Vladimir Shchmelev and Ben Volpe Claim Gold on Day 30 of 2013 World Series of Poker
There was plenty of excitement inside the Amazon Room on Day 30 of the 2013 World Series of Poker. Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em played down to the final three tables with a large crowd railing some of the biggest names in poker. Meanwhile, new bracelet winners emerged in Event #45: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em and Event #46: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better.
Event #45: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em
Ben Volpe survived a rocky heads-up match against Paul Lieu to win the second-ever $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em event on Friday morning. Volpe outlasted a field of 678 players to claim his first bracelet and $201,399 in prize money.
FINAL TABLE RESULTS
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
The final table began with some top talents still in contention. Blair Hinkle was eyeing his second WSOP bracelet, and online poker legend Chris Moorman was hoping to secure his first. Both were still alive with five players remaining, but Moorman was taken out in fifth place by Lieu.
Hinkle owned the chip lead at one point during four-handed play, but he lost a big pot to Volpe and was then eliminated by Lieu when his ace-three couldn't improve against pocket queens.
Louis Bonnecaze was eliminated in third, leaving Volpe and Lieu to duel for the bracelet. Volpe nearly closed the match on hand No. 198 of the final table, but Lieu drilled a miracle river card to stay alive. Lieu four-bet shoved preflop with the 4♣4♠ and Volpe snap-called with theQ♦Q♣. Volpe was well out in front, and he increased his lead with the K♥3♥6♦. The J♣ fell on the turn, and Volpe was one card away from the bracelet. But the dealer spiked the 4♦ on the river, and Lieu and his rail erupted, while Volpe and his supporters were left stunned. Volpe was left with 700,000, while Lieu jumped up to 2.3 million.
Volpe was down but not out, and he battled his way back into the match over the next hour. He eventually took the lead on Hand No. 225 when he made a straight against Lieu's two pair. He took control from there, and 15 hands later it was over. On the final hand of the tournament, both players to see a flop of 2♦8♣A♣. Lieu checked and Volpe bet 35,000. Lieu quickly moved all in and was snap called, as the cards were tabled.
Volpe: 6♣3♣
Lieu: A♦4♥
Lieu was in front with the pair of aces and needed to dodge a club to double up. The 10♦ changed nothing, but the K♣ spiked on the river to give Volpe the flush, and his rail swarmed the ESPN stage to congratulate their man.
Event #46: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better
Day 3 of Event #46 began with 17 players and Russian Alexey Makarov leading the way. But it was another well-known Russian who emerged as the champion early Friday morning.
Vladimir Shchmelev, who burst onto the scene in 2010 with an incredible performance at the World Series of Poker, was finally able to finish first at a final table and earn his first WSOP bracelet. The talented mixed games player defeated two-time bracelet winner Mel Judah heads-up and secure $279,094 in prize money.
FINAL TABLE RESULTS
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Shchmelev | $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 |
Dylan Linde, Matthew Lansdon, and Stephen Chidwick were among the players who exited short of the final table. Once the final nine combined, Ashly Butler took control of the final table and held the chip lead until three handed play. Falling in ninth was start of the day chip leader Alexey Makarov, who slowly slipped from the top of the leader board, to the middle, to completely out of the tournament. Then in a very short span, Ashly Butler eliminated Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, Andrey Zaichenko, and Tyler Nelson. Falling in fifth was "Miami" John Cernuto, who was yet another casualty of Butler. In the hand, Butler rivered Cernuto when he caught a straight and a nut low.
The tides began to slowly shift toward Vladimir Shchmelev during four-handed play. His climb up the counts began when he eliminated Brian Hacker in fourth place. From there, Shchmelev took several big pots off Butler to gain the chip lead. And in the biggest one, Shchmelev had Butler drawing to just a quarter to stay alive. Butler hit his gin card for a quarter, but that hand left him crippled. A short while later, Shchmelev flopped the nuts to bring an end to Butler's tournament.
Heads-up player didn't last long. After trading a few pots early on, Shchmelev got the best of the Aussie when he flopped a boat against Judah's trip. All of the money went in on the flop, and the Russian's hand held up to give him his first title at the WSOP.
Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em
Day 2 of the highly anticipated $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em came to a close Friday morning with only 26 players left competing for a $4.8 million prize. The day ended close to the money bubble, and two players will leave empty-handed on Day 3. For a complete recap of the day's events, visit the PokerNews Live Reporting blog.
