2014 World Series of Poker Day 19: Tommy Hang, Alex Bilokur Cruise to Bracelet Wins

June 15, 2014

Two more bracelets were awarded on Day 19 of the2014 World Series of Poker. Tommy Hang and Alex Bilokur put on masterful displays at their respective final tables, each collecting their first WSOP bracelet along with huge six-figure scores.

Getting underway on Saturday was the highly-anticipated Event #32: $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em, which attracted a huge field littered with the best poker players in the world. Here’s a rundown of what happened in all six events during Day 19 at the 2014 WSOP:

Event #27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

High-stakes mixed-games cash player Tommy Hang won Event #27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Saturday evening, denying Jim Collopy his second WSOP bracelet and in turn earning his first. On top of adding his first piece of WSOP jewelry to his resume, Hang also pocketed $230,744 in first-place prize money.

Day 3 of the tournament began with 15 players returning to the felt with hopes of becoming the next champion. Coming into the day, storylines of different varieties existed, such as Dutch Boyd going for his third WSOP bracelet, Adam Friedman hoping to run up his short stack to earn his second, and David "ODB" Baker attempting to further prove his mixed game prowess by earning his second piece of gold.

Unfortunately for those three players, Hang had different plans. Only Baker reached the final table, and he was the first player sent to the rail. Baker was eliminated by Joe Villella during the early goings of the final table and he took home $19,338 in prize money for his efforts. Following Baker out the door was Stewart Yancik. During a limit hold'em round, Yancik was crippled after running his pocket queens into Hang's A♥5♦ on an ace-high flop. He was left short-stacked and was eliminated from play soon after.

Chris George fell in sixth place, getting the last of his stack in the middle during a round of stud. George finished the hand with two pair, but was ultimately unable to beat Villella's trip kings. Despite scoring this elimination, Villella was the next player to fall. He was eliminated by Collopy in the next hold'em round and collected $47,905 for his finish.

Despite doubling up several times and riding out the short stack, Brandon Guss was the next player to exit. Shortly thereafter, one of the most pivotal hands of the final table played out. It was a three-way hand between Hang, Collopy, and Kristan Lord that was capped on third street. Lord ultimately found himself all in against two opponents and unable to showdown the best hand. Hang and Collopy played for a side pot and each player ended up making two pair. Hang's were superior, however, and he was awarded the pot and a large chip advantage going into heads up play. Lord, on the other hand, was eliminated in third place for $96,894.

Hang held an early lead in the heads up match and quickly made work of most of Collopy's stack. Throughout the battle, Collopy staged a few comebacks, but was never able to bring his stack back over one million chips. During the final hand of the tournament, Hang drilled his gutshot straight on the river to crack Collopy's pocket kings. Collopy became the runner-up for $142,533. Hang, on the other hand, was awarded his first gold bracelet.

Final Table Payouts

Event #28: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship

Alex Bilokur dominated the final table of Event #28: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em, completely steamrolling heads-up play as he turned a nine-to-one chip deficit into $398,567 and his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet. Bilokur already sported a solid poker CV with nearly $3 million in tournament cashes, including a victory in a PCA High Roller event in 2012. Now, the Russian has added the pinnacle of poker tournament accomplishments to that list of successes.

Day 3 began with 10 players and that quickly turned into nine when Dan Shak ran his aces into Chino Rheem's set. Rheem held the chip lead as the official final table began.

Short stacks Barny Boatman and Richard Lyndaker bowed out soon afterward, and Pratyush Buddiga was the victim of a set-over-set confrontation against Ismael Bojang to bust in seventh. Todd Brunson then exited in sixth when he couldn't improve an open-ended straight draw and overcards against a smaller pair.

Rheem was unable to hang onto his chip lead, bleeding off chips until he busted in fourth just after Ismael Bojang took fifth. Rheem flopped top two but sent his stack over to the bottom set of Matt O'Donnell on a K♠Q♠J♣ flop. It looked like that was going to be the pot of the tournament, as O'Donnell had his last two opponents covered multiple times over.

When O'Donnell ousted Alex Venovski in third, it looked like heads-up play was a mere formality as O'Donnell had just over 4.3 million to Bilokur's just under 500,000. However, Bilokur completely took over the match with a small-ball style, continually limping buttons and inducing aggression from O'Donnell when Bilokur held superior hands. After just over 100 hands, he'd claimed the championship.

Final Table Payouts

Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em

At 1:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, 209 poker players returned to their seats in the Amazon Room with the hopes of reaching the money and then progressing to the third day of action in Event #29.

The dream of cashing was dashed for 92 players who fell by the wayside before the money was awarded. Some of those big names earning some money from Event #29 included recent bracelet winner Kyle Cartwright, Amanda Musumeci, Tony Dunst, Griffin Benger, Will Failla, Scotty Nguyen, Roberto Romanello, David Sands, and former Main Event champion Jerry Yang.

After 10 hour-long levels, only 20 players remained in contention for the $536,768 first place prize and the WSOP bracelet that comes with it.

Leading those 20 back into battle at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon is Jamie Armstrong who ended the night with a tournament leading stack of 765,000. Hot on Armstrong’s heels is Barry Hutter who has been among the chip leaders since this tournament started. Hutter will begin Day 3 with 731,000 chips.

