2014 World Series of Poker Day 17: John Kabbaj Wins Event #25, Captures Second Career Bracelet

Martin Harris

Jun 13, 2014 7 min read

2014 World Series of Poker Day 17: John Kabbaj Wins Event #25, Captures Second Career Bracelet 0001

Thursday saw another exciting day of card-playing at the 2014 World Series of Poker highlighted by Londoner John Kabbaj winning his second career WSOP bracelet after topping a tough group to win Event #25: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low.

Meanwhile four other events were in action including Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em that played down to just two players — Kevin Eyster and Pierre Neuville — before stopping short of finding a winner.

Here’s a rundown of what happened in all five events during Day 17 at the 2014 WSOP:

Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

With 17 players returning for Day 3 of Event #24, there existed the possibility that they’d make it through 10 one-hour levels without a winner being found, and that’s exactly what happened as Kevin Eyster and Pierre Neuville were still heads-up and with chips when the 10th level of the night had completed.

The pair had the option to play one more level if both agreed, but Neuville decided against doing so and so they’ll be returning at 1 p.m. PT on Friday to decide a winner. The Louisiana-based player will come back to a little better than 2-to-1 chip advantage when play resumes with 5,155,000 to Neuville’s 2,605,000.

They managed to play down from 17 to the six-handed final table before the dinner break yesterday, with Event #20: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout winner Kory Kilpatrick the first elimination of the day in 17th ($24,613). Griffin Benger was the next to go (16th, $24,613), with Greg Merson (13th, $24,613) being eliminating not long after.

Not quite making the Event #24 final table were Amanda Musumeci (12th, $31,504), Pratyush Buddiga (11th, $31,504), Byron Kaverman (10th, $41,344), start-of-day-3 chip leader Matt Jarvis (9th, $41,344), Fabrice Touli (8th, $55,710), and Mustapha Kanit (7th, $55,710).

Eyster led to begin the final table while Neuville found himself short-stacked during the early going. But the Belgian enjoyed a fortunate double-up with A♣Q♥ versus Andrew Lichtenberger’s 7♠7♣ when a queen fell on the river to remain in contention, and soon would climb up and into the chip lead by the time the dinner bell rang.

After returning David Borrat fell in sixth and Jeremy Kottler followed in fifth, and the lead would then change hands a few times before Neuville’s A♥9♦ held against Bryn Kenney’s A♦5♣ to end Kenney’s run in fourth.

Three-handed play lasted a little over 20 hands, ending with Lichtenberger making a tank-call on the river for all of his stack versus Eyster with the board showing 4♠Q♥Q♠3♦K♣ and Lichtenberger holding A♠8♦. Eyster had 10♣10♥, however, and Lichtenberger was out in third.

Neuville had the chip edge to start heads-up play, but Eyster would seize it and extend the advantage during the 28 hands the pair played before the night concluded. Both players will be trying for a first career WSOP bracelet on Friday afternoon.

Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results

Place	Player	Payout
1	???	$622,998
2	???	$385,041
3	Andrew Lichtenberger	$242,847
4	Bryn Kenney	$160,927
5	Jeremy Kottler	$109,844
6	David Borrat	$77,145

Event #25: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low

All eyes were on eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel in Event #25 who carried the chip lead to Thursday’s final day of play with 18 remaining. But John Kabbaj of the U.K. would be the one adding further gold to his collection by claiming his second career WSOP title after outlasting Thomas Keller for the win.

Matt Glantz (18th, $7,784), Konstantin Puchkov (16th, $9,462), Owais Ahmed (15th, $9,462), Allyn Jaffrey Shulman (14th, $11,676), Robert Mizrachi (13th, $11,676), Chris Reslock (12th, $14,605), and Tyson Marks (9th, $18,519) were among those falling during the afternoon and early evening in Event #25.

Four-time bracelet winner Tom Schneider was then the first final table elimination in eighth, with Mike Leah following him to the rail in seventh. Seidel then was knocked out in sixth by Keller in a stud hi-low hand.

Joe Tehan was next out in fifth, with Keller again the vanquisher after taking the last of Tehan’s chips in during a round of Omaha hi-low. Kabbaj then took out both Terrence Hastoo in fourth and Christopher McHugh in third during Omaha hi-low hands as well.

Those knockouts enabled Kabbaj to start heads-up play versus Keller with a better than 2-to-1 chip lead, and he swiftly extended the advantage then knocked Keller out in a stud hi-low hand that saw Keller all in by fifth street but only able to draw a pair of treys and no low versus Kabbaj’s sevens.

