George Danzer made history at the 2014 WSOP by becoming the first player this year to win two gold bracelets. He captured both of them in championship events with $10K buy-ins, and the German took his second one in Event 38, in which he went wire-to-wire as the chip leader throughout the tournament. It was quite a feat for the Mohawk-haired player and member of Team PokerStars.
Brandon Paster won a bracelet as well, defeating a tough PLO field.
And then there was the Dealer’s Choice tournament. What was expected to be somewhat chaotic went off fairly smoothly, becoming an enjoyable day for most players. That was until the mid-evening hours when Brandon Cantu became upset at his table. By most accounts, Cantu accused someone of angle shooting, that person accused Cantu right back, and Jesse Martin stepped in to stand up for the other person. Cantu then got into Martin’s face and tried to punch him. Security guards stepped in to calm Cantu and then issue a penalty of several rounds.
Earlier in the Series, Cantu was escorted from the Rio for threatening to punch Jeff Lisandro in the face. The story is becoming a sadly familiar one.
Let’s hope action is calm, fun, and fight-free on Friday!
Event 37: $1,500 PLO (Day 3 of 3)
Nearly 1,000 players turned up for the low buy-in PLO event:
Entries: 967
Prize pool: $1,305,450
Places paid: 117
Day 2 took the field from 113 players down to just 11. Day 3 brought them back, and AP Phahurat exited in 11th place and Dapreesch Scates followed in tenth, each for $14,908. That set the final table of nine.
Brandon Paster was the chip leader at that time, and Marcel Vonk was always nearby. The two eventually made it to heads-up play, and Paster claimed victory in just three hands.
1st place: Brandon Paster ($264,400)
2nd place: Marcel Vonk ($163,625)
3rd place: Gabriel Nassif ($102,373)
4th place: Matthew Humphrey ($74,306)
5th place: Matthew Dames ($54,855)
6th place: Millard Hale ($41,121)
7th place: Dmitrii Valouev ($31,278)
8th place: Kevin Saul ($24,111)
9th place: Galen Hall ($18,837)
Event 38: $10K Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 (Day 3 of 3)
This championship event offered some Stud-8 for a high price tag, and there were more than a few takers:
Entries: 134
Prize pool: $1,259,600
Places paid: 16
Day 1 ended with George Danzer in the lead of 75 players. Day 2 ended with just 13 players and Danzer still in the lead.
Day 3 started with the 13th place elimination of Todd Brunson for $25,569. Others who followed included Ted Forrest and ESPN commentator Norman Chad. Richard Sklar busted in ninth place for $34,550, and the final table began.
Danzer led the table of eight and continued his dominance, taking the most chips into heads-up play. John Racener fought back but never gained enough ground to stop Danzer from winning his second gold bracelet of the summer.
1st place: George Danzer ($352,696)
2nd place: John Racener ($217,935)
3rd place: Calvin Anderson ($136,490)
4th place: Brian Hastings ($98,828)
5th place: Jeff Lisandro ($77,238)
6th place: Chris George ($61,594)
7th place: David Singer ($50,018)
8th place: John Monnette ($41,277)
Event 39: $3K NLHE (Day 2 of 3)
With 80 fewer players than the year before, this $3K NLHE event started on Wednesday with these numbers:
Entries: 992
Prize pool: $2,708,160
Places paid: 117
First place prize: $548,460
Day 2 brought 205 players back and burst the money bubble in the late afternoon hours to begin payouts at $5,145. Some of the competitors who exited later in the evening included Barny Boatman, Chris Bell, Dan O’Brien, Jesse Sylvia, and ultimately Pierre Neuville in 27th place for $16,573.
There were just 26 remaining at the end of the night with these five in the lead:
1. Jacob Schindler (711,000)
2. Ryan Olisar (686,000)
3. Ryan Jaconetti (663,000)
4. Matthew Lapossie (623,000)
5. Andrew Becker (599,000)
Event 40: $10K NLHE Heads-Up (Day 1 of 3)
The first tournament that began on Thursday was a championship one, with no late registration and a pairing selection to start the day. The numbers were down quite a bit from the year before, though:
Entries: 992
Prize pool: $1,198,400
Places paid: 16
First place prize: $335,5532013 entries: 162
2013 prize pool: $1,522,800
The $10K NLHE Heads-Up championship saw a smaller field than the previous year, as only 136 players signed up to create a $1,198,400 prize pool. The final 16 will be paid with $335,553 going to the winner.
There were four rounds of play on Day 1, which resulted in just 16 players still in the field. Each of them is guaranteed at least $26,584 for making it that far, and the eight matches were set for Friday as follows:
Erik Seidel vs. Scott Baumstein
Max Silver vs. Sam Stein
Jason Koon vs. Dee Tiller
Alberto Gomez vs. Scott Davies
Tommy Chen vs. Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Colman vs. Taylor Paur
Davide Suriano vs. Serkan Kurnaz
John Smith vs. Ankush Mandavia
Event 41: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice (Day 1 of 3)
There were 16 game options for this new event on the schedule, and after some initial confusion, the action was fairly smooth. The final registration numbers were:
Entries: 419
Prize pool: $565,650
Places paid: 42
First place prize: $147,092No corresponding 2013 event.
The day played down to just 95 players during a day that most of them described as fun and exciting. The top five listed when the chips were bagged were:
1. Larry Tull (55,400)
2. Melissa Burr (47,375)
3. Jimmy Fricke (46,600)
4. Brad Ruben (42,625)
5. Jen Harman (39,500)
On Tap for June 20
Event 39 will play down to its final table with the goal of finding a winner.
Events 40 and 41 will play down to their final tables or matches.
Event 42 ($5K PLO Six-Handed) starts at noon, and Event 43 ($1,500 LHE) 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.
