WSOP What To Watch For: Heads-Up in Event #57 and Three Handed in Event #58
In the last edition of the PokerNews What To Watch For, Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em — Six-Handed and Event #58: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better were highlighted. Both of these events were unable to finish in the allotted time, forcing them to be extended to a fourth day. In Event #57, two players will return, and in Event #58, three will return.
Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em — Six-Handed
Lehr Aims for Second Gold Bracelet
Keith Lehr earned his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet in 2003 by winning the $3,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for over $225,000. That was the largest score of his career until he found himself in the top four at Event #57's final table and earning more than $300,000. Lehr has done even better than that and found his way to heads-up play. He's guaranteed over $700,000 and looking for his second piece of WSOP jewelry.
Lehr will begin the final day as a 2-1 dog in the chip counts, but there's still a fair amount of play in the structure that should allow him a very good chance at fighting back. Just one double up early and he's got the lead, so this one is still anyone's game.
Merson Looks for Ultimate Poker Prize
Earlier this summer, Gregory Merson placed fifth in Event #28: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em — Four-Handed, just missing out on the final table. He has two other deep, in-the-money finishes this year at the WSOP, but none compare to this one.
Merson will be taking the chip lead into the final day with 9.835 million in his stack. He's up more than 2-1 in the match and will surely be looking to seal the deal on claiming poker's ultimate prize — a WSOP gold bracelet.
Event #58: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better
Two Players Looking for Second Omaha-8 Bracelet
With three players remaining for the Event #58 title, Chris Bell is the shortest stack. Leading is Viacheslav Zhukov. Both of these players hold WSOP gold bracelets in versions of Omaha-8. Zhukov's title came in last year's $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship. Bell won his bracelet in 2010 in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better.
Both of these men will be looking for their second piece of WSOP hardware and are down to three-handed play to get it. Bell has a bit more of a mountain to climb because he is at the bottom in chips, but he has plenty of experience on his side to help him climb out of it. Zhukov holds the top stack and is in prime position to take home the gold.
As always, you can find PokerNews' coverage of the 2012 WSOP on our Live Reporting Pages. We look forward to having you follow along, and stay tuned for plenty more from our What To Watch For series.
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