Big Pots, No Fear, and a Bit of Controversy Leads Kopp to $1,500 PLO8 Day 2 Lead
A wild day that saw rapid eliminations from the opening ‘shuffle up and deal’ right until the final hand of the night saw 12 players survive with William Kopp carrying a sizeable chip lead into the final day.
Kopp takes 7,500,000 chips into Friday’s final day of Event #66: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better with WSOP Player of the Year contender Michael Rodrigues in second with less than half of that at 3,650,000.
Among the others to advance are two-time WSOP bracelet winners Yuval Bronshtein and Loni Hui, along with four-time winner Anthony Zinno.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Kopp | United States | 7,500,000 | 125 |
| 2 | Michael Rodrigues | Portugal | 3,450,000 | 58 |
| 3 | John Goyette | United States | 3,140,000 | 52 |
| 4 | Mike Linster | United States | 3,100,000 | 52 |
| 5 | Sterling Savill | United States | 3,035,000 | 51 |
| 6 | Yuval Bronshtein | Israel | 2,155,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Philipp Krieger | Germany | 1,500,000 | 25 |
| 8 | Loni Hui | United States | 1,355,000 | 23 |
| 9 | Joseph McCarthy | United States | 1,000,000 | 17 |
| 10 | Anthony Zinno | United States | 825,000 | 14 |
| 11 | Aaron Wallace | United States | 580,000 | 10 |
| 12 | Jorge Leon | United States | 490,000 | 8 |
Kopp accumulated his chips steadily throughout the ten levels, then played some huge pots late in the day that went his way, including a notable one before the final break that needed a senior tournament official to make a ruling. The pot went Kopp’s way but could have been even larger had the ruling been different.
Regardless, Kopp takes a huge lead into Day 3, while many notables weren’t as fortunate, but at least with the money bubble bursting on Day 1 they were guaranteed money entering the Horseshoe Event Center Thursday.
Among those to take home consolation prizes were former WSOP Player of the Year Robert Campbell (17th - $9,908), Women in Poker Hall of Famer JJ Liu (42nd - $5,745), five-time bracelet winner John Monnette (75th - $3,488), and six-time bracelet winner and former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro (123rd - $2,634).
This dangerous dozen will now return to the Horseshoe feature tables at 1 p.m. local time on June 30 to play down to a winner, beginning with Level 26 and blinds of 30,000 / 60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante.
Each player has guaranteed themselves a five-figure payday of $12,257, but they’re just a few hours of skill and fortune away from the top prize of $259,549 and a WSOP gold bracelet.
PokerNews will be there until a champion is crowned, so stay with us for our continuing coverage from Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.