2016 WSOP Day 17: Mercier Wins Again, Lee Wins First, Shack-Harris Leads Omaha Hi-Low
The 2016 World Series of Poker is quickly turning into the 2016 World Series of Mercier. Jason Mercier won his second gold bracelet of the summer on Friday, but that's not all that happened heading into the weekend.
Another bracelet was awarded in Event #21: $3,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em, with Calvin Lee taking the title.
Event #23: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em got down to two players before play was halted for the night, Event #25: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em reached the final 24 players, and Event #26: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low saw Brandon Shack-Harris bag the lead over the final 27 players.
Elsewhere at the 2016 WSOP, Event #27: $1,000 Seniors Championship moved to Day 2 and Event #28: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship kicked off.
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Mercier Wins Second Bracelet of the Summer
Jason Mercier earned his second WSOP gold bracelet of the summer, taking down Event #24: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship for $422,874. He defeated a field of 171 players, including an extremely tough final table.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Mercier | $422,874 |
| 2 | James Obst | $261,354 |
| 3 | Nick Schulman | $183,779 |
| 4 | Adam Friedman | $131,519 |
| 5 | Mikhail Semin | $95,817 |
| 6 | Jesse Martin | $71,089 |
| 7 | Yuval Bronshtein | $53,729 |
| 8 | Bryn Kenney | $41,383 |
The win marked Mercier's second of the summer, both of which have come within a week's time. In between this win and his victory in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Singe Draw Championship, Mercier took second in the $10,000 Razz Championship. He now has four cashes on the summer and nearly 1,200 points in the WSOP Player of the year race, which he leads.
Click here to read more about Mercier's latest victory.
- Related: Sweating the Bracelet Bets: A "Disappointed" Jason Mercier Runner-Up in $10K Razz
- Related: Jason Mercier Wins His 4th WSOP Bracelet and a Whole Lot More
Lee Wins $3K Six-Max NL
Calvin Lee emerged victorious in Event #21: $3,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em, taking home a big $531,577 first-place prize and his first gold bracelet.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvin Lee | $531,577 |
| 2 | Steven Thompson | $328,487 |
| 3 | Mark Herm | $224,805 |
| 4 | Will Givens | $156,281 |
| 5 | Martin Kozlov | $110,389 |
| 6 | Alex Queen | $79,246 |
"It comes in waves," Lee told officials after the win. "The adrenaline rush is so sick. Even when I was losing, I was feeling amazing. What is it they say? 'The second best feeling in gambling is losing?' But I kept my eye on the prize and I never gave up."
Others with a deep run in the event were Doug Polk (15th - $24,881), Daniel Negreanu (19th - $19,449), Jason Les (27th - $15,477), and Fedor Holz (47th - $8,716).
Click here to read more about Lee's victory.
Two Left in $2K NL
The field of 1,419 players in Event #23: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em has been cut down to just two players. After play reached the hard-stop deadline on Friday night, Bulgaria's Viliyan Petleshkov and Spain's Cesar Garcia remained. The two will return on Saturday to finish it off, and it will be Petleshkov starting in the lead with 8.715 million to Garcia's 5.48 million.
Day 3 of this event began with 27 players left. Anthony Spinella led to start the day, but his run ended in ninth place. Thiago Nishijima then busted in eighth, Craig Varnell hit the rail in seventh, and Craig McCorkell busted in sixth. Five-handed play lasted for quite some time, and then Kamel Mokhammad was next to go.
The eliminations of Adrian Buckley in fourth and Yuriy Boyko in third occurred on the same hand, with Petleshkov busting both on Hand #115 of the final table. It was Petleshkov's A♦J♥ hitting an ace against the 10♥10♠ for Boyko and K♥Q♠ for Buckley.
Petleshkov and Garcia then battled for 76 hands before stopping play for the night. They'll return at 1 p.m. on Saturday to play down to a winner. Up for grabs is a $447,739 first-place prize.
