2014 World Series of Poker Day 29: Jordan Morgan, Will Givens Earn Gold; $50K PPC Nears Cash

June 25, 2014

Two bracelets were claimed as Week 5 of the 2014 World Series of Poker got going on Tuesday, marking yet another exciting day of poker at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

During the afternoon Jordan Morgan picked up his first career WSOP bracelet by winning Event #44: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, then the evening saw Will Givens grabbing his first as well after capturing the title in Event #45: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em.

Meanwhile among the other three events in action the Event #46: $50,000 Poker Players Championship moved through another day of play with the elite field whittling down to just 22 players, eight shy of the cash, with Abe Mosseri the current pace-setter.

Here’s a look at the highlights from all five bracelet events in action on Tuesday:

Event #44: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

After three days ending with six hours’ worth of heads-up play, Morgan and Evan McNiff returned Tuesday afternoon to almost even stacks to continue their marathon duel in Event #44. They’d take just about an hour more to decide it, with Morgan having chipped up slightly to have a small advantage when the final hand took place.

It was the 253rd hand of heads-up play, and 331st of a final table that had begun way back before the dinner break on Monday. Following a McNiff min-raise from the button, Morgan pushed and McNiff called. Morgan had 6♦6♣ while McNiff tabled A♣K♦, and after the board ran out J♣3♠4♠4♣9♣, Morgan had finally bested his last opponent in the tournament’s 1,914-player field to win.

As noted in yesterday’s “WSOP What to Watch For,” this marked Morgan’s first event played this summer after a decade’s worth of coming to the WSOP. The longtime online pro known as “iMsoLucky0” had made a couple of final tables before, but as noted this marks his first WSOP bracelet.

Event #44: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results

Event #45: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Just 11 returned from a starting field of 1,841 for Tuesday’s final day of Event #45, and after about seven hours’ worth of play Will Givens emerged with all of the chips and the bracelet. It marked a second $1K NLHE final table in two weeks for Givens after his fourth-place finish in Event #33: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em.

Following the rapid knockouts of Terik Brown in 11th and Kim Ng in 10th, both of whom earned $17,530 for their finishes, the official final table began with Givens having assumed the chip lead, though start-of-Day-3 leader Angela Prada-Moed would seize it back as more players fell, among them Loren Klein in ninth. Like Givens, Prada-Moed, too, was looking to improve upon a fourth-place finish in a WSOP event after notching that result in the Ladies event in 2012.

Eventually Givens would knock out Patrick Curzio in fifth then Prada-Moed took care of David Hass in fourth to set up three-handed play between themselves and the shorter stack, WSOP Circuit grinder Paul Sokoloff.

During that stretch Givens had taken back the top spot and would pressure the other two successfully before finally eliminating Sokoloff when the latter’s A♥9♥ failed to improve versus the 7♦7♥ of Givens.

With a better than 3-to-1 chip advantage to start heads-up play, it would take 30 more hands to decide it. The final hand saw Prada-Moed call a preflop button open by Givens, then move all in after a J♦A♣8♣ flop with Givens calling. Givens had flopped second pair with K♠J♣ while Prada-Moed had a flush draw with Q♣4♣. The turn was the A♦ and river the 6♥, and Givens had won.

Event #45: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results

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Event #46: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

A total of 55 survivors from a starting field of 102 returned for Day 3 of the five-day $50K Poker Players Championship yesterday, and after five more 100-minute levels just 22 are left led by Abe Mosseri who has created some distance between himself and the chase pack currently comprising Event #3: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha winner Brandon Shack-Harris, Matt Glantz, Robert Mizrachi, and Frank Kassela.

Also still in the hunt to make the 14 and claim part of the tourney’s $4,896,000 prize pool — and shoot for the $1,517,767 first prize — are Scott Seiver (in sixth), a pair of online stars Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion (seventh) and James “Andy McLEOD” Obst (eighth), and Melissa Burr (12th) who is looking for a fourth WSOP cash this summer after having already made two final tables and finished ninth in Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealers Choice. Burr is also trying to become the first woman ever to cash in the nine-year history of the $50K event.

