It’s WSOP 2017, and super senior T.J. Cloutier can still play poker. The 77-year-old Texan, who’s won almost $10.5 million over his lifetime in live tournament cashes, is doing a little bracelet hunting in Event #41, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha at the WSOP.
His 449,000 chip stack is well above average, and puts him in 6th place out of 18 remaining players hoping to win $231,483. Cloutier will be going for his seventh career bracelet on Friday.
His last was in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event in 2006. The Poker Hall of Famer is due for another takedown.
Cloutier competed against pros such as Johnny Moss, Stu Ungar, Amarillo Slim, and Doyle Brunson in his prime.
The former UC Berkeley football and baseball athlete doesn’t play poker nearly as much as he used to, but he still makes a point to stop by the Rio each summer to school some of the younger kids at the World Series of Poker.
Loren Klein, a 2016 WSOP bracelet winner, holds the chip lead heading into Day Three (719,000).
Bohn Crushes Stacked Final Table
When your final table includes Max Pescatori, Ted Forrest, and Justin Bonomo, and you win the tournament, that’s a heck of an accomplishment. Hats off to Ernest Bohn from Whiting, New Jersey.
Bohn not only scooped his first career bracelet in Event #40, $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better: it was his first-ever win at the WSOP. The 68-year-old retiree came out to Las Vegas to play in a few events and now will head home with $173,228.
Bonomo (5th), Pescatori (6th), and Forrest (8th) have a combined 11 WSOP bracelets. But they were no match for Bohn on Thursday.
Carrel Leads $10,000 NLH 6-Max
Event #42, $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed, is stacked with dynamic pros. Charlie Carrel made it through Day Two with the chip lead (1,500,000).
Carrel doesn’t have much on his WSOP resume, just four career cashes and no bracelets. But he’s far from a fish in a sea of sharks. The London resident has been quite successful online and in high-roller events around the world. He’d like to add a WSOP bracelet to his resume on Friday.
The competition will be stiff with 24 players remaining. That includes Conor Drinan (822,000), Eric Wasserson (600,000), and 2016 $1,500 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em winner Kristen Bicknell (504,000).
Player of the Year Favorites in the Mix
Daniel Negreanu and James Obst are in contention for WSOP Player of the Year. Just past the midway point, both are in the top five. And both made it to Day Two in Event #44, the $3,000 buy-in HORSE.
Obst bagged 62,100 and Negreanu left 44,900 on the table to start Friday’s play. Andre Akkari finished Day One with the largest stack (110,000). The field coming back today includes poker power couple, the Merciers. That’s Jason, the 2016 WSOP Player of the Year, with 76,400, and his wife Natasha, who has 21,000.
Jeff Madsen (85,000), Scotty Nguyen (84,300), Josh Arieh (72,200), Mike Matusow (50,000), Shaun Deeb (43,000), Greg Raymer (41,200), and Phil Hellmuth (36,100) lead a star-studded cast of 156 remaining players coming back for Day Two on Friday.
On the Horizon
An exciting weekend is on tap at the 2017 World Series of Poker. Friday’s new events include Event #45, $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (30-minute levels) at 11 am PT time and Event #46, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better at 3 pm.
Day Two in Event #43, $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout gets underway Friday with 120 players left in the field. A pair of 2016 November Niners, Vojtech Ruzicka and Kenny Hallaert, made it past Day One.
But the main attractions on Friday will be watching Negreanu and Obst battle for the coveted Player of the Year award. And, of course, following T.J. Cloutier’s chase for that seventh bracelet.
