WSOP What to Watch For: June 13, 2017
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As the Millionaire Maker's massive field was cut down, a few names heading to Day 3 and looking for the $1 million-plus payday include 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, runner-up in the One Drop High Roller. Several other big names also return in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship with John Monnette leading the final eight.
Event #20: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MILLIONAIRE MAKER
A field of 1,213 began play in Monday's restart hoping for a share of the $10,477,350 prize pool. The winner will take home a first-place prize of $1,221,407. The first two flights brought in 7,761 entries in the multi-entry format, and only 136 players remain for Day 3.
Leading to start Day 3 will be Senovio Ramirez III with 1,570,000 chips. The Texan has almost $900,000 in tournament winnings including a third-place finish in 2015's Little One for One Drop for $287,620. Ramirez is followed by Lucas Blanco (1,339,000) and Daniel Lee (1,196,000).
A few other notables still alive for Day 3 include Brian Altman (1,112,000), Jessica Dawley (650,000), Thomas Taylor (526,000), Kenny Hallaert (523,000), Joe Cada (508,000), Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier (451,000), Brian Rast (357,000), Shawn Buchanan (266,000) and Matt Affleck (207,000).
Day 3 of this four-day event picks up on Tuesday at 11 a.m. and PokerNews will have all the live updates.
Event #22: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship
A field full of pros returned for Day 2 of lowball action with eight players remaining for Day 3. With a prize pool of $864,800, the winner will take home $256,610 in cash.
Leading the way for Day 3 is John Monnette with 1,051,000 chips followed by Darren Elias (637,500), Mike Leah (618,500), Mike Gorodinsky (591,000), Xavier Kyablue (484,500), Per Hildebrand (474,500), James Chen (428,000) and Paul Volpe (315,000). This marks Monnette's fourth cash of the summer as he looks for his third bracelet.
The restart begins at 2 p.m. on Tuesday and PokerNews will have all the action. For the live updates, click here.
Event #23: THE MARATHON - $2,620 No-Limit Hold'em
The starter's pistol sounded on Monday for the five-day, extended-level Marathon which attracted a nice number of entries for this new event — 1,646. That field may increase even more as players can register up until the start of Day 2.
The leader in the race so far is Igor Yaroshevskyy (292,600) followed by Rigoberto Rodriguez (280,600), Maurice Hawkins (263,000) and Bill Germanis (214,300). Other notables advancing to the second day of action include Dietrich Fast (170,400), Matt Stout (98,000), Thomas Muehloecker (78,500), Bruno Politano (58,300) and Charlie Carrel (43,700).
While Yaroshevskyy doesn't have a bracelet, he did finish runner-up in a $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo event in 2015 for $303,767. Hawkins is looking for his first bracelet after dominating the WSOP Circuit scene where he's collected a record 10 rings.
The Marathon runners move on to Day 2 on Tuesday at noon. Click here for all the PokerNews live updates.
Event #24: $1,500 Limit Hold'em
With so many major events going on, this tournament might have seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle a bit. However, 616 players showed up hoping their limit game shined and only 132 advanced to Day 2.
Chip leader after Day 1 was Michael Reed with 111,600 chips. Following him are Jeff Thompson (108,700), Jeffrey Norman (93,100) and Harun Sapmaz (84,000). Five-time WSOP-C ring winner Joshua Turner also ended the day well, finishing with 78,500.
Others advancing to today include Mike Cordell (72,500), Sean Berrios (71,900), three-time bracelet winner Barry Greenstein (54,400), Ray Henson (56,400), Esther Taylor (49,100), Terrence Chan (43,400), Justin Bonomo (26,700), John Racener (18,000) and Brock Parker (17,700).
On Tuesday, the money bubble will burst with 93 players making a minimum payout of $2,246, and the winner taking home $177,985. The limit action returns to the Rio on Tuesday at 2 p.m. and be sure to keep it here at PokerNews for the live updates.
Event #25: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
A popular form of poker at a lower-tier price point should bring out plenty of Omaha fans. Last's year's event attracted 1,045 entries for a prize pool of $2.38 million. Unlike the recent $565 "PLO-lossus," there are no re-entries in this one. In 2016, Florida's Sam Soverel took home the bracelet and first-place cash of $185,317. Play gets underway at 11 a.m. and PokerNews will have all your updates.
Event #26: $10,000 Razz Championship
A favorite among mixed-game pros, this lowball championship should attract many of the game's notables. Ray Dehkharghani won last year's event for $273,338. In 2016, 100 players ponied up the $10,000 buy-in for a $940,000 prize pool. Along with bracelets in two other events last summer, Jason Mercier finished runner-up in this one for $168,936. Other notables who have won this event in recent years include Phil Hellmuth (2015) and George Danzer (2014). The lowball fun gets kicked off at 3 p.m. and PokerNews will have all the action via live updates.
