Day 8 offered three final tables to watch, and fans didn’t hesitate to log on to the live stream or head to the Rio to check them out.
Jonathan Dimmig won a hard-fought battle to claim the Millionaire Maker title and take home more than $1.3 million. He told WSOP that it was the best day of his life and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Buffalo native was surrounded by friends when he won.
Brock Parker collected his third WSOP gold bracelet by defeating the tough Richard Ashby in the Omaha-8 championship event. And Jeffrey Smith collected his first WSOP victory in an exciting match.
As the $10K Lowball tournament plays on, expect a big rail as Jen Harman starts Day 2 as the chip leader and competes against many other big names in the game.
Event 8: $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker Reentry (Day 4 of 4)
The largest one-day tournament in history started on Saturday with the plan of making a millionaire. It took one day longer than expected, but it made the result no less sweet. Action started on Saturday this way:
Entries: 7,977
Prize pool: $10,768,950
Places paid: 819
Day 2 started with 1,466 and reduced it to 178 players, and Day 3 brought it down to the final table of nine.
The final day wasn’t kind to the initial overwhelming chip leader, Stephen Graner, as he busted in sixth place. Andrew Teng took fourth place. Heads-up play began with Jeffrey Coburn with a 2-to-1 chip lead over Jonathan Dimmig, but the latter doubled through on the very first hand. Dimmig took it from there, and a few hands later, he took 6-2 on a 3-3-2 flop against the K-Q of Coburn and became a millionaire.
1st place: Jonathan Dimmig ($1,319,587)
2nd place: Jeffrey Coburn ($815,963)
3rd place: James Duke ($614,368)
4th place: Andrew Teng ($465,972)
5th place: Bradley Anderson ($355,913)
6th place: Stephen Graner ($273,854)
7th place: Jason Johnson ($211,394)
8th place: Andrew Dick ($164,118)
9th place: Maurice Hawkins ($128,150)
Event 9: $1K NLHE (Day 3 of 3)
Another rather large event at the WSOP played out in Event 9, which started with these numbers:
Entries: 1,940
Prize pool: $1,746,000
Places paid: 198
By Day 3, there were still 12 players remaining, and play moved quickly as Vinny Pahuja, Dylan Linde, and Cornel Medes exited to leave only the final table. Chris Hunichen was the chip leader but exited in sixth. The heads-up match was tense and lasted for several hours with the two finalists exchanging the chip lead numerous times. Ultimately, it was Jeff Smith who emerged victorious.
1st place: Jeffrey Smith ($323,125)
2nd place: Nghiahiep Nguyen ($199,829)
3rd place: Frank Patti ($138,160)
4th place: John Fontana ($99,644)
5th place: Chris Haugo ($72,843)
6th place: Chris Hunichen ($53,951)
7th place: Brad Libson ($40,489)
8th place: David Inselberg ($30,781)
9th place: Jorge Vergara ($23,693)
Event 10: $10K Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 (Day 3 of 3)
This new championship event started with an impressive field:
Entries: 178
Prize pool: $1,673,200
Places paid: 18
There were still 18 players, albeit all in the money, at the tables at the start of Day 3, and play moved forward as Perry Friedman accepted 18th place for $23,742. Jeff Lisandro, Tom Koral, Doug Polk, and Eli Elezra exited early as well.
The official final table boasted two women in contention for the title: Shirley Rosario and Melissa Burr. After Dan Kelly busted in ninth, though, Burr took eighth, and Rosario ended up leaving in fourth place. Brock Parker eventually took the lead into heads-up play against Richard Ashby and pulled out a win.
1st place: Brock Parker ($443,407)
2nd place: Richard Ashby ($274,019)
3rd place: Ofir Mor ($198,508)
4th place: Shirley Rosario ($146,522)
5th place: Viatcheslav Ortynskiy ($110,113)
6th place: Jason McPherson ($84,195)
7th place: Steve Lustig ($65,472)
8th place: Melissa Burr ($51,768)
9th place: Dan Kelly ($41,595)
Event 11: $1,500 NLHE Six-Handed (Day 2 of 3)
The first six-handed event of the 2014 WSOP started with these stats:
Entries: 1,587
Prize pool: $2,142,450
Places paid: 162
First place prize: $449,980
Day 2 brought 151 players back to action, all in the money, and thinned the field down to 36 players by the dinner break. As players like Noah Schwartz and Jason Wheeler exited, the final table neared. Corey Burbick was out in 13th, and not long after Ryan Hemmel took 11th place, play ended for the night.
There were 10 players remaining with some very recognizable faces still in contention. The top five chip counts were:
1. Mike Sowers (1,413,000)
2. Justin Bonomo (1,294,000)
3. Taylor Paur (1,120,000)
4. Lance Harris (826,000)
5. Niel Mittelman (671,000)
Event 12: $1,500 PLHE (Day 1 of 3)
The first Pot Limit Hold’em event of the Series was a solid one, and the final registration numbers were as follows:
Entries: 557
Prize pool: $751,950
Places paid: 63
First place prize: $169,2252013 entries: 535
2013 prize pool: $722,250
In a game that proved slightly more popular than the year before, the day moved quickly and reduced the field to just 69 players. The minimum payouts are $2,443, and the money bubble will burst quickly on Day 2. The top five on the leaderboard, who are unlikely to bubble, were as follows:
1. David Martirosyan (119,500)
2. Matthew Damadeo (117,600)
3. Ryan Schoonbaert (81,000)
4. Gregory Kolo (70,700)
5. Joseph Cheong (67,200)
Event 13: $10K NL 2-7 Draw Lowball (Day 1 of 3)
There are very few players, relatively speaking, who would plunk down $10K for a shot at a 2-7 Lowball championship title, and there were exactly 87 of them. Ironically, this was the same precise registration number as the year before:
Entries: 87
Prize pool: $817,800
Places paid: 14
First place prize: $253,5242013 entries: 87
2013 prize pool: $817,800
The big poker names were quick to come and go, but 36 of them stayed around with chips to bag at the end of the night. The top five were led by none other than Jen Harman:
1. Jennifer Harman (133,800)
2. John Juanda (124,300)
3. Shawn Sheikhan (122,400)
4. Larry Wright (121,300)
5. Galen Hall (120,000)
On Tap for June 4
Event 11 will play to and through its final table.
Events 12 and 13 will try to set their final tables.
Event 14 ($1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8) begins at noon.
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.
