2015 WSOP Day 23: Polk and Vengrin Lead for Bracelets
Day 23 of the 2015 World Series of Poker was a relatively slow one as far as the WSOP goes as no tournaments ended, but the stage is set for a big Day 24. As many as four bracelets could be won with big many names vying for WSOP gold.
Final Table Set for Split Format Hold'em
Event #34: $1,500 Split Format Hold'em began with 873 players. After one day of nine-handed play and a second of six-handed action, only 32 players remained, setting the stage for the heads-up portion of the event.
To make the final table of eight, players would have to win two heads-up matches and emerge from their mini-bracket of four players listed below.
*winners listed in bold
Round of 32 Matches
#1. Jonas Christensen (481,500) vs. #32. Innes Young (60,000)
#16. James Czarnecki (205,500) vs. #17. Hunter Cichy (181,500)
#2. Toby Lewis (393,000) vs. #31. Bryce Landier (66,500)
#15. Andre Boyer (213,000) vs. #18. Ryan Milisits (178,000)
#3. Michael Michnik (383,500) vs. #30. Jeff Blankarn (79,000)
#14. Chris Bolek (226,000) vs. #19. David Vamplew (160,000)
#4. Matt Iles (360,500) vs. #29. Preite Gastono (85,000)
#13. Idan Raviv (228,000) vs. #20. Harold Evans (155,500)
#5. Chris Csik (352,000) vs. #28. Erwann Pecheux (86,000)
#12. Diogo Cardoso (245,000) vs. #21. Nelson Resendiz (148,000)
#6. Gavin O'Rourke (309,000) vs. #27. Michael Cooper (90,500)
#11. Arkadiy Tsinis (251,000) vs. #22. Travell Thomas (134,500)
#7. Andrew Gaw (282,500) vs. #26. Thomas Sobolewski (91,000)
#10. Andy Witek (252,000) vs. #23. Vojtech Ruzicka (131,000)
#8. Isaac Kawa (262,000) vs. #25. Kevin O'Donnell (101,000)
#9. Aron Dermer (254,000) vs. #24. Matheus Schell (104,000)
Round of 16 Matches
#1. Jonas Christensen (541,400) vs. #17. Hunter Cichy (387,000)
#2. Toby Lewis (459,500) vs. #15. Andre Boyer (391,000)
#3. Michael Michnik (462,500) vs. #14. Chris Bolek (386,000)
#4. Matt Iles (445,500) vs. #13. Idan Raviv (383,500)
#28. Erwann Pecheux (438,000) vs. #21. Nelson Resendiz (393,000)
#6. Gavin O'Rourke (399,500) vs. #11. Arkadiy Tsinis (385,500)
#7. Andrew Gaw (373,500) vs. #23. Vojtech Ruzicka (383,000)
#8. Isaac Kawa (363,000) vs. #9. Aron Dermer (358,000)
Final Table Seating and Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Idan Raviv | 829,000 |
| 2 | Isaac Kawa | 721,000 |
| 3 | Gavin O'Rourke | 785,000 |
| 4 | Andre Boyer | 851,000 |
| 5 | Chris Bolek | 849,000 |
| 6 | Jonas Christensen | 929,000 |
| 7 | Erwann Pecheux | 831,000 |
| 8 | Andrew Gaw | 756,000 |
The final table gets underway Friday at 1 p.m.
Just Three Remain in H.O.R.S.E.
Event #35: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. was scheduled to play down to a champion on Thursday, but three players remain locked in a struggle for the bracelet and $261,774 in prize money.
Matt Vengrin (3.175) has raced out to a sizable chip lead over competitors Kevin Iacofano (1.39 million) and Daniel Idema (1.08 million). Playing for a bracelet is an old hat for Idema, who has already taken down WSOP events in two of the H.O.R.S.E. disciplines – limit hold'em and stud hi-low – but Vengrin and Iacofano are both looking for their first gold.
The day began with 29 players, all of whom were already in the money. John Racener (fourth), Randy Ohel (seventh) and Taylor Paur (eighth) all advanced to the final table but fell short of the gold. Other players busting on Day 3 included David Oppenheim (ninth), David Benyamine (12th), Mike Leah (13th), Allen Kessler (19th), and 2005 Main Event champ Joe Hachem (22nd).
The three remaining contenders return on Friday at 2 p.m., and with limits moving to 80,000/160,000, things are unlikely to carry on too long.
Doug Polk Riding Towards Second Bracelet
One of the premier events of the summer is undoubtedly Event #37: $10,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em Championship. It has the combination of a buy-in big enough to make a field filled with pros plus a short-handed format that forces those pros to mix it up constantly.
Day 2 saw 102 players return and just 12 remain. Predictably, one of the top players in the world leads the way: bracelet winner and online cash superstar Doug “WCGRider” Polk bagged 1.443 million.