Event #48: $2,500 Limit Hold'em (Six Handed)
After 10 levels of six-handed limit hold'em action, Event #48 has played down to the final two tables, and Friday's final day will certainly be a star-studded affair. Professionals Maria Ho (291,000), Juha Helppi (200,000), and David "Bakes" Baker (178,000) will all be returning for their shot at thaecoveted World Series of Poker bracelet.
A number of notables were lost throughout Day 2, including defending champion Ronnie Bardah, Max Pescatori, Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro, and the inspirational Hal Lubarsky. The money bubble was reached midway through Day 2, and with the six-handed format, the bustouts occurred regularly and rapidly to bring 36 players into the money. Once the bubble burst, play accelerated rapidly and the night ended with only 12 runners remaining.
Play will resume at 2 p.m. local time on Friday, and the newest WSOP champion will be crowned. Baker will be seeking his fifth final table of the summer, and the third gold bracelet of his young career, while Maria Ho is in the running for get first piece of WSOP hardware.
Check back with PokerNews at 2 p.m. to follow all of the limit hold'em action live from the floor of the Rio.
Event #49: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
After 10 levels of play on Day 1 of Event #49, only 257 of the original 2,247 runners made it through to Day 2, meaning the money bubble will quickly approach when players take their seat on Friday. Leading the way after Day 1 was Yun Lo with a monstrous stack of 140,000. He was joined by Tue Phan (115,000), two-time bracelet winner Michael Gathy (109,500), Brent Becker (108,400), and Tripp Kirk (101,300) in the six-figure club when players bagged their chips.
Other notables vying for the $546,080 first place prize and the coveted WSOP bracelet include Lily Newhouse (90,000), Ryan Reiss (84,600), Dutchman Govert Metaal (80,900), Russell Crane (79,700), Eric Baldwin (73,900), Matt Stout (56,500), Erica Lindgren (43,400), David Peters (42,600), and Faraz Jaka (23,500).
Day 2 gets underway at 2 p.m Friday inside the Amazon Room where the players will attempt to reach the money. Only the top 243 will get paid, meaning 14 will go home with nothing on Friday.
Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team as we bring you all the action from Event #49 of the 2013 WSOP.
Event #50: $2,500 10-Game Mix (Six Handed)
The only 10-Game Mixed event on the 2013 WSOP schedule kicked off Thursday with 372 players looking to capture a bracelet. By the end of the day, Howard Smith was sitting behind the biggest stack in the room with 61,625. Smith leads the 162 players who will return for the second day of play.
Last year's champion of this event, Vanessa Selbst, was unable to make a run at a repeat as she hit the rail early in the day. She was joined by notables like Phil Ivey, Eric Crain, Bryn Kenney, Chad Brown, Barry Greenstein, Michael Mizrachi, Chris Tryba, Adrienne "Talonchick" Rowsome, Greg Mueller, Jonathan Duhamel, Jesse Sylvia, and Ali Eslami. Jason Mercier, who busted Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em earlier in the day, hopped in this event soon after his elimination. Mercier was among those to fall, however, when he saw his tournament come to an end thanks to a 2-7 No-Limit Single Draw hand gone awry.
While those players faltered, others thrived and were able to build stacks that they will take into Day 2. A small sample size of those returning for the second day include Bruno Fitoussi (57,525), Christopher George (53,450), Scott Fischman (38,575), Dario Alioto (37,550), Konstantin Puchkov (33,800), Shawn Buchanan (29,150), Greg Raymer (28,300), Freddy Deeb (25,850), Joe Cassidy (17,650), Ashton Griffin (11,950), and David Bach (11,200).
Play will resume in the Amazon room at 2:00 p.m. PDT. Be sure to join us once again as we draw nearer to crowning the 50th champion of the 2013 WSOP.
On Tap
Two more gold bracelets are scheduled to be handed out on Day 31 of the WSOP: Event #48: $2,500 Limit Hold'em (Six Handed) and the One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em event. Event #49: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em and Event #50: $2,500 10-Game Mix (Six Handed) are expected to reach a final table, and two more tournaments will get underway: Event #51: $10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship and Event #52: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em (Six Handed).
Video of the Day
Dan Shak arrived late to the 2013 WSOP after spending time abroad focusing on his personal life. But he made sure to hit Vegas in time for the One Drop High Roller event.
Be sure to follow our Live Reporting page for continuing coverage of every event at the 2013 World Series of Poker, and follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
