WSOP: Michael Mizrachi Ships Fifth Career Bracelet
WSOP: Michael Mizrachi Ships Fifth Career Bracelet

One of the top 50 players in World Series of Poker history added to his bracelet collection on Thursday while one of the top American players under the age of 25 picked up the first bracelet of his career. All of this happened while another field size record was almost broken in the Seniors event.

‘The Grinder’ Wins Bracelet #5 in $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo

Michael Mizrachi is the only player to have won the $50,000 Poker Players Championship event three times. On Thursday he became the charter member of another exclusive club: the first player to win five bracelets in the 2010s.

Mizrachi beat Robert Gray heads-up to win the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event and take home his fifth career WSOP bracelet and second in two years. Along with the three PPC titles, Mizrachi’s other bracelet was in a €10,400 Split-Format No Limit Hold’em event in 2011.

“It’s great. Obviously, I want the $50K again, but this is something different,” Mizrachi said. “We needed a change. Everything was $10K or more, and now it’s a $1,500. I was due for a $1,500 one. It feels great.”

Mizrachi is the 26th player to have won at least five bracelets.

Gray earned $88,254 for his runner-up finish. His previous best finish was a 15th place result in a $1,500 HORSE event in 2016 for $7,555.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Michael Mizrachi – $142,801
  2. Robert Gray – $88,254
  3. Michael Sopko – $60,330
  4. Elias Hourani – $42,014
  5. Jan Stein – $29,818
  6. Jose Paz-Gutierrez – $21,575
  7. Martin Sawtell – $15,921
  8. Matthew Schultz – $11,986

Roman Korenev Leads Marathon Event into Home Stretch

Just 16 players remain in the $2,620 Marathon event with Russian Roman Korenev sitting on top of the chip counts. Korenev finished Day 4 with 3,125,000 as 36 players were eliminated on Thursday.

Korenev is on top, but the next five biggest stacks are all relatively close. Yicheng Xu sits just 80,000 chips behind and the next four players have between 2,710,000 and 2,850,000.

Among the players who were eliminated on Thursday were Joseph Cheong (49th), Anatoly Filatov (46th), reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz (43rd), Mohsin Charania (38th), and David Coleman.

Action resumes at 1 PM PT and is scheduled to play down to six players.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Roman Korenev – 3,125,000
  2. Yicheng Xu – 3,045,000
  3. Dong Sheng – 2,930,000
  4. Matt Russell – 2,850,000
  5. Vladimir Revniaga – 2,795,000
  6. Joe Curcio – 2,710,000
  7. Jared Koppel – 1,870,000
  8. Peter Hong – 1,660,000
  9. Sergio Fernandez – 1,615,000
  10. Joseph Liberta – 1,340,000

Stephen Song Captures First Bracelet, $341,854 in $1K NLHE

Stephen Song entered the final table of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event with nearly 50% of the chips in play and just five players standing between him and his first bracelet. The 23-year-old from Connecticut didn’t exactly coast to victory, but in the end, he was able to pull off the win.

“At first I thought it was going to be pretty smooth sailing,” Song said “But then Renata flush-over-flushed me right away, and he’s pretty good, so that was not ideal. Laplante kept on getting jams through so he kept on chipping up swiftly. It wasn’t going as planned for sure; it was definitely a bumpy ride.”

Renato Kaneoya picked up the first two eliminations before going home in fourth place at the hands of Ryan Laplante. Song then picked off Laplante in third and Scot Masters in second to win $341,854 and the bracelet. Song’s previous best WSOP finish came last summer when he finished 7th in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event.

Masters earned $211,177 as the runner-up while Laplante pocked $154,268, his fourth six-figure WSOP score. All came in events with a buy-in of $1,500 or less.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Stephen Song – $341,854
  2. Scot Masters – $211,177
  3. Ryan Laplante – $154,268
  4. Renato Kaneoya – $113,712
  5. Sevak Mikaiel – $84,581
  6. Dominic Coombe – $63,491
  7. Pedro Ingles – $48,101
  8. Vegard Ropstad – $36,783

Dario Sammartino Leads $10,000 HORSE Final Table

Dario Sammartino picked up some heat on Day 2 of the $10,000 HORSE event and carried that momentum through Day 3 to end up with the chip lead with just seven players left. Sammartino bagged up 5,030,000 and sits comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.

Craig Chait sits second with 1,630,000 with Scott Clements the only other player with more than 1,000,000 at 1,355,000. Greg Mueller, Daniel Ospina, Mikhail Semin, and Matthew Gonzalez round out the rest of the field.

Some of the players eliminated on Thursday included Justin Bonomo, Brian Hastings, Anthony Zinno, Marco Johnson, and Jen Harman. This is Harman’s first cash in this event.

The final table begins at Noon PT.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Dario Sammartino – 5,030,000
  2. Craig Chait – 1,630,000
  3. Scott Clements – 1,355,000
  4. Greg Mueller – 985,000
  5. Daniel Ospina – 985,000
  6. Mikhail Semin – 215,000
  7. Matthew Gonzales – 130,000

Gary Bolden Leads Record-Breaking $1,000 PLO

Just 58 players remain in contention for the bracelet and $236,673 first place prize money in the largest $1,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event in WSOP history. Gary Bolden leads with 1,700,000 after Day 2.

