2013 World Series of Poker Day 12: Tom Schneider and Mark Radoja Win Gold
Two players stood in the winner's circle on Day 12 of the 2013 World Series of Poker, and both had been there before. Tom Schneider took down Event #15: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. to claim his third career WSOP bracelet, and Mark Radoja won his second by claiming victory in Event #16: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em.
Also taking place inside the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Sunday was Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, which will have a stacked field on the final day of action on Monday. Bracelet winners David "Bakes" Baker, Joe Cada, Barry Greenstein and Athanasios Polychronopoulos will all return for Day 3 hoping to add another piece of WSOP hardware to his collection. Baker will also be gunning for his third final table of this year's series; he'll enter the final day with the chip lead.
Tom "Donkey Bomber" Schneider captured his third World Series of Poker gold bracelet in Event #15 early Monday morning, defeating Owais Ahmed in a short heads-up match. Schneider topped a field of 862 to add a H.O.R.S.E. bracelet to those he won in Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Eight or Better and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Eight or Better in 2007.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Schneider | $258,960 |
| 2 | Owais Ahmed | $159,950 |
| 3 | Viatcheslav Ortynskiy | $108,701 |
| 4 | Rep Porter | $75,652 |
| 5 | Frankie O'Dell | $53,739 |
| 6 | Scott Bohlman | $38,949 |
| 7 | Eddie Blumenthal | $28,778 |
| 8 | Mark Klecan | $21,679 |
Coming into Day 3, Schneider ranked fifth in chips with 21 players remaining. He continued to hover near the top stacks for most of the day, and he all but assured his victory with this hand, gave him around 80% of the chips in play.
Both of his opponents were left with just a handful of big bets after that, and it was only a matter of time before Schneider finished them off. On the final hand, Schneider made a seven-five in Razz to eliminate Ahmed, who fell just short of winning his second bracelet but passed the $1 million mark in recorded tournament cashes.
Schneider, the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year, adds $258,960 to a career winnings tally that already exceeds $1.7 million. He topped a final table that included bracelet winners Ahmed (one), Frankie O'Dell (two) and Rep Porter (two).
Event #16: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em
Canadian poker pro Mark Radoja navigated a field of 162 to claim victory in one of the most prestigious events of the summer: Event #16: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em. Radoja defeated Don Nguyen heads-up to capture the gold bracelet and the $331,190 first-place prize in the process.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Radoja | $331,190 |
| 2 | Don Nguyen | $204,648 |
| 3 | Justin Bonomo | $110,485 |
| 3 | Ben Sulsky | $110,485 |
| 5 | Phil Hellmuth | $54,024 |
| 5 | Randy Lew | $54,024 |
| 5 | Sean Winter | $54,024 |
| 5 | Russell Rosenblum | $54,024 |
Day 3 began with four players vying for gold. On the secondary feature sat relative unknown Nguyen who had clinched his first WSOP cash with this event. Nguyen squared off with online legend Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky, an online poker superstar who also secured his first WSOP cash in this event. Nguyen, however, made quick work of Sulsky, defeating him in just 41 short hands. On the final hand, Nguyen raised to 60,000 from the button, Sulsky three-bet to 145,000, Nguyen pushed out what looked like 800,000 in chips, and Sulsky moved all in for 935,000. Nguyen called and tabled the 8♦2♦, which was behind — but live — against Sulsky'sA♠J♣. The board ran out K♣9♥7♦J♠10♥, giving Nguyen a straight on the river to the eliminate the high-stakes cash-game player.
In the other semifinal match, Radoja played Justin Bonomo over on the ESPN Main Stage. Bonomo was the clear aggressor in the match, winning most of the smaller pots. However, Radoja won the big pots and was able to clinch a victory over Bonomo to advance to the championship. During their final hand, a short-stacked Bonomo moved in from the button holding J♦7♦ and Radoja called instantly with A♣10♦. An ace on the flop was enough to knock out Bonomo, who collected $110,485 for his third-place finish.
After a short break, Radoja and Nguyen took their seats at the feature table to play one last match for the championship. Nguyen took an early lead and forced Radoja to cash in one of his add-ons fairly early. Radoja found a huge double about halfway through the match when his pocket queens were able to hold against Nguyen's A♣6♥ during a preflop all-in. Despite this, Nguyen had managed to work Radoja down to cashing in his final lammer, meaning Radoja had a huge uphill battle to seize the victory.
From this point on, Radoja worked the short stack to his advantage by winning small pots by shoving all in and taking advantage of the ever-increasing blinds. On the 83rd hand of the match, Nguyen moved all in from his button and Radoja snapped him off with pocket sixes. The pocket pair held and Radoja was able to completely turn the tide on Nguyen, who was left with only one lammer to cash in. A mere two hands later Nguyen shoved his short stack from the button and Radoja called for the tournament.
Nguyen: A♦3♣
Radoja: K♠9♠
Nguyen's ace-high was ahead and it stayed that way when the J♣6♥5♥ flop hit the felt. The 4♦ on the turn made it more likely that the match would roll on, but the K♦ on the river brought everything to an abrupt halt with Radoja eliminating his final opponent and seizing WSOP glory.
