The big news of Day 14 was the playdown of big final tables. Ted Gillis prevented longtime poker grinder John Hennigan from a win, and Kory Kilpatrick captured his first gold as well.
Meanwhile, quite a few fans had their eyes on the updates of the $10K HORSE event, though favorites like Doyle Brunson exited in the evening hours. But others like Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, David Benyamine, Daniel Negreanu, and Justin Bonomo remained to battle for a coveted title.
And the Turbo NLHE event was so fast that most players couldn’t keep up. They reached the final table by the end of the first day, and Day 2 should be a quick one as well. Blink and you’ll miss it!
Event 19: $1,500 NLHE (Day 3 of 3)
It may have been only a $1,500 NLHE event, but the numbers were big:
Entries: 2,086
Prize pool: $2,816,100
Places paid: 216
After Day 2 thinned the field from 233 players to 12, Day 3 had the job of finding a winner. Action started with a double elimination of Ron Mcmillen and Gregg Merkow in 12th and 11th places, each for $29,709. On the final table bubble, there were numerous double-ups until Darin Stout was ousted by Ted Gillis in tenth place, also for $29,709.
Mustapha Kanit took a lead into the final table, another double elimination on the seventh hand made things interesting, and play then moved more quickly. Kanit ended up out in fifth, and Gillis was soaring. He took a chip lead into heads-up play against John Hennigan and never let it go. Gillis claimed his first bracelet.
1st place: Ted Gillis ($514,027)
2nd place: John Hennigan ($319,993)
3rd place: Dejan Divkovic ($222,429)
4th place: Jacobo Fernandez ($160,193)
5th place: Mustapha Kanit ($117,079)
6th place: Jaime Kaplan ($86,609)
7th place: Hiren Patel ($64,911)
8th place: Edison Shields ($49,267)
9th place: Dylan Thomassie ($37,834)
Event 20: $3K NLHE Shootout (Day 3 of 3)
Round 1 of the first Shootout of the Series brought forth these fine figures:
Entries: 389
Prize pool: $1,061,970
Places paid: 40
First place prize: $254,891
Day 3 was also Round 3 and the final one to determine a winner. All 10 players had between 338K and 354K chips, so play was quite slow in the beginning. By the dinner break and over 100 hands played, only one player exited.
Action picked up after dinner, with Taylor Paur and Phil Galfond leaving in seventh and sixth places, respectively. Chris Bell went from chip leader to fifth place finisher, and Kory Kilpatrick and Eric Wasserson dominated before taking it to heads-up. Kilpatrick won the last of many battles between the two to take home the gold.
1st place: Kory Kilpatrick ($254,891)
2nd place: Eric Wasserson ($157,490)
3rd place: Noah Bronstein ($115,659)
4th place: Jack Duong ($85,616)
5th place: Chris Bell ($63,877)
6th place: Phil Galfond ($48,043)
7th place: Taylor Paur ($36,414)
8th place: Michael Stonehill ($27,812)
9th place: Dylan Linde ($21,409)
10th place: Narendra Banwari ($16,609)
Event 21: $1K NLHE (Day 2 of 3)
The second $1K NLHE event of the summer provided these final registration numbers:
Entries: 2,043
Prize pool: $1,838,700
Places paid: 216
First place prize: $335,659
The second day of play brought 168 players back to the felt, all guaranteed at least $2,059 for their efforts. Departures were fast at first, and later, players like Erik Seidel, Jason Koon, David Williams, Mukul Pahuja, and JC Tran headed to the cashier cage. Play slowed at the end of the night, though, as the payout jumps increased. After the 17th place exit of Arthur Baraan for $12,245, play stopped. The top five on the 16-player leaderboard included some big names:
1. Bob Bounahra (1,058,000)
2. Thayer Rasmussen (933,000)
3. Dominik Nitsche (707,000)
4. Jeff Gross (540,000)
5. Zachary Gruneberg (540,000)
Event 22: $10K HORSE (Day 2 of 3)
The HORSE Championship this year was bigger than most expected:
Entries: 200
Prize pool: $1,880,000
Places paid: 24
First place prize: $507,614
There were still 121 players in contention when Day 2 began, and that number thinned to just 52 by the dinner break. The day’s original chip leader, Jeff Madsen, bubbled the tournament late into the night in a Stud hand versus Greg Mueller and David Benyamine. Chris Klodnicki was the first to cash for $18,254, and Greg Mueller and Tom Koral followed, each for the same payout.
Play then stopped with 21 names on the leaderboard. The top five were:
1. Tommy Hang (757,000)
2. Randy Ohel (611,000)
3. Richard Ashby (508,000)
4. Christopher Wallace (506,000)
5. David Benyamine (412,000)
Event 23: $1K NLHE Turbo (Day 1 of 3)
When they say Turbo, they’re not kidding. Online poker players adore Turbo tournaments, and this tournament proved that live players do as well. The numbers were very solid, though not what they were last year:
Entries: 1,473
Prize pool: $1,325,700
Places paid: 171
First place prize: $251,9692013 entries: 1,629
2013 prize pool: $1,466,100
There was no time wasted in this tournament. Departures were fast and furious throughout the day, with the money bubble reached only about six hours into the day. Some of those who cashed later in the evening included Nam Le, Charles Moore, Matt Glantz, Tim West, and Ryan Laplante. Finally, Amanda Baker was eliminated at the hands of Andy Philachack, and play stopped.
The final table was set for June 10 as follows:
1. Doug Polk (971,000)
2. Andy Philachack (906,000)
3. Liam Alcock (779,000)
4. Jonathan Hanner (442,000)
5. Dash Dudley (338,000)
6. Tony Gregg (271,000)
7. Andrew Mackenzie (267,000)
8. Chad Cox (247,000)
9. Gianluca Cedolia (202,000)
On Tap for June 10
Events 21 and 22 will move on and through their final tables.
Event 23 will play its final table.
Event 24 ($5K NLHE Six-Handed) will begin at noon, and Event 25 ($2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8) gets underway 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.
