Friday was the first day of the wildly popular $1K buy-in NLHE Seniors Championship, a tournament reserved for players over the age of 50. And once again, the turnout set a record for the event, surpassing the previous year’s total by more than a handful of players. It was another impressive tournament at the 2014 World Series of Poker.
Meanwhile, Nick Kost defeated a tough final table to win a bracelet in Event 14, and Phil Hellmuth showed his determination in Event 15 by making it to the final day of the event with a very solid chance at claiming his record-setting 14th bracelet.
Event 14: $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 (Day 3 of 3)
A low buy-in, a big field, and an impressive prize pool led to these numbers for Event 14 of the 2014 WSOP:
Entries: 1,036
Prize pool: $1,398,600
Places paid: 117
Day 2 thinned the field from 220 players to 26, and Day 3 played down to the final table. Along the way, players like Chris Tryba, Dan Heimiller, Frankie O’Dell, Maria Ho, and Gary Benson exited.
The official final table of nine began with Kal Raichura in the lead, Alex Luneau in second, and reigning champion Calen McNeil in third. Kal was the one who soared, but short-stacked Nick Kost pushed ahead and overcame a serious chip deficit in heads-up play to emerge as the winner.
1st place: Nick Kost ($283,275)
2nd place: Kal Raichura ($175,300)
3rd place: Jim Bucci ($109,678)
4th place: Calen McNeil ($79,608)
5th place: Alex Luneau ($58,769)
6th place: Steve Chathabouasy ($44,055)
7th place: Greg Raymer ($33,510)
8th place: Adam Coats ($25,832)
9th place: Konstantin Puchkov ($20,181)
Event 15: $3L NLHE Six-Handed (Day 2 of 3)
With a little higher buy-in than usual, the NLHE short-handed action started with these numbers:
Entries: 810
Prize pool: $2,211,300
Places paid: 90
First place prize: $508,640
Day 2 brought only 144 players back with Brandon Cantu in the chip lead. The money burst fairly early in the day, and Brian Roberts was the first to cash for $5,041. Joe Tehan followed, as did Michael Mizrachi, Nenad Medic, Tony Dunst, Sorel Mizzi, Will Failla, Paul Volpe, and Cantu. Olivier Busquet and Jackie Glazier were late exits, and the final 15 players bagged their chips.
Phil Hellmuth will go for his 14th gold bracelet in sixth position on the leaderboard, following these top five competitors:
1. Heinz Kamutzki (841,000)
2. Davidi Kitai (815,000)
3. Pratyush Buddiga (760,000)
4. John Andress (699,000)
5. Mark Darner (538,000)
Event 16: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Day 2 of 3)
The low buy-in Lowball action brought in a fair amount of interested parties on Day 1:
Entries: 348
Prize pool: $469,800
Places paid: 36
First place prize: $124,510
Day 2 had only 54 players still in the running, and when the payout portion of the tournament began, names like Dan Kelly, Todd Brunson, Layne Flack, Stephen Chidwick, Bill Chen, and Mike Leah exited with cash.
Only six players will make the actual final table, but Day 2 stopped with nine bagging their chips. The top five of the remaining field boasted these counts:
1. Tom Franklin (436,000)
2. David Bell (426,000)
3. Kevin Iacofano (264,000)
4. David Gee (126,000)
5. Vladimir Shchemelev (117,000)
Event 17: $1K Seniors NLHE Championship (Day 1 of 3)
People often make fun of “Seniors Day” at the WSOP for the number of scooters contrasting with slow-moving players in the Rio hallways. But most recognize it as an important day for the players and a time for many pioneers in poker to take their shot at the spotlight. The field was slightly bigger than the year before, as shown by these registration numbers:
Entries: 4,425
Prize pool: $3,982,500
Places paid: 468
First place prize: $627,4622013 entries: 4,407
2013 prize pool: $3,966,300
The field was drastically reduced by the end of the night, as only 486 players survived. The top five on the leaderboard were:
1. Ronald Bradway (125,100)
2. Mary Totzke (115,100)
3. Richard Munro (104,400)
4. Herbert Bennett (90,600)
5. Sammy Farha (89,400)
Event 18: $10K Seven-Card Razz (Day 1 of 3)
Razz has become more popular in past years, enough so that a championship event with a $10K buy-in was on the schedule in 2014 for the first time in the Series’ history. The results were:
Entries: 112
Prize pool: $1,052,800
Places paid: 16
First place prize: $294,792No corresponding 2013 event at this buy-in level.
Only a relatively small number of players busted the tournament on Day 1, leaving 76 remaining and these five with the lead:
1. Thomas Butzhammer (141,300)
2. Todd Dakake (136,400)
3. Brian Hastings (92,700)
4. Eric Rodawig (81,700)
5. Bill Chen (81,200)
On Tap for June 7
Events 15 and 16 will play for the win.
Events 17 and 18 will try to set their final tables by the end of the night.
Event 19 ($1,500 NLHE) begins at noon, and Event 20 ($3K NLHE Shootout) kicks 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.
