WSOP What to Watch For: Big One for One Drop Enters Final Day; $15.3 Million for First

Martin Harris

Jul 01, 2014 6 min read

WSOP What to Watch For: Big One for One Drop Enters Final Day; $15.3 Million for First 0001

There will be six events in play today as the 2014 World Series of Poker enters its sixth week, but most of the focus will be on just one of them... the Big One, that is, as Event #57: The $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop comes back for its final scheduled day of play.

Nine players remain in the “Big One,” but only eight get paid, meaning players will have had to endure a restless wait to get back at it and see who among them will be leaving empty-handed, then to play on for the $15,306,668 first prize.

Here’s a guide letting you know what to watch for in all six of the bracelet events in action today.

Event #56: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em

There were 2,525 to start in Event #56: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em, but now just 16 remain with a chance for the bracelet and $403,483 first prize. Raymond Henson (897,000) ended the night with the chip lead, with Steve Gross (second, 859,000) and Richard Milne (third, 827,000) his closest challengers chip-wise to start play today.

Gross is seeking his second WSOP bracelet in as many years after having won the $5,000 six-handed pot-limit Omaha event last summer. The only other player among the final 16 who has won at the WSOP before is one of the short stacks, Michael Spegal (15th, 223,000), who took down a $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event in 2007.

Matt Salsberg (seventh, 494,000) is still in the hunt, here hoping to improve upon his third-place finish in Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em. Meanwhile both Robert Merulla (fifth, 529,000) and Eric Shanks (eighth, 450,000) are hoping to make second career WSOP final tables, and Justin Schwartz (11th, 254,000) is looking to make his third.

They get going again at 1 p.m. with a plan to play down to a winner today, so watch the Event #56 live updates to see which of these 16 grabs the gold.

Event #57: The $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop

There’s little doubt that during the early afternoon today in the Amazon Room all of the attention will be on the big, big bubble about to burst in the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop.

There were 42 to start, and now just nine players are left. Problem is, only eight of them will get to divide the event’s $37,333,338 prize pool. That makes the difference between finishing ninth and eighth worth a cool $1,306,607 (eighth-place prize money), which means the tension will be high when play resumes.

Rick Salomon (23,575,000) will start the day with the chip lead, the producer and tabloid favorite looking to earn what will be his biggest tourney score by far.

Tobias Reinkemeier (22,825,000) is Salomon’s closest competitor currently. Most of the German’s $7.5 million in tourney winnings have come in Europe, but he could more than double that lifetime total by finishing second or higher today.

WSOP What to Watch For: Big One for One Drop Enters Final Day; .3 Million for First 101

Daniel Colman (third, 22,625,000) looks to improve on his final four finish in the Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship. Daniel Negreanu (fourth, 20,700,000) seeks his seventh WSOP bracelet and a chance to vault ahead of Antonio Esfandiari and into first place on the all-time tourney earnings list which he’ll do if he makes it to the final two. And Cary Katz (fifth, 9,125,000) hopes to make a fourth career WSOP final table.

Moving down the counts to consider the shorter stacks, Scott Seiver (sixth, 8,250,000) has a bracelet and nearly $11 million in career earnings; Tom Hall (seventh, 7,775,000) looks to add a major tournament score to his extensive high-stakes cash game experience; EPT player Christoph Vogelsang (eighth, 7,075,000) seeks to make his first WSOP cash a huge one; and short stack Paul Newey (ninth, 4,050,000) hopes like the others to avoid the fate of Ilya Bulychev from two years ago who bubbled the first “Big One.”

Check out those payouts at right, noting that steep climb from the eighth-place prize to the $15,306,668 cherry on top. After playing until after 4 a.m. this morning, they’ll start back at 3 p.m. this afternoon, so be sure to begin refreshing the Event #57 live updates then.

Event #58: $1,500 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold’em

They got started yesterday with nine-handed action in Event #58: $1,500 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold’em, and after playing down from 1,475 to 181 on Day 1 it was Shashank Jain bagging the most chips with 130,300, Brandon Cantu next in line with 122,300, and Jared Jaffee sitting in fifth position with 109,300.

Others finishing well last night included Manuel Mutke (11th, 80,500) and Tom Middleton (14th, 78,200), with Allen Cunningham (36th, 48,600), James McManus (40th, 48,200), and Dan Kelly (41st, 47,000) who are all returning to above average chips to start today.

The money bubble will be bursting early Tuesday as only the top 162 finishers get part of the $1,991,250 prize pool of which $405,421 is reserved for the winner.

Check those Event #58 live updates starting at 1:00 p.m. today as they’ll begin a day’s worth of six-handed NLHE in preparation for switching to four-handed play tomorrow and then finishing the event with heads-up.

Event #59: $3,000 Omaha Hi-Low

Event #59: $3,000 Omaha Hi-Low saw 457 players turn out yesterday and after one day of play just 180 remain with Marvin Rosen (75,300) leading those who are left.

The top of the leaderboard is stacked in this one, which should make it interesting to watch who rises to the top today to make it to tomorrow’s final. Among those just a few bets behind Rosen to start action are several bracelet holders, including Brian Rast (second 61,600), George Danzer (fifth, 51,600), David Williams (sixth, 51,500), Naoya Kihara (seventh, 51,400), and Vanessa Selbst (eighth, 51,200).

Meanwhile Alex Luneau (ninth, 50,400), Amnon Filippi (10th, 49,800), Christopher George (13th, 47,800), Chino Rheem (14th, 46,600), Andrey Zaichenko (15th, 46,200), and Jennifer Tilly (16th, 46,100) are just some of the familiar names populating the upper half of the counts to begin play today.

It’s a 2:00 p.m. start for this one, so tune into the Event #59 live updates then as they continue to battle to reach the final 54 and the money as well as for the $286,976 first prize.

Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

One of the last low buy-in no-limit hold’em events on this year’s schedule will get going today to start another busy day of poker, as cards will go in the air for Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em beginning at 12 noon today.

This is the sixth and last of the “standard” $1,500 NLHE events at the 2014 WSOP, with Ted Gillis, Andrew Rennhack, Brett Shaffer, Jordan Morgan, and Asi Moshe having claimed bracelets in the first five.

Start checking those Event #60 live updates at high noon.

Event #61: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship

Finally later in the afternoon will come the Event #61: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship, the 11th $10K “Championship” open-bracelet event thus far on the 2014 WSOP schedule. Previous winners of those events this summer include Tuan Le (limit 2-7 triple draw), Brock Parker (limit Omaha hi-low), Paul Volpe (no-limit 2-7 draw), Christopher Wallace (H.O.R.S.E.), Alex Bilokur (pot-limit hold’em), Joe Cada (6-max. no-limit hold’em), Davide Suriano (heads-up no-limit hold’em), David Olson (limit hold’em), and George Danzer who has won two of them (razz and seven-card stud hi-low).

The last time a $10,000 buy-in seven-card stud tournament appeared on the WSOP schedule was in 2011 when Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier topped a field of 126 to win the bracelet and a $331,639 first prize.

They start anteing up and bringing it in at 4 p.m. today, so begin looking in on those Event #61 live updates then.

Here again is the full schedule of bracelet events happening on Tuesday (all times PDT):