What to Watch For: July 5, 2017
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The $50,000 Poker Players Championship has reached the money with just 15 players returning for today's Day 4. Isaac Haxton currently leads the field with Daniel Negreanu also among the big stacks, as are Matthew Ashton, Shaun Deeb and Paul Volpe. In addition to that, a busy Wednesday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino features the final two players returning for the $888 Crazy Eights, Ryan LaPlante looking for his second bracelet in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Mix, and the kickoff of the $25,000 PLO High Roller.
Event #60: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed
Only 28 players returned for Day 3 of the $888 Crazy Eights and now just two remain. Romania's Alexandru Papazian will have a sizable chip lead (50,725,000) over Germany's [Removed:172] (14,225,000) when they return today. The event featured a huge field of 8,120 entries and the winner will take home a massive $888,888 first-place prize.
Papazian has more than $1.9 million in tournament winnings to his credit including taking down the European Poker Tour Grand Final in May 2016 for €1,197,000. This will be his sixth WSOP cash and would be his first bracelet if he can win the heads-up battle.
Meanwhile Kramer has more than $1.3 million in tournament earnings including several wins and final tables. His biggest score came in 2015, when he finished fifth in the WSOP Europe Main Event for $198,500. He has 17 WSOP cashes, but is also looking for his first bracelet.
The fourth and final day of play gets underway at 1 p.m. and PokerNews will again have every crazy hand covered.
Event #62: $50,000 Poker Players Championship (6-Handed)
There were 100 players to start the $50K PPC, from which 44 returned yesterday. Now just 15 are left, all of whom have made the money and been guaranteed at least a cash of $77,320. The winner will take home $1,395,767 and a sought-after gold bracelet.
Two-time champion Michael Mizrachi will not have a chance at another title after he finished on the bubble. Mizrachi was eliminated by Isaac Haxton, who leads the field with 3,268,000. Another former champion, Matthew Ashton, is just behind Haxton with 3,220,000.
Rounding out the top five at present are Shaun Deeb (2,442,000), Paul Volpe (2,315,000) and Daniel Negreanu (2,223,000).
Other notables remaining include Aaron Katz (1,484,000), Scott Sevier (1,428,000), Ian Johns, (1,044,000), James Obst (856,000) and Mike Matusow (565,000). Deeb was pleased with his run so far:
2.45m itm in 50k ran hot vs some great players today let's hope the trend continues
— NiceShaunDeeb (@shaundeeb)
The fourth day gets underway today at 2 p.m. and PokerNews will have all the updates of this prestigious event.
Event #63: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
After this event attracted a hefty 1,750 entries, only 21 return for today's third day of play. Patrick Truong is the chip leader with 1,130,000 followed by Michael Amato (1,111,000) and Ryan Hughes (1,040,000). Truong has more than $330,000 in tournament winnings and this would be a breakthrough victory for him on poker's biggest stage if he can hold on to win.
Other notables remaining include John Monnette (426,000), Andy Frankenberger (240,000), Eddy Sabat (204,000) and Thomas Fuller (110,000).
Play resumes on Wednesday at 12 noon with a plan to play down to a winner. Follow the PokerNews live updates by clicking here.
Event #64: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Mix
After 158 players returned for the second day in this NLHE/PLO mixed event, end-of-Day-1 chip leader Ryan Laplante again finished the night bagging the most chips as just 16 players remain.
Looking for his second career bracelet, Laplante will return to a big stack of 1,105,000. His nearest challengers to begin play today will be Esther Taylor (1,057,000), Khorchidian Nichan (895,000), Shannon Shorr (789,000) and Mark Radoja (710,000).
As always, keep it here at PokerNews to follow all the live updates as they try to play down to a winner today.
Event #65: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels)
This two-day turbo-fueled event attracted 1,413 entries on Tuesday and only 27 will come back for today's finale. Dylan Linde leads the way with 562,000 and is followed by Anton Bertilsson (432,000), Toro Istvan (413,000), Aaron Hirst (459,000) and William Foxen (402,000).
Lind, who seeks his first bracelet, has more than $1.3 million in tournament winnings, just over half of which he's collected in WSOP events.
Day 2 resumes at 12 noon and PokerNews will bring you all the fun from the restart to the final hand. Click here to follow along.
Event #66: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
More no-limit hold'em returns to the Rio on Wednesday with the start of another lower buy-in event that should attract plenty of entries.
This is an additional event on the schedule this year and it kicks off at 11 a.m. PokerNews will have all the big flops, raises and folds. Check the coverage right here.
Event #67: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller
Not one for the lightly-bankrolled, this big buy-in event should bring in plenty of high rollers who specialize in PLO and are seeking a big score.
This is a four-day event and players will begin the tournament deep-stacked with 125,000 starting chips. Finland's Jens Kyllonen took down the event in 2016, topping a field of 184 to win the $1,127,035 first prize.
Play begins at 3 p.m. and be sure to follow along with all the PokerNews updates.