Kabbaj earns his second bracelet after having picked up his first in 2009 in a $10,000 pot-limit hold’em event.

Event #25: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Final Table Results

Place	Player	Payout
1	John Kabbaj	$267,327
2	Thomas Keller	$165,177
3	Christopher McHugh	$105,000
4	Terrence Hastoo	$75,713
5	Joe Tehan	$55,451
6	Erik Seidel	$41,230
7	Mike Leah	$31,115
8	Tom Schneider	$23,833

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Event #26: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

From a starting field of 1,594 just 178 returned yesterday for Day 2 of Event #26: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, and after 10 more one-hour levels just 12 players were left with Ryan Welch of Henderson, Nevada carrying a huge chip lead to today’s final day of play.

Welch bagged up 1,524,000 at night’s end, well clear of Dan Smith in second position with 887,000. Among the others still in the hunt in Event #26 are Jonas Wexler (in fourth position), Will Failla (in eighth), Heinz Kamutzki (in 11th), and Tony Gargano (in 12th).

Phil Hellmuth earned his record-extending 103rd career WSOP cash in this one, lasting all of the way to 29th place for a $9,877 payday. Also making it relatively deep without quite reaching the final day were Taylor von Kriegenbergh (21st, $11,964), Darren Elias (18th, $14,654), Dash Dudley (17th, $14,654), Nick Schulman (14th, $18,162), and Anthony Spinella (13th, $18,162).

Event #26: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em End of Day 2 Chip Counts

Position	Player	Chips
1	Ryan Welch	1,524,000
2	Dan Smith	887,000
3	Reed Goodmiller	862,000
4	Jonas Wexler	612,000
5	Eric Rappaport	588,000
6	Christopher Symesko	491,000
7	Michael Katz	439,000
8	Will Failla	421,000
9	Geremy Eiland	420,000
10	Andrew Rennhack	358,000
11	Heinz Kamutzki	358,000
12	Tony Gargano	216,000

Event #27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

One of two new events getting underway yesterday was Event #27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. which drew 743 entrants, down a bit from the 862 who participated in the same event a year ago. Still, the total prize pool reached seven figures as the top 80 finishers will be dividing up $1,003,050 with $230,744 reserved for the winner.

They played down to 144 last night with Jason Riesenberg ending play on top with four-time bracelet winner and 1996 Main Event champion Huck Seed his nearest challenger in second position. James Van Alstyne and John Monnette also finished inside the top 10, with Dutch Boyd (11th), Matt Woodward (14th), and Jim Collopy (15th) among those also returning to decent-sized stacks to start Friday’s Day 2.

Event #27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Position	Player	Chips
1	Jason Riesenberg	72,600
2	Huck Seed	59,400
3	Lonnie Heimowitz	52,500
4	Dennis Morrison	51,300
5	Bill Eichel	49,800
6	Ron Lane	47,200
7	James Van Alstyne	46,300
8	Kevin Calenzo	46,100
9	Jeffrey Wagner	45,900
10	John Monnette	43,900

Event #28: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship

The next of the $10K “Championship” events also kicked off on Thursday with the Event #28: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship. This one saw 160 players take part, which when compared to the 195 who played in the $5K version of the PLHE event last summer means a larger prize pool of $1,504,000 this time around. The top 18 finishers are scheduled to divide those riches with $398,567 up top for the champion.

They played down to 66 players yesterday in Event #28, with Tony Ruberto ending the night as the leader and only player to have spun a stack over the 200,000-chip mark.

Five-time bracelet winner John Juanda ended the night in second position, with Dan Shak, Antonio Esfandiari, Pratyush Buddiga, and Chino Rheem helping form a star-studded top 10. Indeed, there remain big names up and down the rest of the counts in this one, too, extending from Phil Galfond (in 14th) down to Phil Ivey (in 61st).

Event #28: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Position	Player	Chips
1	Tony Ruberto	203,300
2	John Juanda	171,200
3	Michel Abecassis	165,100
4	Benjamin Pollak	156,800
5	Alex Bilokur	156,500
6	Dan Shak	144,500
7	Antonio Esfandiari	144,300
8	Michael Rocco	143,600
9	Pratyush Buddiga	130,600
10	Chino Rheem	122,700

On Tap

With Event #24 extending into a fourth day that means there will be six different events in action today at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. Some time after that bracelet is won, Event #26 should also play down to a winner later Friday night, while Events #27 and #28 additionally work their way through second days of play. Meanwhile two new events get going with Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em and Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low.

Here’s the full schedule of bracelet events for Friday (all times PDT):