Get Those Game Plaques Ready; It's Time for the Dealers Choice Championship!
Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and the 2017 World Series of Poker for Day 1 of the Event #17: $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship!
Yesterday saw the completion of the $1,500 buy-in installment of this event where David Bach topped a 364-player field to capture the $119,399 first prize and his second WSOP bracelet. Now it's time for the big dog to take center stage!
Mixed games have always been a staple on the WSOP schedule, but their rise in popularity over the past few years have seen more and more non-hold'em events be on offer for players. With the $50,000 Poker Players Championship being the one event a true high-stakes player loves to win, the Dealers Choice Championship is in the conversation as the second-most coveted title to earn due to its prestigious nature and the fact that it tests the true skills of a poker player over a variety of flop, draw and stud games.
In the inaugural year of this event back in 2015, Quinn Do captured his second WSOP bracelet when he topped a 108-player field to capture the $319,792 first prize. Do defeated Rep Porter heads-up on a final table that included Jeff Madsen and Adam Friedman, while David Benyamine, Paul Volpe, David Chiu and Ray Dehkharghani all reached the money.
In 2016 the field size would grow to 118 and it was Jean Gaspard capturing his first WSOP bracelet when he defeated Billy O'Neil heads up for the $306,621 first prize. Also on the final table was John Monnette, Randy Ohel, Michael Semenov and Vyacheslav Zhukov while a plethora of WSOP bracelet winners littered the in-the-money list including "the Chiu" who would register back-to-back cashes in this event.
| Year | Champion | Country | Players | Prize Pool | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Quinn Do | USA | 108 | $1,015,200 | $319,792 |
| 2016 | Jean Gaspard | USA | 118 | $1,109,200 | $306,621 |
Play is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. (PDT) with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team providing continuous live updates of all the Dealers Choice Championship action — so stay tuned right here!