WSOP Day 27: Alaei Leads $10K PLO Championship; $50K Poker Players Championship Begins

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Jun 24, 2019 7 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Day 27 is a big day on the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) calendar as it marks the beginning of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.

All eyes will be on defending champion Michael Mizrachi who has won this event a record three times. "The Grinder" already has won a bracelet this series to give him five total and is looking to add another in this event which also comes with the coveted David "Chip" Reese Memorial Trophy.

In other news, five-time bracelet winner Daniel Alaei leads the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship with 50 players remaining. Recent $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship bracelet winner Luke Schwartz (1,700,000) and 2018 WSOP Player of the Year and four-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (1,586,000) are on Alaei'a tail.

Here's what's on tap today, in the daily What to Watch For on PokerNews, sponsored by 888poker.

Event #50: Monster Stack - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

The Monster Stack's monster field of 6,035 entrants is down to just 457 players heading into today's Day 3 starting at 11 a.m. PDT. Yesterday's action reached the money with the remaining field each guaranteed at least a $3,157 payout and the eventual winner on Wednesday, June 26 banking a massive $1,008,850 top prize in front of a live-streamed audience at CBS All Access in the United States, Canada, and Australia and at PokerGO in the rest of the world.

Kainalu McCue-Unciano (2,187,000) and Andrew Moreno (2,034,000) both enter the day holding more than 100 big blinds with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000. Also holding big stacks are Brady Bullard (1,971,000), Justin Kindred (1,900,000), Benjamin Ector (1,869,000), Jeff Siegal (1,840,000), and Gergely Kulcsar (1,839,000).

Notable players in contention include Joe Cada (1,122,000), Pierre Neuville (1,195,000), Nika Futterman (1,253,000), Adrien Allain (1,100,000), Jon Turner (698,000), Neil Blumenfield (378,000), John Phan (467,000), and Matt Salsberg (244,000).

Event #52: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

By the time late registration closed before the start of yesterday, the field had grown from 494 players to battle on Day 1 to a total field of 518 players to create a $4,869,200 prize pool and a $1,086,967 top prize. This smashes the 474 entrants that competed in this event last year when Loren Klein won his third of four bracelets and the $1,018,336 top prize.

The field is down to 50 players entering today's penultimate day at 2 p.m. PDT. Blinds will begin at 10,000/20,000 and increase every hour. The day is scheduled to end after there are just six players remaining with tomorrow's final table to be live streamed via PokerGO.

Five-time bracelet winner Daniel Alaei enters today in the chip lead with 1,985,000 in chips followed by recent $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship bracelet winner Luke Schwartz (1,700,000) and 2018 WSOP Player of the Year and four-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (1,586,000).

Others with more than 1 million in chips are Adam Hendrix (1,219,000), Dash Dudley (1,199,000), Joel Feldman (1,196,000), Will Jaffe (1,179,000), James Park (1,173,000), Andjelko Andrejevic (1,116,000), and Patrick Mahoney (1,024,000).

Event #53: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack

This tournament absolutely decimated its $750,000 guarantee with 3,759 entrants creating a $2,678,408 prize pool and a $371,203 top prize.

Originally scheduled as a two-day event, it is likely that today won't be the final day with 440 players returning today at 1 p.m. PDT and WSOP tournament directors proving to be flexible this festival with schedule adjustments in previous Deepstack bracelet events.

The top-ranked GPI player in the world Alex Foxen (1,104,000) will come back for Day 2 as one of the chip leaders. The six players ahead of Foxen are Kenneth Johnson (1,400,000), Shmuel Hada (1,340,000), Amir Lehavot (1,330,000), Jordan Meltzer (1,188,000), John Rice (1,138,000), and Michael Dichiaro (1,110,000).

Many big names competed in this relatively low buy-in event on Day 1. Among those surviving today's action included three-time bracelet winner Dutch Boyd (562,000), 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer (406,000), 15-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (394,000), six-time bracelet winner and 2017 WSOP Player of the Year Chris Ferguson (213,000), and celebrity comedians Brad Garrett (244,000) and Norm MacDonald (152,000).

Players will return with blinds at 8,000/16,000 and a big blind ante of 16,000. Blinds will increase every 40 minutes and the day will end either when a winner is crowned or at the tournament director's discretion.

