On Wednesday, 3,300 players returned for Day 2C of the 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. After five levels of play, just 1,549 remained, with Artan Dedusha and his stack of 680,000 leading the way.
Meanwhile, Day 1B of the $1,111 Little One for One Drop, the final tournament of the summer, also took place inside the Rio in Las Vegas.
Dedusha on Top Heading Into Day 3
Dedusha, who was playing in his first WSOP Main Event, began the day with around 100,000, and now he will take the overall chip lead into Thursday’s Day 3, which will mark the first time the entire field will play together under one roof.
“I guess I ran good,” Dedusha told WSOP officials at the end of the night. “I lost a few pots as well, but mainly I ran good. I held up, I won the races, I was on the better end of a cooler. But also I played good. I picked up many small pots here and there.”
Aside from Dedusha, a slew of notables bagged big stacks in the Main Event, including Joe Serock (423,000), Chino Rheem (359,600), and Kathy Liebert (347,700).
Other famous faces to advance were online bracelet winner Thomas Cannuli (290,300), former Main Event runner-up Jay Farber (246,100), online legend Phil Galfond (239,300), and Brian Rast (212,700), who not long ago spoke to CardsChat about launching his mixed-game high roller series.
Dozens of big name pros hit the rail, including Antonio Esfandiari, Maria Ho, Gus Hansen, and William Kassouf. Likewise, former Main Event champs Ryan Riess, Joe McKeehen, Chris Ferguson, and Phil Hellmuth all saw their runs come to an end.
On the flip side, former champs Scotty Nguyen, Johnny Chan, Joe Cada and Carlos Mortensen survived the flight.
Another player to fall was Daniel Negreanu. He got his short stack all in from early position holding the 7♣7♦ and was primed to double through John Allan Hinds, who called from the big blind with the 6♥6♠. Negreanu was looking good on the 4♠2♠10♦ flop, but the running 3♠ turn and 9♠ river gave Hinds the runner-runner spade flush to eliminate poker’s all-time money leader.
Top Ten Day 2C Chip Counts
1 Artan Dedusha (London, UK) 680,000
2 Michael Krasienko (Grafton, Ohio) 561,300
3 Marcin Chmielewski (USA) 561,000
4 Sonny Franco (Biloxi, Mississippi) 546,700
5 Todor Kondevski (Cronulla, Australia) 529,100
6 Joshua Tekesky (Kent, Ohio) 526,300
7 Ryan Hughes (Tempe, Arizona) 510,100
8 Denis Timofeev (Springfield, Massachusetts) 498,000
9 Nick Petrangelo (Feeding Hills, Massachusetts) 480,300
10 Natasha Mercier (Tampa, Florida) 476,800
Chunlei Yuan Thrives in WSOP Little One
The second starting flight in Event #74: $1,111 Little One for One Drop, attracted 1,220 entries, but after ten levels of play, only 197 remained. Neng Lee and his stack of 214,700 were out in front. Not far behind, with 201,400, is Chunlei Yuan, who scored a big knockout in Level 8 (300/600/75).
It happened when he raised to 1,400 from early position and the player on the button called. Jesse Yaginuma then moved all in from the small blind holding the A♥A♦ and Yuan called with the A♠J♠. The other player folded and Yuan got extremely lucky after the board ran out Q♥10♠4♠K♦4♦ to give him a Broadway straight.
Some of the bigger names to survive the flight were Paul Volpe (138,200), Ben Yu (83,800), David Bach (78,700), and the newest addition to PokerStars Team Pro, Jeff Gross (18,200). Among those to fall on in the 1B flight were Allen Kessler, Maurice Hawkins, John Racener, Kelly Minkin, and Martin Jacobson.
Top Ten Day 1B Chip Counts
1 Neng Lee (Eureka, California) 214,700
2 Tai Nguyen (Olympia, Washington) 208,000
3 Chunlei Yuan (Ames, Iowa) 201,400
4 Timothy Sheehan (Decatur, Georgia) 193,100
5 Adam Duong (San Jose, CA) 173,100
6 Jurgen Wenigwieser (East Poland, Maine) 157,700
7 Jorge Corral (Hemosillo, Mexico) 153,200
8 Dejuante Alexander (Houston, TX) 148,200
9 Fiodor Lavagetto (Italy) 140,100
10 Michael Gonzalez (Dallas, Texas) 139,100
Money Bubble Approaches
Thursday’s Day 3 of the 2017 WSOP Main Event will see 2,572 players return to action at 11 am PT, each looking to make the money for the top 1,084 players.
At 3 pm PT, the third and final starting flight in the Little One for One Drop will get underway. The tournament, which features unlimited re-entries, offers the last chance of the summer for players to chase a gold bracelet.
