WSOP What to Watch For: Two Ladies Vie for Dealer's Choice Crown; Stein Eyes Bracelet #2
The Amazon Room will be jam-packed with action on Saturday as three events will play down to winners. Event #39: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em will extend into an unscheduled Day 4 with three players battling for a champion, while two players in Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship will battle for a bracelet and 10 players return for the final day of Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer’s Choice.
Here's our guide for what to watch for on Day 26 of the 2014 World Series of Poker:
Event #39: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Schindler Eyes Second Major Title in 2014
Heavyweights Layne Flack and Nam Le headlined the nine-handed final table of Event #39 late Friday evening, but both exited early in seventh and sixth place, respectively. That left a final table of relatively unknown players fighting for a bracelet, and after 10 hours of action on Day 3 the action was postponed until a fourth day.
Jake Schindler, Ryan Jaconetti, and Sean Dempsey will return Saturday for a bracelet. Schindler, the chip leader going into the final day, is also the most accomplished. The Pennsylvania native kicked off 2014 with a bang by defeating Greg Merson heads-up to win the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller for more than $1.1 million, and he can add a bracelet and $548,460 to his short but impressive list of achievements on Saturday.
Jaconetti and Dempsey have less than $260,000 combined in career earnings, but both will likely have big support groups behind them when the event resumes on Saturday at 3 p.m. Here's how the stacks will look when play recommences:
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Schindler | 3,860,000 |
| 2 | Ryan Jaconetti | 3,410,000 |
| 3 | Sean Dempsey | 1,660,000 |
Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship
Stein Heads-Up for Bracelet #2
Poker's most prestigious annual heads-up tournament, according to Jason Mercier, is down to just two players. Sam Stein and Davide Suriano will duel for the victory on Saturday along with the gold bracelet and a first-place prize of $335,553.
This event attracted poker's elite and Stein certainly fits into that group. With a minimum of $207,000 locked up in this event, Stein has eclipsed $4 million in live tournament cashes, to go along with more than $1.5 million in online tournament earnings according to PocketFives.com.
Stein knows how to close — he already has one WSOP bracelet in a $3,000 pot-limit Omaha tournament, along with titles in preliminary events on the European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour.
Suriano, meanwhile, has locked up his first career six-figure score in this event. A runner-up result would nearly double his career live winnings of $275,000. The Italian bested a who's who of poker stars to advance to the final, so Stein will certainly have his hands full when the tournament resumes at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer’s Choice
Finale in the Inaugural Dealer's Choice Event
The first-ever Dealer's Choice event at the WSOP has provided non-stop entertainment from the start, and on Saturday the inaugural winner will be crowned. After the eliminations Maria Mayrinck and the controversial Brandon Cantu at the end of Day 2, ten players will return when play resumes at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Leading the way is one-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi. The older sibling of Michael Mizrachi will look to make up some ground on his younger brother in the bracelet count by winning his second in this special event.
Plenty of other notables navigated a 95-player Day 2 field to find themselves among the final 10. Two-time bracelet winner Daniel Idema sits in third with 260,000, while fellow bracelet winners Bill Chen, Frank Kassela, Marco Johnson, and Jen Harman remain in contention. Another talented lady, Melissa Burr, will attempt to reach her third final table of the 2014 WSOP.
Burr is the short stack heading into the final day but is certainly making a name for herself at this year's summer classic. While she goes after her first bracelet, be sure to watch for a feature interview with Burr here at PokerNews on Saturday.
Also in action at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Saturday will be Day 2 of Event #42: $5,000 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha and Event #43: $1,500 Limit Hold’em. One new event — a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em — will get underway at noon.
Here’s the full schedule of bracelet events for today (all times PDT):
- 12:00 p.m. — Event #44: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em (Day 1 of 3)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #42: $5,000 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha (Day 2 of 3)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship (Day 3 of 3)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer’s Choice (Day 3 of 3)
- 2:00 p.m. — Event #43: $1,500 Limit Hold’em (Day 2 of 3)
- 3:00 p.m. — Event #39: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Day 4 of 4)
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