Ole Schemion in Commanding Lead of Final Six In Event #79: $1,979 Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em
Six players remain in Event #79: $1,979 Hall Of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em with $27,951 guaranteed for those still in contention. The winner will take home $172,499 on Friday. The event is guaranteed to award a player their first bracelet with none of the remaining players capturing WSOP hardware in the past.
Leading the way is German high stakes pro Ole Schemion who bagged 6,905,000. After he won a huge pot against Michael Acevedo where they both had ace-jack but Schemion made a flush, he used his big stack to dominate and put massive pressure on the smaller stacks of the tournament to end up on top.
Schemion is no stranger to winning events, boasting an impressive resume of over $16 million in lifetime earnings and many deep runs in EPTs, as well as two WPT titles. A WSOP bracelet has managed to elude him, and he hasn’t cashed in a live tournament since December of 2019. Perhaps his first live cash in nearly two years may also be the first bracelet of his career.
Event #79: $1,979 Hall of Fame Bounty Final Table Seat Draw
| Room | Table | Seat | PLAYER | COUNTRY | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 1 | 1 | James Alexander | United States | 1,530,000 | 26 |
| Amazon | 1 | 2 | Jerry Wong | United States | 1,200,000 | 20 |
| Amazon | 1 | 3 | Giovani Torre | Portugal | 2,720,000 | 45 |
| Amazon | 1 | 4 | Benjamin Underwood | Canada | 975,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | 1 | 5 | Marc Rivera | Philippines | 755,000 | 13 |
| Amazon | 1 | 6 | Ole Schemion | Austria | 6,905,000 | 115 |
Second in chips is Giovani Torre, who bagged 2,720,000 at the end of the night. Torre is a player from Portugal who has $556,589 in lifetime earnings. His biggest cash came in 2019 when he finished in fifth place at the EPT in Barcelona for $405,538. He also during this series has had six cashes in WSOP events, but this will be his first live final table at a WSOP event. He looks to be the first Portuguese player to take down a bracelet event during this series.
Next in chips is Texas native and bar owner James Alexander who bagged 1,530,000. Alexander broke onto the scene in 2013 with a 19th place in the WSOP Main Event. Since then he has gone on to reach four WSOP final tables, a slew of cashes and one WSOP circuit ring. This is his third cash and first final table of the 2021 WSOP and he looks to take down his first WSOP bracelet.
After that is Jerry Wong who bagged up 1,200,000 at the end of his night, surviving elimination when his pocket sevens cracked the pocket tens of Giovani Torre. Wong is coming fresh off a second-place finish in Event #74: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event after already collecting ten cashes this series alone. The former November Niner boasts an impressive resume of over $4,419,000 in earnings and looks to add his first piece of WSOP jewelry to his career. A win here would put him in contention for the player of the year race.
Benjamin Underwood bagged the fifth largest stack at the end of the night with 975,000. The Canadian native had a very impressive 2019 WSOP run with three top-five finishes in events with at least 2,500 entrants each. He has $706,634 in lifetime earnings, most of which came from that run of final tables. He has five cashes already this series, but this is his first final table of the series and he comes back into tomorrow with a shot at the first bracelet of his career.
Finally is the start of day chip leader Marc Rivera who ended the day with 755,000. Marc Rivera is number one on the Philippines all-time money list with over $2.5 million in lifetime earnings, most of which came in 2019 when he came in third in the Pokerstars Players Championship for $2.1 million dollars. He looks to be the second player from the Philippines to win a live WSOP bracelet after Mike Takayama, and comes back tomorrow with 12.5 bbs and will be looking to spin it up for the victory.
While all players on Day 2 were guaranteed a cash, not all players were as fortunate to bag including Sonia Shashikhina (26th-$5,059), Christian Pham (22nd-$5,059), Maria Lampropulos (17th-$5,805), and Michael Gathy (16th-$5,805). Dylan Wilkerson (8th-$16,074) was coolered at the final table when his jacks ran into the pocket aces of Ole Schemion, and before the night ended it was Ronald Sullivan (7th-$20,985) lost a flip to Schemion when his king-queen could not find improvement against Schemion’s pocket fours.
Play will resume on Friday at 4 p.m. PT at the The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino with a live stream on PokerGO with 1:51 left on Level 26 with blinds at 30,000/60,000 and a 60,000 big blind ante. Blinds will increase every 40 minutes until a winner is crowned. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates with this tournament and all other tournaments during the 52nd World Series of Poker.