2015 WSOP Day 31: Young Ji Wins, Robert Mizrachi Looks For Repeat, and Jason Les Leads
Ben Yu booked his first World Series of Poker bracelet win, Robert Mizrachi worked his way up to second in chips of the eleven players remaining in defense of his $1,500 Dealers Choice title, and two more bracelets were handed out on Day 30 of the 2015 WSOP.
Plus, Jason Les grabbed the chip lead of the $3,000 Six-Max with 35 left, and both the 2015 WSOP Ladies' Championship and the hotly-contested $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship began. Check out all the details in the recap below.
Ben Yu Event #50: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship for $291,456
Hard work doesn't always pay off; bad things often happen to good people; and contrary to popular belief, putting in your dues doesn't guarantee success. Still, every once in a while the stars align, a dream comes true, and things work out in the end – that's something Ben Yu found out Friday night when he won Event #50: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship for $291,456 and his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet.
Yu's win came after 11 players returned for Day 3. Among those to come and go were noted limit hold'em players Brian Tate (11th - $22,314) and Terrence Chan (9th - $27,341), reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year Anthony Zinno (5th - $72,377), and WSOP bracelet winner Jesse Martin, who was actually Yu's heads-up opponent.
Yu began heads-up play with an almost 2-1 chips lead, but it still proved to be a lengthy 80-hand affair. Then on Hand #210 of the final table, which took place in Level 28 (30,000/60,000), a short-stacked Martin raised to 120,000 on the button and then called when Yu three-bet to 180,000, leaving himself just 10,000 behind. Yu then bet the A♥J♠10♦ flop and Martin called off.
Martin: Q♠3♦
Yu: A♦J♦
Yu had flopped top two, which meant Martin needed to catch a king to make a straight. The 6♣ turn wasn't what he was looking for, and neither was the J♥ river. Martin had to settle for second play and a $180,114 consolation prize.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Yu | Henderson, NV | $291,456 |
| 2 | Jesse Martin | Shrewsbury, MA | $180,114 |
| 3 | Justin Bonomo | Glendale, CO | $130,480 |
| 4 | Aleksandr Denisov | Moscow, Russia | $96,309 |
| 5 | Anthony Zinno | Boston, MA | $72,377 |
| 6 | Kenny Shei | Las Vegas, NV | $55,341 |
| 7 | Gabriel Nassif | Paris, France | $43,035 |
| 8 | Marco Johnson | Walnut Creek, CA | $34,027 |
| 9 | Terrence Chan | Vancouver, BC, Canada | $27,341 |
For more on Yu's win, click here.
Alaskan Business Owner Young Ji Grabs $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Gold
Young Ji took down the 2015 WSOPEvent $49: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Friday winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and $231,102. The 52-year old South Korea born resident of Anchorage, Alaska got the best of an 815-player field and a final table that included 2014 WSOP Player of the Year George Danzer, who finished eighth.
This marks Ji's seventh WSOP cash and he also owns a WSOP Circuit ring. Mark Dube finished runner-up after a four hour heads-up match earning $142,449. Day 2 chip leader Galen Hall finished 13th for $10,969.
“I’m really happy,” Ji said. “The way the game was going I had some faith I was going to win.”
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Location | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Young Ji | Anchorage, AK | $231,102 |
| 2 | Mark Dube | Newburyport, MA | $142,449 |
| 3 | Alex Dovzhenko | Kiev, Ukraine | $92,310 |
| 4 | Connor Drinan | Arlington Heights, IL | $67,555 |
| 5 | Bryce Yockey | Marina Del Rey, CA | $50,171 |
| 6 | Nick Polydoros | Scottsdale, AZ | $37,760 |
| 7 | Prince of Docness | Aptos, CA | $28,771 |
| 8 | George Danzer | Salzburg, Germany | $22,181 |
| 9 | Joseph Haddad | Portland, OR | $17,284 |
Matt O'Donnell Captures $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Bracelet
Matt O'Donnell won Event #47: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $551,941 and his first career bracelet, beating the 1,244-player field and recording the biggest cash of his career. In doing so, he also erased the pain of last summer's second-place finish in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship, when he lost a 9-1 chip lead. This time around, O'Donnell prevailed in another long heads-up battle when he beat Israel's Timur Margolin, with the players' respective rails reportedly getting testy during the match.
“There was definitely a lot of despair when I won, I could just hear the silence and it felt great,” O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell had another big lead heads up but almost lost it again. This time, aided by a lucky double with K♠5♠ against A♠7♠ all in preflop and two flips that went his way, O'Donnell reversed the momentum and came back to win, doubling his career tournament earnings.
“Hopefully, it's the first of many,” O'Donnell said of his new jewelry. “The bracelet's exciting, but the money's pretty sweet, too.”