#17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 2 of Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em began with 226 trying to sneak into the top 216 in-the-money places. When it was all over, a familiar face at this year's series was leading a talented group of 15 that will return for Day 3 on Monday.
David "Bakes" Baker, who has already reached two final tables at this year's WSOP, will attempt to reach his third when play resumes at 1 p.m. local time. Baker leads a bevy of bracelet winners like Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Joe Cada, and Barry Greenstein heading into Monday's action.
Chip Counts After Day 2
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David "Bakes" Baker | 1,384,000 |
| 2 | Samuel Taylor | 1,216,000 |
| 3 | Athanasios Polychronopoulos | 1,135,000 |
| 4 | Paul Tedeschi | 850,000 |
| 5 | Brian Ray | 718,000 |
| 6 | Joe Ward | 669,000 |
| 7 | Everett Carlton | 663,000 |
| 8 | Manuel Mutke | 619,000 |
| 9 | Joe Cada | 540,000 |
| 10 | Michael Kurth | 402,000 |
| 11 | Thomas Nicotera | 398,000 |
| 12 | Barry Greenstein | 367,000 |
| 13 | Joseph Michael | 278,000 |
| 14 | Yi Wang | 192,000 |
| 15 | Chad Chavez | 90,000 |
Like Baker, Cada has a final-table appearance to his credit already at the 2013 WSOP. Cada is still running hot off his fourth-place finish in the $1,500 Six-Max event at the beginning of the series, and the former world champion will take another crack at winning his second bracelet on Monday.
Among the less fortunate who fell short of making the final day were James Dempsey (150th), Jake Cody (126th), Vanessa Selbst (60th), Matt Jarvis (37th), Jacob Balsiger (31st), Joe Kuether (26th), and Amnon Filippi (18th).
The final 15 will play down to a winner on Monday. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com as we bring you up-to-the-minute coverage from inside the Amazon Room!
Event #18: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Despite Event #18 offering the lowest buy-in of the 2013 WSOP open events, it attracted many of the biggest names in the business. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Annette Obrestad, Antonio Esfandiari, Carter Philips, Scott Clements and Jason Mercier each ponied up the $1,000 buy-in Sunday afternoon, but all fell short of the 216 money places.
After 11 levels, Chad Eveslage (134,000) was leading the 163 Day 1, all of whom locked up a minimum payday of $1,901. Other big stacks include Dan Martin (124,800), Niccolo Caramatti (120,000), James Cho (115,400), Charles Clark (114,000), and Jason Everett (102,000).
Some of the notables who are guaranteed prize money include Joe Ebanks (14,000 chips), Taylor Paur (30,000), David "ODB" Baker (37,100), Dominik Nitsche (37,100), Men Nguyen (70,600), Shannon Shorr (69,800) and the legendary Phil Ivey (71,100).
Play resumes at 1 p.m. on Monday in the Amazon Room. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team on Monday afternoon for all of the action, as it happens, from Event #18 of the 2013 WSOP.
Event #19: $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em
After eight levels of play on Day 1 of Event #19: $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em, only 77 of the original 195 players were still alive. Leading the way is 2013 PCA Main Event winner Dimitar Danchev. On one of the last hands of the evening, Danchev eliminated Kyle Julius, who finished runner-up in the 2012 PCA Main Event. Julius moved all in on the turn of a jack-high board with a king-high flush draw, and Danchev called with two pair, holding when the river produced a brick.
Joining Danchev atop the charts are Dan Kelly, Ted Lawson, and Eugene Katchalov. Kelly is off to a very hot start in the 44th annual World Series of Poker, reaching the final tables of the $5,000 Eight-Handed Event and the Millionaire Maker. Kelly will return tomorrow looking to capture his fifth cash and make his fourth Day 3 of the 2013 WSOP.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dimitar Danchev | 106,300 |
| 2 | Dmitry Vitkind | 92,000 |
| 3 | Ted Lawson | 91,000 |
| 4 | Matthew O'Donnell | 74,400 |
| 5 | Kristijonas Andrulis | 72,300 |
| 6 | David Paredes | 69,900 |
| 7 | Dan Kelly | 67,200 |
| 8 | Jason Somerville | 66,200 |
| 9 | Jesse Martin | 63,200 |
| 10 | Christopher Johnson | 61,900 |
Day 2 will begin at 2 p.m. PDT in the Amazon Room. PokerNews will be bringing you up-to-the-minute updates straight from the tournament floor, so keep it locked in throughout the Day!
On Tap
Day 13 of the 2013 World Series of Poker will feature five events on Sunday. A winner is set to be crowned in Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Event #18: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em and Event #19: $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em are scheduled to play down to a final table, and Event #20: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better will get underway at noon.
Video of the Day
Mark Radoja had a fantastic comeback to capture his second WSOP bracelet on Sunday. Sarah Grant caught up with him after he took down the $10,000 heads-up event.
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