2017 World Series of Poker

Event #73: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship
Day: 2ab
Event Info

2017 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a2
Prize
$8,150,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$67,877,400
Entries
7,221
Level Info
Level
43
Blinds
1,500,000 / 3,000,000
Ante
500,000

A Set and an Elimination for the Former World Champ

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Greg Raymer
Greg Raymer

Greg Raymer got all in on the flop heads up. He had a set of fours versus the club flush draw of his opponent. The turn brought the flush, but the river paired the board and Raymer earned the knockout.

He is now up more than 80,000 from his Day 2 starting stack.

Raymer won the Main Event in 2004 for $5,000,000 and has added another million in earnings since then with 35 WSOP cashes.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Greg Raymer us
Greg Raymer
190,000
85,000
85,000
Main Event Champion
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Greg Raymer

Buddiga Wins With a River Bet

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Pratyush Buddiga
Pratyush Buddiga

The player under the gun raised to 1,800, Josh Arieh called from middle position, Pratyush Buddiga called from the hijack, and the big blind also called.

The four players saw a flop of {K-Hearts}{J-Hearts}{2-Clubs} and the big blind checked. The preflop raiser checked as well and Arieh bet 3,700. Buddiga called, the big blind called, and after a few moments of thought, the preflop raiser called as well.

The turn brought the {7-Spades} and all four players checked.

The river was the {7-Diamonds} and action checked to Buddiga who bet 13,000. The bet represented about half of the big blind's remaining chips and he went into the tank briefly before he folded. The preflop raiser folded, Arieh folded also, and Buddiga took the chips.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Josh Arieh us
Josh Arieh
105,000
9,900
9,900
Team Lucky
WSOP 6X Winner
Profile photo of Pratyush Buddiga us
Pratyush Buddiga
91,000
22,500
22,500

Tags: Josh AriehPratyush Buddiga

Travis Lutes Bests Davide Suriano

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante

Davide Suriano raised to 2,000 from middle position and Travis Lutes called on the button. The blinds folded and they were heads up. The flop came {J-Spades}{3-Hearts}{2-Hearts} and both players checked. On the {6-Hearts} turn, Suriano bet 3,000. Lutes called and the river was the {3-Spades}, pairing the board. Suriano bet 10,000 this time, and Lutes quickly tossed in two orange chips to call.

Suriano: {9-Spades}{9-Hearts}
Lutes: {Q-Clubs}{J-Clubs}

Both players had two pair, but Lutes had a better two pair with jacks and threes to take the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Davide Suriano it
Davide Suriano
121,000
-13,800
-13,800
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Travis Lutes us
Travis Lutes
114,500
-13,500
-13,500

Tags: Travis LutesDavide Suriano

Interview: Qui Nguyen Has Big Plans Post-WSOP

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Qui Nguyen Eliminated
Qui Nguyen Eliminated

Since Qui Nguyen took down the 2016 WSOP Main Event for over $8 million at the Rio here in Las Vegas, he's something of a celebrity ,as you can imagine. We caught up with him on the rail as he ran the gauntlet of the corridors outside the Amazon, packed with fans asking for selfies. He told us all about his exit.

"In the final hand, I raised [James Akenhead] up with king-queen off-suit. He was in the big blind and called me with {Q-Spades}{7-Spades}. The flop came {K-Spades}{10-Spades}{7-Clubs}, so he checked. I bet 2,700 and he raised to around 7,000. I snap-called. On the turn, the {8-Clubs} came and he made it 16,000. I only had around 30,000 so I shipped all in. He called. Jack of spades on the river!"

Nguyen laughs, but his WSOP Main Event defense is over. He admits that poker can be cruel, but knows how much variance exists in any tournament win.

"Poker is cruel, but only sometimes. Even if you play well, if you don't get any luck, there's nothing you can do. Everyone needs the luck to win. Even me."

Nguyen is modest about his own victory last year. He's also enjoyed meeting the many hundreds of fans he has here in Las Vegas who were cheering him on.

"It was great when I came back here. I'm very professional; everyone wants to shake my hand and take their picture with me. It's cool. After winning here at the Rio, I didn't go out much. I enjoyed the moment with my friends and family, but I couldn't wait to get back to playing poker."

Nguyen's plans post-WSOP in 2016 always included helping the Vietnamese people from his homeland and some Vietnamese people's battle to escape poverty.

"I'm going back home and my plan is to help the people. Some have no house and no food. I wanted to donate some money to help other people. There are a lot of people who struggle in life and I want to help. I'm just so lucky compared to other people, so I want to help those out there who are struggling. I'm very happy, but everyone should be happy."

Nguyen says Las Vegas itself is a treasured part of his life now. He lives in Sin City and won't be swapping that for anywhere else in the world right now. He may just travel a bit more in his next year as a former rather than reigning WSOP champion.

"I always play here. I might travel a little more this year. I've never been to Macau or China so I might travel there. In December with the World Series out there, I may go there. I love to travel in the United States and I live in Vegas. It's so great for poker. I'm a gambling guy, so I love this city. But just remember, don't gamble too much!"