Event #54: $1,500 Razz

The Razz event was one of the few this festival that wasn't as popular as the year before with 363 entrants creating a $490,050 prize pool and a $119,054 top prize for the winner. This represents 26 entrants fewer than last year when Jay Kwon bested a field of 389 entrants to win the bracelet and $125,431 top prize.

Defending champion Kwon is among the 127 Day 1 survivors and is in contention for his second bracelet in this event with an above average stack of 46,700.

Eric Rodawig was the only player to bag a six-figure stack yesterday and will return to action with 118,700 in chips when play resumes at 2 p.m. PDT. Others near the top of the leaderboard include Stephen Burns (92,700), Doug Lorgeree (90,400), Charles Lorentz (85,000), Jaime Lezama (83,700), Shane Littlefield (83,400), and Adam Owen (82,800).

Event #56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty

This is the second and final single-day live event on the schedule. Earlier in the festival, Daniel Park finished on top of a field of 2,452 entrants to win Event #12: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty for $226,243.

Expect this event also to attract a massive field and move along at a fast pace with 20-minute blind levels. Players start with 25,000 in chips with blinds starting at 100/100 at 11 a.m. PDT. Late registration closes after Level 12 or around 3:40 p.m. PDT.

Players will cash throughout the day with bounties worth $500 for each player eliminated.

Event #57: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em

This four-day event is one of the more unique ones on the schedule with players joining up in teams of two to four players in a hunt to find WSOP gold.

Players start in this event with 20,000 in chips and blinds increasing every hour beginning at 100/100. Late registration closes at the end of Level 8, and surviving players will bag chips after the conclusion of Level 10. Players can tag in and out of the tournament as long as a teammate isn't in a hand and prizes will be evenly distributed by teammates. Teams can be disqualified if all teammates don't play at least one round of blinds in the tournament.

History of the Tag Team Event

The tag team event began in 2016 when Doug Polk and Ryan Fee defeated a field of 863 teams to split the $153,358 top prize to claim $76,679 each.

The second time the event was held, in 2017, it was Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java besting a small field of 843 teams to win the $150,637 top prize and the first bracelets every to be awarded to players from India.

Then in 2018, it was Guiseppe Pantaleo and Nikita Luther who claimed their first-ever bracelets and $175,805 in total by defeating a record-breaking 1,031 other teams.

Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

The Poker Players Championship is often considered the most prestigious event in the WSOP outside of the WSOP Main Event.

The five-day tournament is a six-max affair in 8-game format with games continually changing between the following.

• No Limit Hold’em
• Seven Card Stud
• Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• Razz
• Pot-Limit Omaha
• Limit Hold’em
• Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw 6-Handed

Players begin today at 3 p.m. PDT with a massive stack of 300,000 in chips and will bag chips after six blind levels of an hour each. The final field size won't be known until late tomorrow with late-registration open until the end of Level 10.

History of the Poker Players Championship

David "Chip" Reese, whom the trophy Memorial Trophy is named after, was the first champion of this event in 2006 after he outlasted a field of 143 entrants to win the $1,716,000 first-place prize.

The prize pool peeked at its height the following two years at 148 entrants. First, it was Freddy Deeb winning the largest prize of these events in 2007 when he banked $2,276,832. Then, in 2008, Scotty Nguyen found his way into the winner's circle for a massive $1,989,120 top prize.

Since then, the field size never reached the point of its heyday with recent years attracting between 84 and 100 entrants.

Defending champion Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is an unprecedented three-time winner of this event, having won it in 2010, 2012 and 2018. Mizrachi also finished fourth in 2016. The other player with multiple PPC titles is Brian Rast, who earned top honors in 2011 and 2016.

Here is a look at the past entries, prize pool, champions, and first-place prizes:

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• Tags Alex Foxen Amir Lehavot Andjelko Andrejevic Chip Reese Chris Ferguson Doug Polk Freddy Deeb Greg Raymer Joe Cada John Phan Luke Schwartz Michael Mizrachi Phil Hellmuth Scotty Nguyen Shaun Deeb World Series of Poker WSOP
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• Related Players Scotty NguyenPhil HellmuthChris FergusonShaun DeebMichael MizrachiChip Reese