Fish, Mateos, and Farrell Remain in $2,500 NL
Twenty-four players remain in Event #25: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em, with Michael Scarborough in the lead. He's trailed closest by Remi Castaignon, and then Daniel Cooke rounds out the podium.
Top 5 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Scarborough | 1,004,000 |
| 2 | Remi Castaignon | 950,000 |
| 3 | Daniel Cooke | 848,000 |
| 4 | Darryll Fish | 835,000 |
| 5 | Adrian Mateos | 674,000 |
All remaining players from this 1,045-player field are guaranteed $12,955, with notables Darryll Fish, Adrian Mateos, and Niall Farrell still in the field.
888poker New Jersey ambassador Tom Cannuli bagged his fourth cash of the summer, finishing in 143rd place for $3,797.
A prize of $448,463 and the coveted WSOP gold bracelet awaits the winner, and the final 24 will return to action at 12 p.m. local time in Las Vegas.
Shack-Harris Leading Omaha Hi-Low
A familiar face topped the 27 survivors after Day 2 of Event #26: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low. Brandon Shack-Harris bagged up nearly 300,000 in chips more than his closest competitor and will be looking for his second gold bracelet.
Top 5 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Shack-Harris | 830,000 |
| 2 | Benjamin Gold | 566,000 |
| 3 | Ilya Krupin | 463,000 |
| 4 | Joe Ford | 459,000 |
| 5 | Frankie O'Dell | 454,000 |
Outside of the top five, notables remaining were Phillip Hui, William Kakon, Max Pescatori, Benny Glaser, Allen Kessler, and Ari Engel.
The pack will be back at 2 p.m. on Saturday to continue the push towards a gold bracelet. The final 27 have locked up a payday of $6,919 and thew winner will receive $244,103.
Record Field in the Seniors Event
A record 4,499 players turned up for Event #27: $1,000 Seniors Championship. To put that number into further perspective, it was more than either $1,500 Millionaire Maker flight and all but one $565 Colussus II flight.
A prize pool of over $4 million was created, with first place set at $538,204.
Robert Campbell of Bellflower, California led the way with 148,700 in chips.
Top 5 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Campbell | 148,700 |
| 2 | Fred Berger | 137,400 |
| 3 | Jeanluc Adam | 125,700 |
| 4 | Mark Eastham | 123,100 |
| 5 | Peter Smaha | 119,900 |
Others faring well on Day 1 were Peter Eichhardt (108,300), John Gale (98,900), Ken Aldridge (76,100), and Mark Kroon (72,600).
Action will continue on Saturday starting at 11 a.m. local time with 675 players remaining.
$10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship Kicks Off
Event #28: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship kicked off on Friday afternoon, and after 10 levels of play it was Nick Abou Risk bagging the lead with 348,500 in chips. The event attracted 110 entries, and 41 of them remained after Day 1.
Top 5 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Abou Risk | 348,500 |
| 2 | Alex Luneau | 327,000 |
| 3 | Samuel Golbuff | 252,000 |
| 4 | David Chiu | 239,500 |
| 5 | Brian Rast | 203,500 |
Outside of the top five, Brock Parker (177,000), Ronnie Bardah (154,500), Bill Chen (154,000), Eric Wasserson (115,000), and Dzmitry Urbanovich (76,000) were just a handful of the notable faces to advance to Day 2. The shortest stack surviving was Matt Glantz with 34,000.
Howard Lederer also advanced to Day 2 with 86,500.
A prize pool of $1.034 million was generated and will be dispersed to the top 17 places. A min-cash is set at $15,000, with the winner receiving $290,635.
Day 2 will begin at 2 p.m. PT.
What's Coming Up?
Along with all of the events mentioned above that will be continuing on Saturday, two more will be starting up. Those two are Event #29: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em at 11 a.m. and Event #30: $3,000 Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha at 3 p.m.
As the 2016 WSOP rolls on, be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage, brought to you by our sponsors, 888poker.
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