The Little One for One Drop completed its field yesterday, while the Stud championship played out an epic heads-up battle between Matt Grapenthien and Todd Brunson for a 2014 World Series of Poker bracelet. With substantial rails for both players, including Doyle and Pam Brunson for Todd, the excitement took over. Brunson eventually lost, and Grapenthien was able to pose with his own WSOP bracelet for photos.
The last $1,500 NLHE tournament was supposed to wrap yesterday, but that contentious heads-up match never ended, so the two finalists will continue to fight it out today.
Other tournaments are wrapping up today and tomorrow, as the WSOP staff prepares to kick off the Main Event tomorrow. The first of three starting days is on Saturday, July 5, and will bring players in from around the world. As always, it will be thrilling.
Stay tuned as we keep track of it all for you…
Event 60: $1,500 NLHE (Day 3 of 4)
What was supposed to be a three-day tournament has become four, and it all started like this:
Entries: 2,563
Prize pool: $3,460,050
Place paid: 270
First place prize: $614,248
Day 2 thinned the field from 293 players to just 24, but that left a hefty task for Day 3 to play all the way through. Play did move along, with Scott Baumstein out in 24th place for $17,577 and others following like Ty Reiman, and Jamie Armstrong. The 10th place elimination of Matt Alexander for $35,327 set the official final table early in the day.
The final table played on as the day’s original chip leader, Steve Sung, exited in eighth place, and Cherish Andrews took fifth place. After Zachary Gruneberg exited in third place for $270,299, heads-up play began with Brandon Hall holding more than a two-to-one chip lead over Salman Jaddi. But the latter made a comeback during an epic battle that lasted more than three hours. Finally, play stopped late into the night with these chip counts, and they will return today to play it out:
1. Salman Jaddi (6,820,000
2. Brandon Hall (4,725,000)
Event 61: $10K Seven Card Stud (Day 3 of 3)
One of the last championship events on the schedule began with these numbers:
Entries: 102
Prize pool: $958,800
Place paid: 16
Day 2 took the already-small field from 57 players down to the unofficial final table of nine. Day 3 started with the ninth place elimination of Jesse Martin for $26,299 to set the official table in motion.
Original chip leader Todd Brunson stayed in charge as Henry Orenstein, inventor of poker’s hole card camera, exited in eighth place and Phil Hellmuth was denied his 14th bracelet by departing in sixth place. The third place bustout of James Obst took Brunson into heads-up play against Matt Grapenthien with the chip lead.
The two battled back and forth for nearly five hours, until Grapenthien seemed to have control. Brunson lost out on a second bracelet, and Grapenthien took his first.
1st place: Matt Grapenthien ($268,473)
2nd place: Todd Brunson ($165,891)
3rd place: James Obst ($103,895)
4th place: Ben Yu ($75,227)
5th place: Steve Landfish ($58,793)
6th place: Phil Hellmuth ($46,885)
7th place: Henrik Hecklen ($38,073)
8th place: Henry Orenstein ($31,419)
Event 62: $1,111 NLHE Little One for One Drop (Day 2 of 4)
The second starting day of the Little One for One Drop was as crazy as the first, with players taking advantage of the unlimited reentries in grand fashion. With $111 of each buy-in going to the One Drop charity and the rest going to an ever-growing prize pool, the final numbers were finally announced late in the day on Thursday:
Entries: 4,496
Prize pool: $4,046,400
Place paid: 468
First place prize: $637,5392013 entries: 4,756
2013 prize pool: $4,280,400
Though the entries didn’t match up to the final tally of 2013, the field was still substantial and played until late into the night. When all was said and done and chips counted, there were 885 players who would be going into Day 2. But since a complete list of player stacks for the two starting days wasn’t available, here are the top five finishers from Day 1B:
1. Gerald Karlic (79,500)
2. Maurice Hawkins (65,400)
3. Heinz Kamutzki (64,875)
4. Ray Henson (64,675)
5. Rohan Jain (62,425)
Event 63: $1,500 10-Game Mix Six-Handed (Day 2 of 3)
This 10-game mix brought in substantially more players than the previous year, resulting in these numbers:
Entries: 445
Prize pool: $600,750
Place paid: 48
First place prize: $153,220
Day 2 brought 85 players back to the tables, and played for some time before the money bubble burst. Payouts then began at $2,703, at which point players like Jeremy Ausmus, Scott Clements, and Phil Laak headed out the door. Others who cashed throughout the evening included Chris Klodnicki, Andreas Hoivold, James Carroll, Mark Gregorich, Justin Bonomo, Victor Ramdin, Marcel Luske, Tom Koral, and Allen Cunningham.
After the late-night elimination of Stuart Rutter in tenth place for $10,152, there were nine players bagging chips for the night. Their chip counts were as follows:
1. Jan Suchanek (494,000)
2. Bryn Kenney (298,500)
3. Andrey Zaichenko (259,000)
4. Randy Ohel (212,500)
5. Fabio Coppola (212,000)
6. Daniel Zack (205,000)
7. Michael Mixer (172,000)
8. Haresh Thaker (116,500)
9. David Blatte (41,000)
Event 64: $10K PLO (Day 1 of 3)
The last tournament prior to the start of the Main Event was also a championship event and the last chance for a non-Main Event bracelet. That brought a solid group of players to the tables:
Entries: 418
Prize pool: $3,929,200
Place paid: 45
First place prize: $923,3792013 entries: 386
2013 prize pool: $3,628,400
The first day of play cut most players out of the game, and only 132 of them were able to bag chips when play stopped. Of them, the top five were:
1. Chance Kornuth (338,200)
2. Ruslan Dykshteyn (338,000)
3. Tom Marchese (300,100)
4. Will Durkee (248,100)
5. Michal Maryska (241,900)
On Tap for July 4
Event 60 will resume heads-up play and continue until one player wins.
Event 62 will play its third day in the hopes of finding the final table.
Event 63 will play out until a winner is determined.
Event 64 will attempt to reach its final table.
There are no new events until the Main Event begins tomorrow!
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.