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Qui Nguyen us
Qui Nguyen
Busted
Defending Champion
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Qui NguyenWSOP Main Event Champion

Counts from Amazon Gold

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante

Naoya Kihara is building a big stack. He just took down a pot on the river when he bet 12,600 into a 20,000 pot with the board reading {10-Clubs}{8-Hearts}{5-Diamonds}{9-Spades}{3-Spades}. His opponent folded and Kihara added a little more to his stack.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Naoya Kihara jp
Naoya Kihara
299,000
101,000
101,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Cherish Andrews us
Cherish Andrews
286,000
31,000
31,000
Profile photo of Taylor Paur us
Taylor Paur
134,000
59,000
59,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Randy Lew us
Randy Lew
130,000
58,500
58,500
Profile photo of James Dempsey gb
James Dempsey
94,000
71,900
71,900
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Michael Kamenjarin us
Michael Kamenjarin
62,000
3,700
3,700
Jaka Coaching
Profile photo of Lucas Greenwood ca
Lucas Greenwood
58,000
19,400
19,400
Run It Once
Profile photo of Tim Reilly us
Tim Reilly
44,000
-2,000
-2,000
Profile photo of Marc Convey gb
Marc Convey
38,500
15,000
15,000
Profile photo of Timothy Adams ca
Timothy Adams
26,000
2,000
2,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Dong Guo cn
Dong Guo
25,000
-26,000
-26,000

Tags: Naoya Kihara

Doug Polk Pays Off Another River (When Will He Learn)

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Sam Grafton and Doug Polk dueling
Sam Grafton and Doug Polk dueling

On a board reading {K-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}{J-Clubs}{8-Hearts}{10-Hearts} with roughly 24,000 in the middle, Sam Grafton bet out 12,100 from the button following a check from Doug Polk in the small blind.

Both of them continued to talk as Polk listed possible hand combinations that both players could have.

Eventually Polk called and Grafton tabled his {A-Spades}{K-Clubs} for top pair.

"Quite good. Quite good," stated Polk before mucking.

"Hey, PokerNews. Could you title this 'Doug Polk pays off another river'!" stated Grafton as he looked in the direction of our PokerNews reporter.

"Yeah, and then in parenthesis after it put, 'when will he learn'," added Polk.

"Look, ESPN are worried. They want to speed up this level. They're saying, if Doug sees another few rivers, he may be out!" laughed Grafton as he gestured toward the ESPN camera crew standing nearby.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Sam Grafton gb
Sam Grafton
435,000
23,500
23,500
Profile photo of Doug Polk us
Doug Polk
91,000
-29,000
-29,000
WSOP 3X Winner

Tags: Doug PolkSam Grafton

Nguyen Busts Two in Massive Pot

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Dylan Nguyen
Dylan Nguyen

There was already around 50,000 in the pot with the turn showing {9-Clubs}{5-Spades}{2-Spades}{10-Diamonds} and a player checked in early position. Michal Danka in the cutoff bet 30,000 and Dylan Nguyen called that bet from the small blind. The third player in the hand moved all in and Danka called the shove.

Nguyen asked for a count on the all-in, which was deemed to be for 84,500, and Danka had around 10,000 behind. Nguyen then moved all in himself and the first player at risk jokingly asked, "Anyone have a set?" while Danka was still to act. The Swede called it off shortly after and the cards were tabled.

Player in early position: {A-Clubs}{A-Diamonds}
Danka: {2-Clubs}{2-Hearts}
Nguyen: {5-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}

Nguyen only had to dodge the two remaining aces and the case deuce in the deck, and that's exactly what happened with the blank {K-Clubs} river. Danka had around 92,000 in chips and Nguyen more than 100,000, scoring a double knockout to skyrocket his stack.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Dylan Nguyen us
Dylan Nguyen
325,000
195,000
195,000
Profile photo of Michal Danka se
Michal Danka
Busted

Tags: Dylan NguyenMichal Danka

Vivian Saliba Gets No Callers

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Vivian Saliba (earlier in the series)
Vivian Saliba (earlier in the series)

A player in early position raised to 3,000, the next player called, and a player in late position three-bet to 10,000. It folded to Vivian Saliba in the big blind, and she moved her stack of 42,600 chips into the middle.

The initial raiser shook his head and folded, the next player folded, and the three-bettor thought for a little while. He let his hand go, and Saliba took down the pot with no showdown.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Vivian Saliba br
Vivian Saliba
60,000
8,000
8,000

Tags: Vivian Saliba

No Win for Qui Nguyen; A New Champion Will Rise

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Qui Nguyen Eliminated
Qui Nguyen Eliminated

Catching the action on the turn, Qui Nguyen was all in and at risk against James Akenhead with 84,000 in the pot. Nguyen was holding {K-Clubs}{Q-Hearts}. Akenhead was holding {Q-Spades}{7-Spades}. The board read {10-Spades}{K-Spades}{7-Clubs}{8-Clubs}.

Nguyen had a pair of kings, but Akenhead had a pair of sevens as well as a flush draw.

Nguyen let out a hefty grunt as the {J-Spades} fell on the river and that gave Akenhead the winning flush to take down the big pot and to eliminate the reigning Main Event champion from the tournament.

Nguyen stood up and shook hands with everyone as he left the tournament area.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of James Akenhead gb
James Akenhead
122,000
61,200
61,200
Profile photo of Qui Nguyen us
Qui Nguyen
Busted
Defending Champion
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: James AkenheadQui Nguyen