WSOP What To Watch For: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Last year, the World Series of Poker introduced a brand new event which had pros and amateurs alike drooling over a potential seven-figure payday. The $1,500 buy-in Millionaire Maker attracted 6,343 entrants across two starting flights, creating the largest single-day starting field in World Series of Poker history. Within three days Benny Chen was poker's newest millionaire, pocketing $1.1 million for his victory in the inaugural event.
Unsurprisingly, the Millionaire Maker returned to the schedule in 2014. And while much of the talk will surround the huge turnout for that event, many eyes will be focused on the big names competing for gold in the Amazon Room on Saturday.
Event #4: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Kyle Cartwright is no stranger to World Series of Poker success. The Tennessee native has made a name for himself on the WSOP Circuit, collecting five rings and $435,686 in winnings over the past three years.
On Saturday, he'll attempt to translate that success to the big stage of the WSOP in Las Vegas. Cartwright is the chip leader going into the final day of Event #4: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em after bagging 973,000 in chips late Friday night. Cartwright made a final table in a similar $1,000 NLHE event last year but was the first player to exit. He'll have a big rail supporting him on Saturday as he attempts to better than result.
Daniel Dizenzo and Ylon Schwartz will be among the 11 others chasing down Cartwright when the action resumes at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Follow our live reporting blog all day long to see who claims the bracelet and the $360,435 top prize.
Event #5: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
If you own a WSOP fantasy poker team, you'll be sweating the finale of this one today. Of the remaining 12 contenders, there are nine WSOP bracelets spread amongst six players, plus experienced pros like George Danzer, Jon Turner, Justin Bonomo and Tuan Le in contention for their first piece of hardware.
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Galfond | 604,000 |
| 2 | Jason Mercier | 561,000 |
| 3 | Alexandre Luneau | 386,000 |
| 4 | Tuan Le | 377,000 |
| 5 | Nick Schulman | 304,000 |
| 6 | Justin Bonomo | 243,000 |
| 7 | David Benyamine | 236,000 |
| 8 | Eli Elezra | 222,000 |
| 9 | Sergey Rybachenko | 199,000 |
| 10 | Michael Chow | 198,000 |
| 11 | Jon Turner | 176,000 |
| 12 | George Danzer | 156,000 |
That field speaks for itself. Luckily we'll have a front row seat to see how it plays out. The action resumes at 2 p.m. PDT in the Amazon Room on Saturday, and we'll have extensive coverage until a champion is crowned.
Event #6: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout
One down, two to go. The eventual winner of the $1,500 Shootout event will need to win three sit-and-gos to earn a bracelet and $259,211 in prize money, and the first step was completed on Friday.
A field of 948 was whittled down to 100 on Day 1 as all of the first round winners secured a spot in the money. Several big names advanced including Eugene Katchalov, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Christian Harder, Josh Arieh, Shannon Shorr, Joseph Cheong, David "Bakes" Baker and 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Merson.
Day 2 commences in the Amazon Room at 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, and we'll be bringing you all of the second round winners from start to finish.
Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz
Seventy-five players advanced on Day 1 of the $1,500 Seven-Card Razz. Fabio De Francesco and his stack of 66,700 was leading the way over night, but bracelet winners Matt Waxman (42,300) and Phil Hellmuth (39,700) both finished the day with healthy stacks.
Day 2 will get underway at 2 p.m. local time on Saturday, and the plan is to play through the money bubble on the way to the final table. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then for all the action and eliminations.
Event #8: $1,500 Millionaire Maker
According to WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart, more than 3,700 players had already registered for the first flight the Millionaire Maker as of late Friday night. Stewart is the brainchild of the lavish event, and you could see his excitement burning through social media platforms on Friday.
Yes folks. Milly Maker Feels like a rock concert. Lining up now 4 tomorrow's show. Got 12 hours til SUAD. Gas er up. http://t.co/yTD2G4ckCo
— Ty Stewart (@wsopSUITd)
The WSOP boasts more than 500 tables in the Rio, including more than a dozen located outside of the Buzios seafood restaurant in casino. All of them will be put to use across the two starting flights on Saturday as Stewart hinted that this year's field could "smash" the turnout from last year.
Flight 1a kicked off moments ago at 11 a.m. and Flight 1b will begin at 5 p.m. We'll have complete coverage all day so keep your browsers locked to PokerNews.com!
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
