WSOP What to Watch For: Three Bracelets To Be Won, and a Millionaire Made
A busy day awaits as the second week of the 2014 World Series of Poker gets started today at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. Six different events will be in action on Tuesday, with two new ones getting started, one moving to a second day, and three other tournaments scheduled to play down to winners tonight.
Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em has 12 players gunning for a bracelet, while Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Championship has 18 remaining, many of whom already have bracelets and are seeking more. The finale of Event #8: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em should draw the most attention this evening, however, where the player who emerges from the final nine will be earning an astounding $1,319,587 first prize.
Event #8: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em
They knew it would be big, this year’s “Millionaire Maker.” And with 7,977 entries that not only meant a super-sized prize pool of more than $10.75 million, but also that an extra, unscheduled fourth day would be needed to play down to a winner.
Stephen Graner of nearby Henderson, Nevada has the big edge currently with nine left, his stack of just over 12 million representing about a third of the chips in play and well over twice what his nearest challenger, James Duke will bring to the final table.
A total of 303 players have earned at least $1 million during their careers at the WSOP during its first 44 years-plus, and as none of the final nine in Event #8 are among that number a 304th member of the WSOP “Millionaires Club” will be added tonight.
The $1,319,587 awaiting the winner represents the largest-ever first prize in a WSOP event outside of the Main Event, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, the one-off $40,000 NLHE event in 2009, and the Big One for One Drop in 2012. Of course, all of those other events have featured big buy-ins, whereas the price tag here was but $1,500, or twice that for those who entered both Day 1 flights on Saturday.
Here’s how the stacks look to start today’s final day of the “Millionaire Maker”:
Event #8 Final Table Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Graner | 12,005,000 |
| 2 | James Duke | 4,645,000 |
| 3 | Andrew Teng | 4,375,000 |
| 4 | Andrew Dick | 4,185,000 |
| 5 | Bradley Anderson | 3,850,000 |
| 6 | Jonathan Dimmig | 2,870,000 |
| 7 | Maurice Hawkins | 1,960,000 |
| 8 | Jeff Coburn | 1,660,000 |
| 9 | Jason Johnson | 1,245,000 |
The first final table hand will be dealt at 1 p.m. PDT, so start checking the Event #8 live updates then.
Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
As noted, just 12 return for Event #9 from a starting field of 1,940, with Missouri’s Frank Patti the current chip leader with 1,197,000.
Of the remaining players, online star Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen sports an accomplished WSOP résumé with over $280,000 in cashes including a final table showing in last year’s “Millionaire Maker” where he finished sixth.
Among the others still alive, Dylan “ImaLucSac” Lynde, also an accomplished online player, has 20 WSOP cashes, Brad Libson has 17, and Vinny Pahuja has 10, although each of those players would realize a career-high WSOP score by making it to the final six or better tonight.
Here’s how things stand at present in Event #9
Event #9 Chip Counts to Start Day 3
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Patti | 1,197,000 |
| 2 | Jorge Vergara | 1,159,000 |
| 3 | Nghiahiep Nguyen | 687,000 |
| 4 | David Inselberg | 458,000 |
| 5 | Jeffrey Smith | 431,000 |
| 6 | Chris Hunichen | 404,000 |
| 7 | Vinny Pahuja | 341,000 |
| 8 | Dylan Linde | 311,000 |
| 9 | Christian Haugo | 277,000 |
| 10 | John Fontana | 255,000 |
| 11 | Brad Libson | 232,000 |
| 12 | Cornel Medel | 116,000 |
This one also gets going at 1 p.m. local time today, which is when our coverage of Event #9 will resume.
Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Championship
They’ll be finding a winner as well in Event #10, the second of the many $10K “Championship” events on this year’s WSOP schedule. A late rush on Day 2 helped the Russian Viatcheslav Ortynskiy claim the overnight chip lead, although he’ll have to battle a tough group in order to maintain first position today.
Looking up and down the counts, there are no less than seven WSOP bracelet holders among the final 18.
Five-time bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro is alive with a short stack, while Eli Elezra — fresh off a third-place finish in Event #5: $10,000 2-7 Limit Triple Draw Lowball Championship — is in second position as he seeks his third WSOP title. Brock Parker has a short stack but also comes today having won two WSOP bracelets before, while Richard Ashby, Andrew Brown, Dan Kelly, and Perry Friedman all are hoping for a second WSOP win today.
Meanwhile Shirley Rosario and Melissa Burr will each today seek to add a second bracelet in the women’s column at the 2014 WSOP after Vanessa Selbst’s win in Event #2: $25,000 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold’em.
Start checking the Event #10 live updates at 2 p.m. PDT to see how the $1,673,200 prize pool gets divided among the final 18 and which of the talented bunch comes away with the bracelet and $443,407 first prize.
Event #11: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
The remaining 134 players in Event #11: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em come back for Day 2 today. They survived a huge field of 1,587 starters, a big jump from the 1,069 who played the same event a year ago.
They’ve reached the money in this one and thus have begun the work of carving up the $2,142,450 prize pool, with the winner due to take away $449,980 and the largest piece.
Steven Hensley will return as the start-of-Day-2 chip leader, with Noah Schwartz, Jason Wheeler, Erik Cajelais, Olivier Busquet, Will Failla, Eddy Sabat, David Peters, Mike Sowers, and Jeff Madsen among the many familiar names still helping to populate the counts.
Players return at 1 p.m. today to begin working their way down to tomorrow’s final day, so start refreshing those Event #11 live updates then.
Event #12: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em
Two new events get going today, including Event #12: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em. A year ago Lev Rofman topped a field of 535 to win the bracelet and a $166,136 first prize after outlasting five-time bracelet winner Allen Cunningham heads-up.
The Event #12 live updates get cranking at noon today.
Event #13: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship
Also getting underway today is the third $10K Championship event, Event #13: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship. Like the other higher buy-in, non-hold’em tourneys, this one will no doubt attract an elite field, too. Such was the case in 2013 when when Jesse Martin won the title and a $253,524 first prize after topping 87 players including a final table comprised of David “Bakes” Baker (who finished second), Konstantin Puchkov (third), Jeff Lisandro (fourth), Jon Turner (fifth), and Layne Flack (sixth).
This one starts at 4 p.m. today, so follow the Event #13 live updates then when the discards and draws begin.
Here again is a full rundown of all that’s happening Tuesday:
- 12:00 p.m. — Event #12: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em (1 of 3)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #8: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em (Day 4 of 4)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Day 3 of 3)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #11: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em (Day 2 of 3)
- 2:00 p.m. — Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Championship (Day 3 of 3)
- 4:00 p.m. — Event #13: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (1 of 3)
Follow all of the action from the 2014 WSOP on our Live Reporting Pages, and stay tuned throughout the summer for plenty more from our What To Watch For series.
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