2016 WSOP Day 38: High Rollers Galore and Two Events End

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Jul 09, 2016 7 min read

Day 38 of the 2016 World Series of Poker was one for the fans, as two high roller events dominated coverage. The biggest buy-in of the year at the Rio All-Suit Hotel & Casino, the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, got going while the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event was narrowed to just three competitors. Meanwhile, a total of three bracelets were awarded as two events ended.

All summer long, PokerNews.com will be bringing you daily coverage of the 2016 WSOP, brought to you by our sponsors, 888poker.

Reentries Lead to Big Numbers Jump in One Drop

The $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, always one of the marquee events of the summer, underwent a major change for 2016 when the format was adjusted to allow one reentry per player. That led to a sizable increase in the number of entries, as 171 entries have been logged with registration still open until the start of Day 2. Last year's event drew 135.

When the 10 levels were finished, it was Koray Aldemir atop the 88 still in the counts, running his 500,000 starting stack up to 3,789,000. Aldemir finished second to Adrian Mateos, who also bagged a top-10 stack in this event, in the Summer Solstice for over $250,000.

A field such as this one is always loaded to the brim with big name, but perhaps the most standout among the top 10 are high roller extraordinaire Fedor Holz and 2015 WSOP Main Event champ Joe McKeehen.

Holz has made his name crushing a vast number of high roller events across the globe, racking up more than $9 million in winnings this year alone. McKeehen showcased his own high roller chops at the $100,000 Super High Roller at PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he finished second for over $1.2 million.

Aldemir won a three-way all in late with K♠K♦ against the J♦J♣ of Doug Polk and the A♥J♠ of Liv Boeree, eliminating the latter and doubling through the former on a 7♦5♥3♣7♥Q♥ runout.

Other players bagging above the starting stack on Day 1 included Jason Les, Stephen Chidwick, Mustapha Kanit, Scott Seiver, Dan Colman, Jason Mercier, and Phil Hellmuth. Colman won this event at its $1 million price point in 2014 for over $15 million and finished third last year for over $1.5 million.

Day 2 gets underway at 2 p.m.

Online Legend Kyllonen Leads Final Three in $25K PLO

The $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event is down to just three runners, and the leader among them will be familiar to fans of high-stakes PLO everywhere. It's Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen, one of the biggest winners in online PLO history.

Though Kyllonen has a modest $73,257 in cashes at the WSOP, he's a feared PLO crusher with nearly $5 million in online profits according to highstakesdb.com.

The Finnish player bagged 10,925,000, trailed by Tommy Le (8,650,000) and Dan Smith (3,425,000).

Kyllonen found a late double through Smith after a flop of 10♣9♥4♥. The two got it in after Kyllonen check-raised for his stack with K♥10♠8♦4♦ and had the lead with two pair against K♦K♠J♠2♦. Smith did not improve, sending the huge pot to Kyllonen.

The 20 players who began the day were all in the money. Ryan D'Angelo (fourth), Ludovic Geilich (seventh), and Sean Winter (eighth) were among those making the final table but falling. Others who busted on Day 3 included Rob Mizrachi, Michael Mizrachi, Chris Lee, Paul Volpe, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

The final three get back to the felt at 1 p.m. and someone will walk away with $1,127,035 and a bracelet.

Polk and Fees Take First Tag Team Event Since '83

Doug Polk and Ryan Fee started out laughing at the event, and when it was all over, they were laughing their way to the winner's circle as owners of two gold bracelets and $76,679.

Polk said when he and Fee first heard about Event #61: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em, they chuckled about it on an online stream they did, calling the idea “ridiculous.”

Nonetheless, the two members of the “Evil Empire” crew decided to enter the event for the sake of their coaching site, UpswingPoker.

“We thought it would be really good to help promote our coaching site,” Polk said. “We're the two content guys, and if we teamed up, it would be a cool story.”

They did that and more, topping a field of 863 teams in what proved to be a successful return of an event that hadn't been on the WSOP schedule since 1983, though it was then “Mixed Doubles” and required a two-person team with one male and one female player.

