillip Hui, Dutch Boyd, Andrew Brown, Steve Billirakis, Brock Parker and Ian Johns are all hoping to pick up their second WSOP victories in this event.
Event #34: $1,500 Split Format Hold’em
A small field of just 873 decided that the $1,500 Split Format Hold’em was their best chance of a WSOP bracelet, leaving the prize pool at a relatively low $436,050. Typically the lower buy-in events get more than 1,000 players or even double that for the more popular poker variants.
159 players lasted to the end of Day 1, with several top players still in the field. Three former Main Event champions still have chips, Joe Cada, Huck Seed, and last year’s winner Martin Jacobson.
Matt Iles will start the day with the largest stack having accumulated 139,200 chips.