$2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt O'Donnell | Lutz, FL | $551,941 |
| 2 | Timur Margolin | Ramla, Israel | $341,338 |
| 3 | Brandon Wittmeyer | Las Vegas, NV | $215,964 |
| 4 | Andy Black | Dublin, Ireland | $156,759 |
| 5 | Andrew Dean | Feeding Hills, MA | $115,637 |
| 6 | Jeff Gross | Ann Arbor, MI | $86,601 |
| 7 | Rick Alvarado | Ontario, Canada | $65,799 |
| 8 | Andre Akkari | Sao Paulo, Brazil | $50,658 |
| 9 | Raghav Bansal | India | $39,508 |
Jason Les Leads $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed
Just 35 players remain in the 2015 WSOP Event #51: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed with high-stakes online pro Jason Les in the lead and looking to book a spot at his third final table of the summer.
Other big names with top 15 stacks include Stephen Chidwick, Cornel Cimpan, Timothy Adams and Taylor Paur. Les, who already has a runner-up finish in the $3,000 No Limit Hold'Em Shootout and third in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'Em Championship, grabbed the lead after the 108-person money bubble burst midway through the day Friday.
Among those who cashed but did not make the final 35 wereAntonio Esfandiari, Shannon Shorr and 2014 WSOP Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson. Play will resume at 1 p.m. local time with a $640,711 first-place prize and a WSOP bracelet hanging in the balance.
Robert Mizrachi Looking to Repeat in the $1,500 Dealers Choice
Just 11 players remain in the 2015 WSOP Event #52: $1,500 Dealers Choice with defending champion Robert Mizrachi second in chips. The event played down from 75 to 11 Friday with Matt Szymaszek taking the overnight chip lead. Mizrachi won the inaugural WSOP $1,500 Dealers Choice event in 2014.
2015 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players' Championship fifth-place finisher Chris Klodnicki and Scott Clements, looking for his third final table of the 2015 WSOP, are also threatening.
Play will resume at 2 p.m. local time with a WSOP bracelet and $127,735 awaiting the winner. Here's how the final 11 stack up.
| Rank | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Szymaszek | 446,500 |
| 2 | Robert Mizrachi | 391,000 |
| 3 | Carol Fuchs | 319,500 |
| 4 | Christopher Klodnicki | 308,000 |
| 5 | Viktor Celikovsky | 266,000 |
| 6 | Ilya Krupin | 212,000 |
| 7 | Yuval Bronshtein | 178,500 |
| 8 | Scott Clements | 170,000 |
| 9 | Konstantin Maslak | 167,500 |
| 10 | Jens Lakemeier | 115,000 |
| 11 | Anton Smirnov | 80,500 |
Irina Batorevich Leads Final 121 Players; Seeks 4th Ladies Event Title
Event #53: Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship attracted 795 women to the felt – up two from last year – and created a $715,500 prize pool that will be distributed to the top 81 players with the eventual winner taking home $153,876. By the end of the night, just 121 players remaining in contention with Russia's Irina Batorevich leading the way with 117,400.
Batorevich is no stranger to Ladies Events. In July 2012, she took down the €150 Ladies Event at the IPT Sanremo, and then two months later won the 2012 WSOP Europe Ladies Event for €12,902. As if that wasn't enough, in May 2013 she won the European Poker Tour Grand Final Monte Carlo Women's Event for €10,300.
Others who bagged up on Day 1 were chess expert Jennifer Shahade (31,700), poker pro Ebony Kenney (29,400), PokerNews Social Media Manager Pam Maldonado (27,000), and Anna Khait, who is rumored to be on an upcoming season of the hit TV show Survivor.
Top 10 Day 1 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Irina Batorevich | 117,400 |
| 2 | Stephanie Ampelikiotis | 108,200 |
| 3 | Kataneh Hamidi | 106,400 |
| 4 | Morgan Stringham | 97,100 |
| 5 | Pastora Mortensen | 85,800 |
| 6 | Mayumi Kanno | 80,200 |
| 7 | Lorraine Mcgarry | 78,400 |
| 8 | Darin Ann Parker | 76,400 |
| 9 | Tanya Stendzis | 69,500 |
| 10 | Milagros Vallespeterson | 64,600 |
Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1 were Liv Boeree, Melanie Weisner, Jennifer Tilly, Natasha Barbour, and Loni Harwood.
Day 2 will kick off at 1:00 p.m. local time on Saturday with the plan to play 10 more one-hour levels.
Medrano Leads After Day 1 of Event #54: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship
Event #54: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship attracted 387 players and created a prize pool of $3,637,800, which will be distributed to the top 40 players with the eventual winner taking home $927,655. After 10 levels of play on Day 1, the field was whittled down to 134, with George Medrano and his stack of 320,800 leading the way.
Others who bagged and tagged were Ben Tollerene (212,800), Steven Saris (209,900), Simon Trumper (196,100), Shaun Deeb (124,700), Sorel Mizzi (121,000), Brian Rast (67,700), and Jason Mercier (61,600).
Among those to bust on Day 1 were Barny Boatman, Daniel Negreanu, Paul Volpe, Daniel Alaei, George Danzer, Brian Hastings, Scott Seiver, Isaac Haxton, Phil Galfond, and Brandon Shack-Harris.
The remaining players will return at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday to play 10 more one-hour levels.
Saturday will also mark the start of Event #55: $1,500 Draftkings 50/50 No-Limit Hold'em at 12:00 p.m. and the two-day Event #56: $5,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em at 4:00 p.m.
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