What to Watch For: July 2, 2017
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One of the biggest events in poker returns to the Rio on Sunday when the Poker Players Championship kicks off. The tournament features dozens of tough pros looking to home bring home the prestigious title. In other action, the $888 Crazy Eights resumes with Ben Yu, Bart Hanson, and Chris Ferguson advancing to Day 2. The $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, and $2,500 Big Bet Mix events should all play to a champion on Sunday.
Event #56: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em
It will take a fourth day to determine the winner of this big tournament and the winner will take home a nice $618,285. Nine players remain in the hunt for the bracelet and six different countries are represented at the final table. The event attracted 623 players for a prize pool of $2.9 million.
Argentina’s Norberto Korn leads the way with 4,040,000 chips. Korn has $80,000 in WSOP cashes, and is seeking his first bracelet. With more than $688,000 in overall tournament earnings, he has numerous final tables and titles on his poker resumé, but this could definitely the biggest finish of his career.
Korn is followed by Day 1 chip leader Thomas Boivin (Belgium, 3,190,000), Marton Czuczor (Hungary, 1,750,000), and Americans Mike Sowers (1,630,000), Simon Lam (1,145,000), and Mark Zullo (975,000). Rounding out the top nine are Pete Chen (Taiwan, 910,000), Sergio Cabrera (Spain, 890,000), and Andy Spears (USA, 740,000).
The event picks back up at 1 p.m. and should be action-packed. Check back with the PokerNews live updates for all the fun.
Event #58: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Event #58 reached the final 28 players from the 269 who returned on Day 2. Players return on Sunday hoping to play down to the winner of the $395,918 first-place prize and a gold bracelet.
Peter Coulombe returns as the chip leader with 1,443,000, followed by bracelet winners Taylor Paur (927,000) and Asi Moshe (886,000). Also returning are bracelet winners Lee Watkinson (470,000) and John Phan (520,000) as well as Goran "mandza17" Mandic (562,000) and Day 1 chip leader Martin Kabrhel (463,000). Day 3 begins at noon and you can click here to follow along with PokerNews’ live updates team.
Event #59: $2,500 Big Bet Mix
With 37 players returning for Day 2, the event reached the official final table of six on Saturday and a winner will be named on Sunday. Austria’s Jens Lakemeier leads those remaining with 702,000 chips. Lakemeier has $763,000 in career tournament winnings, including $106,000 at the WSOP, but is still looking for his first bracelet. Rounding out the final table are: Jerry Wong (680,000), Jason Stockfish (514,000), Ashton Griffin (232,500), Andrew Kelsall (185,500), and Kenneth Fitzgerald (143,000).
Day 3 kicks off on Sunday at 2 p.m. and the winner takes homes $112,232 and the live updates. Check back with PokerNews for all the live updates.
Event #60: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed
The first two flights in this event are in the bag with two more set for Sunday. Flight A drew 1,506 entries and Flight B drew 1,664, for a total of 3,170. Of those, only 143 players from the first two flights will return for Monday’s Day 2 (58 from Flight A and 85 from Flight B).
Seville Hale led the field in the first flight and also has the overall chip lead with 713,000. Following Hale are Jamie Rosen (589,000), Marius Pertea (514,000), and Jason Wheeler (491,000), who all bagged more than any player in Flight B. Others advancing from 1B were Jeffrey Bozier II (438,000), Eric Baldwin (424,000), and Joshua Kays (423,000).
In the second flight, Ray Qartomy led the field with 444,000 followed by Nick Stowell (423,000), Edwin Lee (400,000), Angel Fernandez (367,000), and Iannis Angelou Konstas (364,000). Other notables advancing from Flight B include Ben Yu (275,000), Bart Hanson (254,000), JJ Liu (201,000), Nadya Magnus (176,000), Steve Karp (152,000), and Chris Ferguson (66,000).
Follow along with PokerNews as the action gets underway with the first flight at 10 a.m. and the second flight at 4 p.m. Click here for all the live updates.
Event #62: $50,000 Poker Players Championship (6-Handed)
The pros will be out in force looking to bring home one of the biggest titles in poker along with the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. It should be one of the toughest fields of the summer and the nine winners of this event have a combined 26 bracelets.
The PPC is scheduled to play out over five days and last year’s event attracted 91 runners for a $4.2 million prize pool. Three-time bracelet winner Brian Rast took home last year’s $1.3 million first-place money and the gold bracelet. The win made Rast a two-time champion in this event, along with Michael Mizrachi (2010, 2012), after also winning it in 2011. Justin Bonomo finished runner-up in 2016 for just over $800,000. In 2008, Scotty Nguyen became the only player to win the Main Event and the PPC.
Rounders will need plenty of skills as this year’s event features a mix of these eight games: Limit Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, Seven Card Stud, Razz, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw. On Day 1, entrants will play six 100-minute levels, and registration remains open until the start of Day 2. Here is a look at those who have taken home the bracelet and trophy in this event:
• 2006 – David “Chip” Reese
• 2007 – Freddy Deeb
• 2008 – Scotty Nguyen
• 2009 – David Bach
• 2010 – Michael Mizrachi
• 2011 – Brian Rast
• 2012 – Michael Mizrachi
• 2013 – Matthew Ashton
• 2014 – John Hennigan
• 2015 – Mike Gorodinsky
• 2016 – Brian Rast
The action gets started at 3 p.m. on Sunday and PokerNews will have all the high roller action. Click here to follow along.
