Vladimir Schemelev and Ben Volpe scooped bracelets and Swede Martin Jacobson grabbed the chip lead in the $111k One Drop on another jam-packed day at the Rio in Las Vegas yesterday.
Russian Schemelev, who crushed the 2010 WSOP but came up short of a bracelet, finally put his first gold around his wrist while Volpe outlasted tough pros Blair Hinkle and Chris Moorman for his first win.
Jacobson meanwhile, a young Swede with impressive EPT scores but no major victory yet, surprised an elite field in the $111,111 One Drop High Roller to grab the chip lead with 26 players left.
Mario Ho, Marco Johnson, David "Bakes" Baker and Juha Helppi also put themselves in prime position to win a bracelet as the World Series of Poker hit Event #50 of the summer.
Schemelev Wins $3k PLO, Volpe Denies Moorman
One of the breakout stars of the 2010 WSOP, Vladimir Schemelev basically did everything but win a bracelet.
With four final tables and a runner-up finish in the $50k Player's Championship, Schemelev earned well over $1m but still left Vegas without the gold around his wrist.
He can do that now, though, as he outlasted veteran pro Mel Judah for the win in Event #46, $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better.
Former Magic: The Gathering pro Brian Hacker finished fourth while Bet Raise Fold documentary subject Alexey Makarov finished ninth.
In the other event wrapped last night Brit Chris Moorman looked primed to win his first bracleet as well but was denied by Paul Lieu, who knocked him out in fifth.
Lieu went on to face Ben Volpe heads-up and, despite hitting a miracle river to take the chip lead at one point, failed to hold on. Final results and payouts for both events below:
Event #45, $1,500 Ante Only No-Limit Hold'em
- 1. Ben Volpe $201,399
- 2. Paul Lieu $124,352
- 3. Louis Bonnecaze $80,839
- 4. Blair Hinkle $59,375
- 5. Chris Moorman $44,227
- 6. Horacio Chaves $33,371
- 7. Adam Stone $25,472
- 8. Danny Johnson $19,660
- 9. Samuel Panzica $15,331
Event #46, $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better
- 1. Vladimir Schemelev $279,094
- 2. Mel Judah $172,361
- 3. Ashly Butler $124,645
- 4. Brian Hacker $91,085
- 5. John Cernuto $67,262
- 6. Tyler Nelson $50,197
- 7. Andrey Zaichenko $37,847
- 8. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman $28,821
- 9. Alexey Makarov $22,171
Jacobson Leads One Drop, Esfandiari and Laak Contending
The event drawing all the buzz in the Rio yesterday was of course the $111,111 One Drop High Roller and Day 2 didn't disappoint.
Big names clashed in big pots on every table and just 26 players - two short of the money - advanced to Day 3.
Swede Martin Jacobson, a tournament crusher in his own right with two EPT runner-up finishes, surprised the star-studded field by grabbing the overnight chip lead.
Connor Drinan and Brandon Steven sit just behind him and Antonio Esfandiari, last year's $1m One Drop winner, bagged a top 5 stack.
Pal Phil Laak, our featured player in our Follow the Chips coverage, bagged up a decent stack himself to move on as did Martin Finger, Olivier Busquet, Nick Schulman and Anthony Gregg.
Check our WSOP live updates for all the highlights and tune back in again at 1 pm for the play down to the title and $4.8m first-place prize. The top 10 in chips:
- 1. Martin Jacobson - 3,255,000 (54 bb)
- 2. Connor Drinan - 3,250,000 (54 bb)
- 3. Brandon Steven - 3,140,000 (52 bb)
- 4. Matt Glantz - 3,005,000 (50 bb)
- 5. Antonio Esfandiari - 2,970,000 (49 bb)
- 6. Martin Finger - 2,910,000 (48 bb)
- 7. Bill Perkins - 2,750,000 (45 bb)
- 8. Chris Klodnicki - 2,570,000 (42 bb)
- 9. Olivier Busquet - 2,275,000 (37 bb)
- 10. Nick Schulman - 1,940,000 (32 bb)
Ho, Baker, Helppi Hit Final 12 of $2,500 Six-Max
The other event to play down close to a final table yesterday was Event #48, $2,500 Limit Hold'em Six-Max.
Amazing Racer Mario Ho, who has a runner-up WSOP finish and Last Woman Standing in the Main Event title to her credit, will have anohter shot at gold tomorrow as she sits in fourth overall.
Marco Johnson, Juha Helppi, David "Bakes" Baker and Mike "SirWatts" Watson are all still alive and in the way however. Danny Le is the chip leader.
Play picks up again at the Rio at 2 pm to play down to a winner. The top 12:
- 1. Danny Le 421,000
- 2. Danny Warchol 417,000
- 3. Marco Johnson 340,000
- 4. Maria Ho 291,000
- 5. Juha Helppi 200,000
- 6. David "Bakes" Baker 178,000
- 7. Jeff Thompson 171,000
- 8. Paul Mattioda 150,000
- 9. Mike Schiffman 144,000
- 10. Mike Watson 115,000
- 11. Jason Rivkin 88,000
- 12. Jon Seaman 59,000
Fitoussi, Fischman Cruising in $2,500 10-Game Mix
The first and only 10-Game Mix event of the 2013 World Series of Poker is underway with Bruno Fitoussi and Scott Fischman lurking near the top of the chip counts.
One day is done and 168 of the 372 who entered still have chips in front of them.
As Day 1 grinded down a ton of big names were eliminated, including Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Selbst and Jonathan Duhamel.
The group that made it through is highlighted by Scotty Nguyen, Jonathan Duhamel, Greg Raymer, Gavin Smith and Layne Flack.
Also making it through with big stacks are Freddy Deeb and Bruno Fitoussi, two players who have significant history in mixed-game tournaments. Deeb defeated Fitoussi heads-up to win the $50k HORSE event at the 2007 WSOP.
The top ten chip counts going into Day 2:
- Howard Smith - 61,625
- Bruno Fitoussi - 57,525
- Danny Dang - 57,000
- Christopher George - 53,450
- Scott Fischman - 38,575
- Dario Alioto - 37,550
- Konstantin Puchkov - 33,800
- Marcel Luske - 32,000
- Shawn Buchanan - 29,150
- Greg Raymer - 28,300
Bubble Looms Large in Latest $1,500 No-Limit
The seventh straight-up $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event is through to Day 2 with 257 of the original 2,247 still in. And with 243 getting paid just a few more players have to bust before this tournament is in the money.
Although it's early days yet a few big names have worked their way to the top of the counts.
Recent runner-ups Matt Stout and Eric Baldwin both have big stacks, and they're joined by Erica Schoenberg, David Peters, Barney Boatman, Faraz Jaka and poker reporter Tim Duckworth.
Tripp Kirk officially ended the day as chip leader, getting himself closest to the $546,080 waiting for the winner.
The top ten counts after Day 1:
- Tripp Kirk - 101,300
- Thomas Butzhammer - 92,900
- Lily Newhouse - 90,000
- Ryan Riess - 84,600
- Govert Metaal - 80,900
- Sergei Stazhkov - 80,000
- Derek Dempsey 80,000
- Russell Crane - 79,700
- James Anderson - 77,000
- Eric Baldwin - 73,900