Read all about their win here.

Official Final Table Results

Du Dominates $5,000 NL Final

A 48-year-old venture capitalist and investor became the first World Series of Poker bracelet winner from the Peoples Republic of China at the 2016 WSOP on Friday.

Yue Du dominated the final table of the four-day 2016 WSOP Event #59 $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em knocking out all eight other players on the way to capturing an $800,586 first-place prize.

The tournament played down to just six remaining on Thursday and Du returned to finish things of on Friday holding more chips than the rest of the table combined.

The final six included three-time WSOP bracelet winner and 888poker Ambassador Dominik Nitsche, WSOP veteran Ismael Bojang and 2015 WSOP Event #20: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em runner-up Natasha Barbour, but Du got the best of all of them. Jason Mercier proposed to Barbour at the final table after she busted third. Barbour said yes.

Canadian Michael Gentili finished runner-up. Several other Chinese natives have had success at the WSOP, but Du is the only one that currently resides there.

Final Table Results

Clements Builds Big Lead in PLO8

Scott Clements has two bracelets in a distinguished WSOP career that includes nearly $2.8 million cashes, both in Omaha events. He's looking in great shape to add a third, as he leads Event #64: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low with just 21 players left.

It's a big lead too, as Clements' 1,235,000 is more than double that of third-place Timothy Vukson's 611,000, while Richard Ashby sits in second with 720,000. Ari Engel (476,000), Kyle Bowker (321,000), Rex Clinkscales (234,000), Marco Johnson (162,000), Ben Yu (150,000), and Jon Turner (52,000) also remain in the hunt, with the latter the shortest of the bunch chip-wise.

Clements previously won a PLO event in 2007 for $194,206 and a limit Omaha hi-low event in 2006 for $301,175.

Of the 157 that started the day, Jake Schwartz, Brett Schaffer, Fabrice Soulier, Tom Schneider, Allan Le, Galen Hall, and Andrey Zaichenko were among the players who busted in the 71 paid places.

Play resumes at 2 p.m. with 6,000/12,000 as the blinds and the plan of playing to a winner.

Ladies Championship Draws 819

The 2016 WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship drew 819 entries, creating a $745,200 prize pool with plans to pay the top 123 players. A min-cash is worth $1,520 and the winner will earn $149,108 and a WSOP bracelet.

Listed as a $10,000 buy-in event, women are offered a 90 percent discount on registration, effectively making it a $1,000 buy-in. Anthony Ruberto was the only man to play.

After ten levels of play, the field moved into to money with 112 players surviving the day. Annetta Holley grabbed the overnight lead with familiar names like Vanessa Selbst, Elisabeth Hille, Mandy Baker, Ebony Kenney, and Jamie Kerstetter still in the hunt.

Play will resume at 12 p.m. local time with plans to play another 10.5 60-minute levels.

Down To Six Online

The 2016 WSOP Event #66: $1000 WSOP.com ONLINE No-Limit Hold'em drew 1,247 entries, including 320 reentries, on Friday. A $1,184,650 prize pool was created that paid the top the top 153 players. The winner will receive $210,279 and a WSOP bracelet.

The event played down to just six players remaining, and the final six will return to play the final table live at the Rio Monday, July 11 at 11 a.m. local time. Each of the final six are guaranteed $46,201.

Final Table Chip Counts

Dunst Threatens in the $1,000 NL

After two days of play, just 25 players remain in the 2016 WSOP Event #63: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em.

Raffaele Castro grabbed the overnight chip lead. WPT Raw Deal Analyst Tony Dunst sits within striking distance while Joshua Field, Faraz Jaka and Sebastian Pauli are among the notables still in contention.

Play will resume at 12 p.m. local time on Saturday with each of the returning players guaranteed at least $10,979 and a WSOP bracelet and $339,254 sitting up top.

What's On Tap?

In addition to all the other action above, the 2016 WSOP Main Event kicks off on Saturday with the first of three starting flights beginning at 11 a.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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