Polk fell into the trap of Kory Kilpatrick, who completed the blind from the small and then shipped all in for 238,000 over a Polk raise in the big blind at Level 20 (5,000/10,000/1,000). Polk decided to call with 10♥9♥ and found himself against Kilpatrick's two kings. The online cash ace hit a backdoor king-high straight to bust Kilpatrick in 14th.
The other Day 3 qualifiers: Kenneth Fishman (1.2 million), Paul Volpe (896,000), Fedor Holz (841,000), Kevin Song (661,000), Byron Kaverman (580,000), Sam Greenwood (455,000), Chris Klodnicki (434,000), Fernando Brito (419,000), Olivier Busquet (403,000), Thomas Muehlocker (254,000), and Mark Radoja (143,000).
Volpe is looking to put some distance between himself and Mike Gorodinsky in the WSOP GPI Player of the Year race and make his third final table of the summer.
“I'm excited,” he said. “I'm running good this summer. A lot of great players left in the tournament, and I'm happy to be here.”
The money bubble also burst on Day 2, with 30 players paid. Sam Stein (13th), Jonathan Duhamel (21st), David Benefield (22nd), Max Silver (26th), and Phil Galfond (30th) all busted in the money.
Wunstel Leads 19 PLO Runners
Day 2 of Event #36: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha – a tournament that originally attracted 978 players and created a prize pool of $1,320,300 – saw 140 players return to action. After 10 levels of play, just 19 remain with Corrie Wunstel best positioned to make a run at the $266,874 first-place prize.
Wunstel's stack of 1.217 million is nearly twice as much as his next closest competitor, Shane Abbott, who bagged and tagged 646,000. Others still in contention include Matthew Colvin (520,000), Kevin Saul (399,000), and Nikolai Sears (200,000), just to name a few.
Among those to fall on Day 2 were Scott Seiver (107th - $2,503), Mohsin Charania (86th - $2,951), Tom Schneider (57th - $4,203), Thor Hansen (56th - $4,203), Jonathan Little (25th - $8,063), and Brandon Cantu (21st - $8,063).
Top 10 Day 2 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
| 1 | Corrie Wunstel | 1,217,000 |
| 2 | Shane Abbott | 646,000 |
| 3 | Matthew Colvin | 520,000 |
| 4 | Ari Levy | 491,000 |
| 5 | Dmitrii Valouev | 470,000 |
| 6 | Joshua Beckley | 453,000 |
| 7 | Jim Karambinis | 446,000 |
| 8 | Chelsea Gelber | 416,000 |
| 9 | Kevin Saul | 399,000 |
| 10 | Kechao Ni | 324,000 |
DeMaci Leads as 297 of 989 Advance from Day 1 of Event #38: $3,000 NLH
Day 1 of Event #38: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em attracted 989 runners, but by the end of the night just 297 remained with Chris DeMaci and his tack of 214,900 leading the way. The tournament created a $2,699,970 prize pool that will be distributed to the top 117 finishers with the eventual winner taking home $546,843.
Others who advanced to Day 2 were Maria Ho (122,500), Tristan Wade (114,700), Brian Rast (82,200), Ryan Riess (77,100), John Gale (74,000), Martin Finger (67,200), and Martin Jacobson (61,900).
Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1 were Jennifer Tilly, Dan O'Brien, Mike Leah, Brian Hastings, Tony Gregg, Jason Mercier, and Vanessa Selbst.
Top 10 Day 1 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
| 1 | Chris DeMaci | 214,900 |
| 2 | Jorge Breda | 192,800 |
| 3 | Nick Yunis | 163,400 |
| 4 | Eric Afriat | 163,200 |
| 5 | Jesse Sylvia | 161,900 |
| 6 | James Gilbert | 148,500 |
| 7 | Akash Malik | 142,300 |
| 8 | Sotirios Koutoupas | 139,600 |
| 9 | Gal Erlichman | 139,000 |
| 10 | Eddie Blumenthal | 133,700 |
Day 2 will get underway at 1 p.m. local time in the Amazon Purple section with the plan of playing 10 one-hour levels.
Wasserson Leads Six-Max 10-Game
A field of 380 came to play in Event #39: $1,500 Six-Max 10-Game and after 10 levels of Day 1 play, Eric Wasserson leads the remaining 89 players with 85,350. Among those still in the field are Eli Elezra (82,325), Phil Hellmuth (34,200), Brian Hastings (26,925), Daniel Negreanu (26,150), and PokerNews' own Remko Rinkema (21,775). You can read about Rinkema's Day 1 here.
Day 2 resumes at 2 p.m. Friday and will play another 10 levels. Only 42 players make the money.
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