2014 World Series of Poker Day 7: Graner Carries Big Lead to "Millionaire Maker" Final Table
The first week of the 2014 World Series of Poker ended with four different events in action on Day 7. While no bracelets were won on Monday, two events played down to their final two tables, with the huge Event #8: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em field also working all of the way down to a final nine. Stephen Graner (pictured) enjoys a big chip lead with nine left in Event #8 and is thus best positioned to claim the $1,319,587 first prize awaiting the winner.
Event #8: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em
After three days of play, just nine players remain from the 7,977 entries in the “Millionaire Maker,” with an extra fourth day of play unsurprisingly added today to determine a winner.
Yuliyan Kolev and Jonathan Dimmig shared the chip lead among the final 178 players to start Day 3, but while Kolev would be out by mid-afternoon to finish in 94th place ($10,445), Dimmig would maintain his stack and survive to claim a seat at today’s final table.
As the day progressed the field was whittled down to two tables, with Matt Salsberg (81th, $12,491), Dwyte Pilgrim (74th, $14,968), Jonathan Gray (68th, $18,091), Rhys Jones (62nd, $21,968), Chris Demaci (58th, $21,968), John Racener (42nd, $32,952), Brian Yoon (30th, $40,706), Curt Kohlberg (29th, $40,706), and Thomas Fuller (27th, $50,614) among the eliminated.
Meanwhile Stephen Graner of Henderson, Nevada emerged as chip leader, and would knock out Stewart Newman (16th, $63,321) and Carter Kessler (11th, $100,689) on his way to building a massive 12 million-plus chip stack representing about a third of chips in play with nine players left.
In addition to Dimmig, Andrew Teng and Maurice Hawkins are among the challengers with whom Graner will contend today as they fight for that huge first prize.
Event #8 Chip Counts After Day 3
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Graner | 12,005,000 |
| 2 | James Duke | 4,645,000 |
| 3 | Andrew Teng | 4,375,000 |
| 4 | Andrew Dick | 4,185,000 |
| 5 | Bradley Anderson | 3,850,000 |
| 6 | Jonathan Dimmig | 2,870,000 |
| 7 | Maurice Hawkins | 1,960,000 |
| 8 | Jeff Coburn | 1,660,000 |
| 9 | Jason Johnson | 1,245,000 |
Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Meanwhile Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em has now played down from 1,940 starters to just 12. Frank Patti of Kansas City, Missouri is the chip leader heading into today’s final day with 1,197,000, just ahead of Californian Jorge Vergara’s 1,159,000.
There were 161 runners still alive at the beginning of Day 2 in this one yesterday, and as the field shrunk Keven Stammen (79th, $3,387), Thiago Nishijima (72nd, $3,893), Mitch Schock (67th, $3,893), Mark Radoja (59th, $4,539), Amnon Filippi (51st, $5,360), Faraz Jaka (47th, $5,360), Randal Flowers (40th, $6,390), Steve Gross (35th, $7,717), Brent Wheeler (34th, $7,717), Owen Crowe (30th, $7,717), start-of-Day-2 leader Adam Geyer (20th, $9,428), 2011 November Niner Bob Bounahra (17th, $11,645), and Simeon Naydenov ($14,579) were among those sent to the rail.
Finally Canadian singer and manger (and husband of Celine Dion) Rene Angelil was eliminated in 13th ($14,579) after losing the last of his short stack on the night’s next-to-last hand, and the final 12 bagged up for the night.
A couple of online stars remain as well in Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen and Dylan “ImaLucSac” Lynde among the final group who will be vying for the bracelet and $323,125 first prize.
