2010 World Series of Poker Day 23: Vanessa Rousso Headlines the Heads-Up Championship Elite 8
Saturday at the World Series of Poker was busy as Jeffrey Papola and Jose-Luis Velador claimed WSOP bracelets, the seniors event nears a winner, the heads-up championship is down to just eight players, and more.
Event #32: $5,000 No-limit Hold'em Six-max
Usually when a player finishes second at a WSOP event, years or even a lifetime go by without another crack at a bracelet. Lucky Jeffrey Papola got his second chance only four days after finishing second in the previous $2,500 no-limit hold'em six-handed event. This time around, however, Papola won by besting Men "The Master" Nguyen in a four-hour heads-up battle. The take home? His first career WSOP bracelet and $667,443.
Nguyen, who won a bracelet earlier this month, is now tied with James Dempsey, and Michael Mizrachi in the lead of the player-of-the-year race.
The fan favorite going into the final day of play, Erick Lindgren, fizzled out in sixth place when he ran pocket queens into Nguyen's pocket kings.
To get a full recount of the final table, check our our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #33: $2,500 Pot-limit Hold'em/Omaha
When day three began, all eyes were on Phil Ivey making a run at yet another WSOP bracelet, but when people look back at the event, he will only be a name on the payout sheet. Instead of Ivey, Jose-Luis Velador will be remembered as a WSOP champion, winning his second WSOP bracelet, and $260,517.
Unlike the other event that awarded a bracelet on Day 23, play in this event was fast-paced with Velador making quick work of his opponents. He ended Ivey's bracelet for another bracelet in a pot-limit Omaha round by flopping a set of jacks against Ivey's aces. The latter was drawing to the remaining aces with no draws from his other two cards and found no help on the turn and river.
Catch up on the entire final table in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #34: $1,000 Seniors No-limit Hold’em Championship
Three tables remain in the seniors event with 23 players coming back for Day 3. Michael Minetti leads with over a million in chips, followed by Carlos Pianelli, Preston Derden, Eric Stemp and John Woo rounding out the top five.
The biggest name still in the mix is Day-1 chip leader, Tom Schneider, who survived Day 2 but has some work to do from his 14th place position with 284,000. Susie Isaacs, John Spadavecchia, Berry Johnston and T.J. Cloutier all cashed but were unable to gain traction in the late stages of the day.
Play resumes Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Follow it all live right here with PokerNews.
Event #35: $10,000 Heads-up No-limit Hold'em Championship
Three action-packed rounds of heads-up poker took place yesterday, and when the dust settled, Jason Somerville, Kido Pham, Farz Jake, Ayaz Mahmood, Alexander Kostritsyn, Ludovic Lacay, Ernst Scheejkal and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso remained. They will battle it out on Sunday afternoon for the WSOP bracelet and $625,682.
Rousso may be the favorite going into the final day based on her runner-up finish in the NBC Heads-Up championship in 2008. Here's a look at the quarterfinal match-ups which will get underway at 3 p.m.
Jason Somerville vs. Kido Pham
Faraz Jaka vs. Ayaz Mahmood
Alexander Kostritsyn vs. Ludovic Lacay
Ernst Schmejkal vs. Vanessa Rousso
We'll be on hand covering all the action in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #36: $1,000 No-limit Hold’em
Just under 2,000 players took to the felt for Saturday's Day 1A, but only 298 remained when play finished for the night. Despite the large number of players on Saturday, some well-known players survived and will continue their quest to bracelet glory on Day 2. Scott Montgomery is the chip leader with 75,700, followed by Neil Channing, David Sands, Liv Boeree and Marco Traniello.
Day 1B gets under way Sunday afternoon at the Rio, and we'll be there covering all the action.
On Tap
Sunday's 5 p.m. tournament is a $10,000 pot-limit Omaha event, which is sure to attract the best of the best. Follow all the updates in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Video of the Day
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier catches us up with how his WSOP has been going in this exclusive PokerNews video blog.