Other big stacks and notables include Chris Johnson (665,000), Sam Cohen (654,000), Rep Porter (463,000), Matt Salsberg (447,000), David Benefield, (355,000), Justin Oliver (284,000) and William Reynolds (223,000).

The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on the floor throughout Day 3 as the tournament plays down to a champion. Stay tuned for live updates throughout!

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Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low

After a long day on the felt, Day 2 of Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low came to a conclusion on Saturday with Eric Kurtzman leading the final 12 players.

Beginning the day with 109 players, action was fast paced with eliminations flying out the door until Ann Bloom folded down to just over an ante before being eliminated by Anthony Zinno to leave 64 players guaranteed a $2,603 payday.

Mike Watson (63rd), Hoyt Corkins (57th), Maria Ho (50th), Roland Israelashvili (40th), Matt Glantz (34th), Owais Ahmed (31st), Dylan Linde (23rd), Jesse Martin (19th) and Chris Wallace (16th) all found themselves on the rail but in the money as the day ended with just 12 players remaining.

Kurtzmann will lead the charge on Day 3 with an impressive 490,000-chip stack ahead of Calvin Anderson (356,000), Sanjay Pandya (307,000) and Joe Tehan (285,000). Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Ted Forrest, cash game specialist Melissa Burr and 2007 Aussie Millions runner-up Jimmy Fricke still remain in contention for the $190,538 first prize and coveted gold bracelet.

Be sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team from 2:00 p.m. (PDT) on Sunday as play down until just one remains - the Event #30 Champion!

Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em attracted 1,631 entries, creating a prize pool of $2,201,850. After 11 levels of play the field was trimmed down to 187, and leading the way on Day 1 was Jason Pritchard with 142,400. Other top stacks at the end of play were Kyle Weir (130,000), Guillame Fourcade (116,400), and Mike Del Vecchio (115,100).

Among the notables bagging up their stacks for Day 2 include Nenad Medic, Erik Cajelais, Alex Bolotin, Vinny Pahuja, and Lauren Kling.

Day 2 will resume on Sunday at 1 p.m. inside the Amazon Room. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all of Day 2’s big pots and bust outs.

Event #32: $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

Day 1 of Event #32: $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em is in the books, and leading the 98 survivors is Leonid Markin. Markin bagged 206,800 chips, most of which came in a failed bluff by Jonathan Jaffe. The two were heads up in a pot where Markin fired out a pot-sized bet on the flop, and Jaffe moved all in for roughly 90 big blinds holding queen-high and no draw. Markin called with pocket aces and held, dragging the 183,000-chip pot.

Joining Markin atop the counts were Ashton Griffin (162,300), Markus Gonsalves (145,900), Wai Kin Yong (141,100), and Philipp Gruissem (130,900). Griffin won a 100,000-chip race against Martin Finger in Level 9.

Also surviving the day were PokerNews Podcast cohost Jason Somerville, 2014 WSOP bracelet winners Doug Polk, George Danzer, andBrock Parker, and two players who ran very big bluffs and showed only the 2♦; Nick Schulman and David Williams.

Schulman bluffed Jaffe in Level 8, moving all in for less than a full raise on the river of a 7♠7♦5♦6♣J♥ board. After committing roughly 100 big blinds, Jaffe folded, and Schulman showed him the 2♦. Williams ran his bluff on Anthony Spinella during the final level of the night, check-raising all in on an A♥K♦Q♦K♣ board. Spinella folded, claiming to have a full house, and Williams also showed the 2♦.

Spinella and Jaffe were both eliminated in later hands. Jaffe ran the aforementioned failed bluff against Markin, while Spinella had his aces cracked then lost a race to Parker.

Event #32 attracted a total of 264 players – only 89 players more than the $25,000 variant held in 2013 - generating a total prize pool of $2,481,600. The top 30 finishers are all guaranteed a minimum of $17,793, each member of the six-handed official final table will pocket at least $91,670, and the winner will bank $670,041 along with the coveted gold bracelet.

Day 2 begins on Sunday at 2 p.m. PDT in the Amazon Room, and PokerNews will be on hand to bring you live updates straight from the tournament floor.

On Tap

Two events are scheduled to come to a close Sunday Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em and Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low. Another $1,000 no-limit hold'em tournament (Event #33) will begin at noon PDT, and Event #34: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud kicks off at 4 p.m. PDT. Here’s the full schedule of bracelet events for Saturday (all times PDT):

• 12:00 p.m. — Event #33: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em (Day 1 of 3)
• 1:00 p.m. — Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em (Day 2 of 3)
• 1:00 p.m. — Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em (Day 3 of 3)
• 2:00 p.m. — Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low (Day 3 of 3)
• 2:00 p.m. — Event #32: $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship (Day 2 of 3)`
• 4:00 p.m. — Event #34: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud (Day 1 of 3)

Video of the Day

Several of the feared German high-rollers made their way to Las Vegas in time for the $10,000 Six-Max Championship on Saturday. PokerNews' Remko Rinkema caught up with Philipp Gruissem to discuss his plans for the summer and whether he is preparing to play the BIG ONE for ONE DROP.

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