Event #9 Chip Counts After Day 2
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Patti | 1,197,000 |
| 2 | Jorge Vergara | 1,159,000 |
| 3 | Nghiahiep Nguyen | 687,000 |
| 4 | David Inselberg | 458,000 |
| 5 | Jeffrey Smith | 431,000 |
| 6 | Chris Hunichen | 404,000 |
| 7 | Vinny Pahuja | 341,000 |
| 8 | Dylan Linde | 311,000 |
| 9 | Christian Haugo | 277,000 |
| 10 | John Fontana | 255,000 |
| 11 | Brad Libson | 232,000 |
| 12 | Cornel Medel | 116,000 |
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Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Championship
They played down to the final 18 on Day 2 of Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Championship yesterday, stopping with the bursting of the cash bubble as two-time Omaha Hi-Low bracelet winner Frankie O’Dell finished in 19th to be the last player eliminated shy of the cash. When the chips were bagged, the Russian Viatcheslav Ortynskiy had the most of them with 862,000.
While O’Dell was knocked out, many other bracelet holders still remain among the final 18, with Eli Elezra, Richard Ashby, Perry Friedman, Andrew Brown, Brock Parker, and Jeff Lisandro all remaining in the hunt for more gold.
The entire prize pool of $1,673,200 is still to be divided, with $443,407 of it reserved for the winner. Here are the full counts of those returning to action today:
Event #10 Chip Counts After Day 2
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viatcheslav Ortynskiy | 862,000 |
| 2 | Eli Elezra | 535,000 |
| 3 | Richard Ashby | 527,000 |
| 4 | Andrew Brown | 487,000 |
| 5 | Dan Kelly | 425,000 |
| 6 | Shirley Rosario | 375,000 |
| 7 | Ismael Bojang | 327,000 |
| 8 | Steve Lustig | 319,000 |
| 9 | Ofer Mor | 263,000 |
| 10 | Doug Polk | 231,000 |
| 11 | Greg Jamison | 192,000 |
| 12 | Robert Stevanovski | 165,000 |
| 13 | Melissa Burr | 161,000 |
| 14 | Perry Friedman | 134,000 |
| 15 | Thomas Koral | 120,000 |
| 16 | Jeff Lisandro | 91,000 |
| 17 | Brock Parker | 90,000 |
| 18 | James McPherson | 56,000 |
Event #11: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
Finally Event #11: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em got underway on Monday with 1,587 players taking part and building a $2,142,450 prize pool between them. The top 162 finishers will be dividing those riches, and they managed to play all of the way down to the cash and a little further last night as just 134 players remain for today’s Day 2.
Steven Hensley ended the night as the chip leader with 184,200, with Noah Schwartz, Jason Wheeler, Erik Cajelais, Olivier Busquet, and Will Failla among the those with above average chips going forward.
Event #11 Top Ten Chip Counts After Day 2
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Hensley | 184,200 |
| 2 | Nicholas Immekus | 159,900 |
| 3 | Christopher MacNeil | 147,000 |
| 4 | Luis Camprio | 146,000 |
| 5 | Noah Schwartz | 139,900 |
| 6 | Blake Whittington | 135,400 |
| 7 | Jason Wheeler | 119,200 |
| 8 | Niel Mittelman | 113,100 |
| 9 | Dean Buchanan | 110,500 |
| 10 | Tanner Millen | 107,300 |
On Tap
As noted, Tuesday will be highlighted by three different events coming to a conclusion (Events #8, #9, and #10), while three other events will be in action as well. While Event #11: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em plays down to a final table (or close to it), two new events getting underway today, Event #12: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em and Event #13: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship.
Here’s the full schedule for Tuesday:
- 12:00 p.m. — Event #12: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em (1 of 3)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #8: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em (Day 4 of 4)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Day 3 of 3)
- 1:00 p.m. — Event #11: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em (Day 2 of 3)
- 2:00 p.m. — Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Championship (Day 3 of 3)
- 4:00 p.m. — Event #13: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (1 of 3)
Video of the Day
After Phil Hellmuth suggested to her that Brandon Cantu is a very underrated player, our Sarah Grant set out to find out if others shared Hellmuth’s opinion about Cantu. Take a look:
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