Gregory Donatelli (1,500,063) and Anton Morgenstern (1,350,000) round out the top three.

The day started with 309 players still remaining and just 229 set to cash. Once the bubble burst, another 171 players were eliminated including Joao Vieira, Jake Schwartz, Ismael Bojang, Chris Moorman, Martin Kozlov, Joao Simao, Erik Seidel, Matt Stout, and Jon Turner. Current WSOP Player of the Year leader Daniel Zack also picked up another cash, his seventh, and more POY points.

The remaining players return at Noon and are scheduled to play down to a winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Gary Bolden – 1,700,000
  2. Gregory Donatelli – 1,500,063
  3. Anton Morgenstern – 1,350,000
  4. Erik Wilcke – 1,332,000
  5. Ryan Goindoo – 1,211,000
  6. Luis Zedan – 1,208,000
  7. Dan Martin – 1,000,000
  8. Ken Fishman – 929,000
  9. Ryan Robinson – 906,000
  10. Nathaniel Wachtel – 829,000

Upeshka De Silva On Top of $3,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed

Upeshka De Silva started Day 2 of the $4,000 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed event second in chips and managed to spend the day improving his position. De Silva bagged up the chip lead with 1,965,000 with just 20 players left in the tournament.

Nicholas Howard is in second with 1,700,000 and Thomas Cazayous is third with 1,690,000.

140 players started the day with chips, but through 10 levels of play 120 of them were eliminated including 26 who went home with nothing to show for their efforts. Jeremy Ausmus, James Obst, Daniel Negreanu, Anton Wigg, Dan Ott, Chris Ferguson, Blair Hinkle, Ben Heath, Kane Kalas, Joe Cada all busted on Day 2 after picking up a cash.

Day 3 begins at 2 PM PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Upeshka De Silva – 1,965,000
  2. Nicholas Howard – 1,700,000
  3. Thomas Cazayous – 1,690,000
  4. Wojciech Barzantny – 1,300,000
  5. Veerab Zakarian – 1,100,000
  6. Josh Weiss – 940,000
  7. Jan Bednar – 770,000
  8. Yashell Doddanavar – 685,000
  9. Angel Guillen – 670,000
  10. Paul Pires Trigo – 600,000

Seniors Event Draws Nearly 6,000 Players

Thursday marked the beginning of another busy week at the WSOP as the Seniors Event brought 5,917 players from the 50+ set into the Rio. After playing 10 60-minute levels, only 1,786 players still have a shot at the bracelet with Adilson Moraes leading the way.

The event drew two fewer players than it did in 2018, when it set the record for largest seniors event ever.

While the event often draws recreational players from around the world, a number of notable names managed to work their magic and finish Day 1 with chips. David Pham, Victor Ramdin, Farzad Bonyadi, Tom McCormick, Stan Jablonski, Barbara Enright, Allyn Shulman, Don Zewin, Layne Flack, Scott Lazar, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem, Neil Blumenfield, Greg Raymer, Chris Ferguson, Billy Baxter, and Jack McClelland are all headed into Day 2.

Former #1-ranked PocketFiver Cliff Josephy also managed to make it to Day 2.

Phil Hellmuth also played but was unable to make it to Day 2.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Adilson Moraes – 379,200
  2. Albert Halfon – 361,700
  3. Ravinder Bedi – 321,800
  4. Ronald Larsen – 289,900
  5. Mark Kroon – 274,400
  6. Anthony Martin – 273,700
  7. Cristobal Romano – 267,500
  8. Yue Du – 266,800
  9. Danut Chisu – 264,000

Three-time Bracelet Winner Benny Glaser Leads $1,500 Triple Draw After Day 1

While the seniors were filling most of the tables on Thursday, a number of the better mixed game players entered the $1,500 Triple Draw event. Benny Glaser, who won this event in 2015 for the first of his three WSOP bracelets, finished Day 1 with 79,500 and the chip lead.

He’s followed closely by Jared Bleznick, Jeffrey Shea, Penh Lo, Robert Campbell, and Frederic Moss.

The event drew 467 players, 111 more than it did last summer. Only 139 survived to see Day 2 and just 71 will finish in the money.

Some of the notables that managed to advance were Nick Schulman, Daniel Negreanu, Ismael Bojang, Yuval Bronshtein, Frankie O’Dell, Phil Hellmuth, James Obst, Brian Hastings, and Daniel Strelitz.

Day 2 starts at 2 PM PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Benny Glaser – 79,500
  2. Jared Bleznick – 75,700
  3. Jeffrey Shea – 72,900
  4. Penh Lo – 72,600
  5. Robert Campbell – 72,000
  6. Frederic Moss – 70,600
  7. Brett Bader – 69,000
  8. Duncan Kirk – 68,400
  9. Owais Ahmed – 64,100
  10. Scott Bohlman – 63,000

Dan Zack Continues to Lead WSOP POY Race; Stephen Song Enters Conversation

Dan Zack picked up his seventh cash of the summer on Thursday to extend his lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race but he’s got some new competition occupying the #2 spot. After winning the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event, Stephen Song added 1,105.4 points to his total to move to #2.

POSITION PLAYER POINTS
1 Dan Zack 1864.94
2 Stephen Song 1503.76
3 John Gorsuch 1431.95
4 Daniel Strelitz 1408.47
5 Isaac Baron 1396.76

 

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