The Millionaire Maker was the story of the day, as players lined up the night before and the morning of the tournament to register. With $1 million guaranteed for the winner and a single reentry allowed per player, the excitement in the Rio was palpable.
Ultimately, the Rio was filled to capacity with players. Tables were located in the casino, and the three ballrooms were completely filled, with cash games, satellites, and the daily tournaments on hold until the field could be thinned to a manageable number. While some predicted the field would top 8,000 or more players, it came in just under that estimate, but still made quite a few WSOP staff members very happy.
The aftermath is still being sorted this Sunday morning, but in the midst of it all, Tuan Le and Kyle Cartwright claimed WSOP bracelets and will collect them today at the bracelet ceremony.
Event 4: $1K NLHE (Day 3 of 3)
When the first $1K NLHE tournament of the series began, these were the important numbers:
Entries: 2,224
Prize pool: $2,001,600
Places paid: 243
Day 3 brought 12 players back to the tables with WSOP Circuit multi-event champion Kyle Cartwright as the chip leader and former WSOP Main Event final tablist Ylon Schwartz in the top three.
Cartwright had an even more substantial lead when the official final table of nine was set, and he took that through 155 hands to victory.
1st place: Kyle Cartwright ($360,278)
2nd place: Jason Paster ($223,418)
3rd place: Ylon Schwartz ($157,855)
4th place: Daniel Dizenzo ($113,499)
5th place: Matthew O’Donnell ($82,688)
6th place: Jeremy Dresch ($61,041)
7th place: Robert Kuhn ($45,635)
8th place: Ken Weinstein ($34,552)
9th place: Michael Sortino ($26,489)
Event 5: $10K Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Day 3 of 3)
The first $10K championship event of the Series began with these figures:
Entries: 120
Prize pool: $1,128,000
Places paid: 12
Day 2 reduced the field from 54 players down to only 12, and Day 3 saw some of the biggest names in poker battle for the title. David Benyamine was the first to fall early in the day, followed by Jon Turner, and Jason Mercier fell short in ninth place.
Justin Bonomo was strong throughout the final table, while 2013 2-7 Triple Draw champion Eli Elezra exited in third place. Bonomo took a slight lead into heads-up play against Tuan Le, but the latter was a strong force and earned a hard-fought victory.
1st place: Tuan Le ($355,324)
2nd place: Justin Bonomo ($219,565)
3rd place: Eli Elezra ($144,056)
4th place: Nick Schulman ($99,015)
5th place: George Danzer ($70,308)
6th place: Phil Galfond ($51,538)
Event 6: $1,500 NLHE Shootout (Day 2 of 3)
Round 1 kicked off Day 1 with 120 tables of sit-n-gos. These were the original tournament numbers:
Entries: 948
Prize pool: $1,179,800
Places paid: 120
First place prize: $259,211
Day 2 hosted those 120 players who won their tables, all of whom were guaranteed at least $4,411 at that time. And the tables played out over the course of a very long Saturday. In the end, only 12 players remained with Josh Arieh and Jared Jaffee among the finalists.
Every player moved forward with approximately 350K chips, but a few had a slight chip advantage:
1. Steven Loube (361,000)
2. Josh Arieh, Douglas Foster (358,000 each)
3. Shawn Busse, Maxx Coleman, Jared Jaffee, David Trager (354,000 each)
4. Alex Bolotin, colin York (353,000 each)
5. Dimitar Danchev (352,000)
Event 7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz (Day 2 of 3)
Whether players love Razz or hate it, quite a few of them turned out for the first Razz of the WSOP this year, bringing the totals to:
Entries: 352
Prize pool: $475,200
Places paid: 40
First place prize: $121,196
A long day of play on Day 2 reduced the field from 75 players down to the final table, a place where Phil Hellmuth will attempt to win his 14th bracelet and others like David Bach and Ted Forrest will try to stop him. The final table chip counts are:
1. Greg Pappas (391,500)
2. Phil Hellmuth (314,000)
3. David Bach (295,000)
4. Brandon Cantu (175,000)
5. Ted Forrest (171,000)
6. Brock Parker (138,500)
7. Yuebin Guo (90,000)
8. Kevin Iacofano (45,500)
Event 8: $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker Reentry (Day 1 of 3)
Hopes were high for the Millionaire Maker this year after a successful introduction to the Series in 2013. And as the day moved forward with two starting flights, the crowd grew and grew. The registration lines were quite long, and players were willing to be put on alternate lists in order to get in on the action. Ultimately, the totals were announced:
Entries: 7,977
Prize pool: $10,768,950
Places paid: 819
First place prize: $1,319,5872013 entries: 6,343
2013 prize pool: $8,563,050
When play stopped, there were no official numbers as to how many players remained, and the complete counts were not released either. Per the latest update from the official reporting team, two of the top stacks were:
1. Andrew Seidman (137,700)
2. Taylor van Meer (93,600)
On Tap for June 1
Events 6 and 7 will play to the final table and for the win.
Event 8 will thin the still-massive field and attempt to come close to a final table.
Event 9 ($1,000 NLHE) will begin at noon, and Event 10 ($10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8) will kick off at 4pm.
Editor’s Note: Cardschat.com reporter Jennifer Newell is on site in Las Vegas, and will be offering daily news recaps throughout World Series of Poker 2014. Check back here daily for a detailed accounting of events, exclusive interviews, and anything of interest regarding WSOP.