At the bottom of the counts and in danger of missing the cash are start-of-day-3 chip leader Jason Mercier (in 19th position) and three players who have made $50K final tables before, John Hennigan (20th), David Oppenheim (21st), and Vladimir Shchemelev (22nd).

Those not surviving Day 3 included the last remaining former $50K winner in 2009 $50K H.O.R.S.E. champion David Bach, Phil Ivey, Eli Elezra, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, John Juanda, Shaun Deeb, and Doyle Brunson.

Event #46: $50,000 Poker Players Championship End of Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts

Event #47: $1,500 Ante Only No-Limit Hold’em

Ryan D’Angelo returned as the chip leader with 80 left in Event #47: $1,500 Ante Only No-Limit Hold’em yesterday, all that remained from the 714 who began the event. D’Angelo would keep the lead for much of Day 2, only relinquishing it late as the final nine-handed table was set.

Jeremy Joseph ended the night in the top spot of the counts, with Simeon Naydenov in second position and D’Angelo coming back in fifth. Adam “Roothlus” Levy (in sixth) and Rhys Jones (in seventh) will also form part of Wednesday’s final table.

The money bubble burst early on Day 2 as the final 72 were paid, with Event #33 winner Dutch Boyd (68th, $2,718), 2013 WSOP Main Event Champion Ryan Riess (63rd, $3,180), and Erik Seidel (59th, $3,180) among the early exits. Following them a little later were two-time 2014 WSOP bracelet winner George Danzer (48th, $3,759), Phil Hellmuth picking up his record-extending 105th WSOP cash (30th, $5,397), Event #43: $1,500 Limit Hold’em winner Dan Kelly (27th, $6,573), Daniel Negreanu (25th, $6,573), Max Silver (23rd, $6,573), Jason Somerville (21st, $6,573), and Maria Ho (19th, $6,573).

Manig Loeser (12th), Antoine Saout (11th), and Brendan Taylor (10th) were the last bustouts of the night, each taking away $12,694 for their efforts. A first prize of $212,093 awaits today’s Event #47 winner.

Event #47: $1,500 Ante Only No-Limit Hold’em End of Day 2 Chip Counts

Event #48: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low

Also in play yesterday was Event #48: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low, attracting 991 players to best last year’s total of 936 for this same event. That group created a total prize pool of $1,337,850, scheduled to be divided among the top 117 finishers with $270,992 going to the eventual winner.

After one day of play it was Cale Maclean leading the 152 survivors after building a stack of more than 130,000 chips, with Yueqi Zhu in second position with just under 100,000.

Jeff Madsen (in fifth), Michel Abecassis (sixth), Bryce Yockey (eighth), Bryan Campanello (ninth), David Chiu (12th), and Tom Schneider (13th) also ended the night with big stacks.

Event #48: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

On Tap

With the final table set in Event #47 (the “Ante Only” event), they’ll be playing down to a winner today. Event #46 (the $50K PPC) and #48 (the PLO Hi-Low) will continue to march toward Thursday finales. And two new events get underway today — Event #49: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em and Event #50: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix.

Here’s the full schedule of bracelet events for today (all times PDT):

• 12:00 p.m. — Event #49: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Day 1 of 4)
• 1:00 p.m. — Event #47: $1,500 Ante Only No-Limit Hold’em (Day 3 of 3)
• 1:00 p.m. — Event #48: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low (Day 2 of 3)
• 2:00 p.m. — Event #46: $50,000 Poker Players Championship (Day 4 of 5)
• 4:00 p.m. — Event #50: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix (Day 1 of 3)

Video of the Day

As mentioned, Melissa Burr is one of the 22 remaining in the $50K PPC, and when play completed last night she spoke with Remko Rinkema about today’s money bubble and the prospects of becoming the first woman to cash in the $50K’s storied history.

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• Tags

  WSOP Jordan Morgan Will Givens Evan McNiff Angela Prada-Moed Abe Mosseri Brandon Shack-Harris Matt Glantz Melissa Burr Jeremy Joseph Ryan D'Angelo Cale Maclean Yueqi Zhu Jeff Madsen

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  Jeff MadsenMatt GlantzAbe MosseriJordan MorganYueqi ZhuBrandon Shack-Harris