WSOP What to Watch For: Seidel Spies Number Nine; Jarvis, Merson, Hellmuth Bracelet Hunting

June 12, 2014

Martin Harris

WSOP What to Watch For: Seidel Spies Number Nine; Jarvis, Merson, Hellmuth Bracelet Hunting 0001

Two tourneys are scheduled to play down to completion tonight at the 2014 World Series of Poker, with both promising some exciting final tables thanks to the stacked fields remaining in both events. Matt Jarvis returns to a big chip lead in Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em while Erik Seidel is positioned to make a run at a ninth career WSOP bracelet as he has the lead in Event #25: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low.

Meanwhile Phil Hellmuth is among those returning for Day 2 of Event #26: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em with two other events scheduled to kick off today as well.

Here’s your guide to today’s WSOP action:

Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

Just 17 remain from a starting field of 541 in Event #24, and Matt Jarvis carries a big chip lead to the tournament’s final scheduled day. Jarvis returns to a stack of 1,373,000, well ahead of his nearest challengers Jeremy Kottler (815,000) and Bryn Kenney (612,000).

Jarvis is one of three players out of the remaining 17 who have won bracelets before, and in fact the Vancouver-based pro won his in the 2011 edition of this same event when he topped a field of 732 players to earn a more than $800K first prize. Jarvis also cashed in Event #15: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em this year (finishing 37th).

As he explained to our Remko Rinkema yesterday, Jarvis spends most of his time playing short-handed cash games, sit-n-gos, and tourneys, so besides having a nice chip advantage Jarvis also brings a wealth of relevant experience to today’s last day of play.

The other two players left in the field with WSOP gold are Greg Merson (currently in 11th position) and Kory Kilpatrick (short-stacked in 15th). Besides winning the 2012 WSOP Main Event, Merson also won a six-handed NLHE tourney that same year, a $10K buy-in version. Kilpatrick meanwhile won his first WSOP bracelet last week in the Event #20: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, an event that also required him to demonstrate some short-handed prowess as Day 2 had players play a four-handed table on their way to the final.

Other notables still gunning for first career bracelets in Event #24 — and the hefty $622,998 first-place prize up top — include Andrew Lichtenberger, Byron Kaverman, Pierre Neuville, Mustapha Kanit, Griffin Benger, Pratyush Buddiga, and Amanda Musumeci.

Start checking the Event #24 live updates at 1 p.m. PDT today as this one looks as though it should produce a stellar final table worth following.

Event #25: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low

Of course, many will also want to follow the last scheduled day of play in Event #25 where Erik Seidel returns to the chip lead with 18 players remaining. Seidel returns to a stack of 444,000, with Mike Leah (374,000), John Kabbaj (326,000), and Chris Reslock (243,000) next in line in the counts.

With eight bracelets already, Seidel could tie Phil Ivey and Johnny Moss for fourth on the all-time list should he win a ninth one today. Seidel’s last bracelet win came in 2007 in a $5K NL 2-7 Draw event with rebuys. He’s collected more than WSOP 30 cashes since then, with this tournament marking his 85th cash overall to place him second behind Phil Hellmuth’s leading total of 102.

Seidel has also made 35 career WSOP final tables (fourth on the all-time list) with eight of those coming since his last bracelet win seven years ago. His nearest miss since then was a runner-up finish in a €2,200 buy-in NLHE event at the 2013 WSOP Europe.

In addition to Leah, Kabbaj, and Reslock, there are still a number of other formidable foes left for Seidel to outlast, though, including Thomas Keller, 2010 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event champion Tyson Marks, Joe Tehan, Tom Schneider, Robert Mizrachi, Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, Konstantin Puchkov, Owais Ahmed, and Matt Glantz.

In addition to the bracelet there’s a $267,327 first-place prize due to go to the champion. They start back at 2 p.m. local time today which is when the Event #25 live updates will resume as well.

Event #26: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

A field of 1,594 played down to 178 players in Event #26 yesterday, meaning they are just seven eliminations away from the money bubble bursting and the $2,151,900 prize pool beginning to be divided. Mark Dube returns to the chip lead today with Dan Smith, Ami Barer, Travell Thomas, Tom Alner, Martin Finger, and Mike “Timex” McDonald all also returning to decent-sized stacks. The winner will earn a nice payday of $408,953 for his or her efforts.

Phil Hellmuth also returns for Day 2 of Event #26 to just-below-average chips, although as we know whenever Hellmuth cashes in an event he tends to stick around a good while longer. Of his 102 career WSOP cashes, he’s incredibly made 49 final tables, including a second-place finish this year in Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz. Hellmuth also just missed another final table last week when he took eighth in Event #15, the $3K six-max NLHE event.

The tournament restarts at 1 p.m. today. Start checking the Event #26 live updates then to see who makes the money and then who makes it to tomorrow’s final day of play.

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

Kicking off today’s schedule will be Event #27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E., a popular event that tends to draw large fields.

Last year Tom Schneider won this event, one of two H.O.R.S.E. bracelets he won in 2013 to bring his career total to four. Schneider bested an 862-entrant field to win and earn a $258,960 payday.

They will start cycling through limit hold’em, Omaha hi-low, razz, stud, and stud hi-low at noon PDT, which is when the Event #27 live updates will begin as well.

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

Finally later in the afternoon will come the Event #28: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship, the sixth $10K “Championship” event of the 2014 WSOP thus far.

It will be interesting to see what kind of turnout this event attracts and how the total compares to other $10K events thus far this summer as well as to the 195 entrants who played in the $5K PLH event in 2013 won by Davidi Kitai.

Start refreshing the Event #28 live updates at 4 p.m. Vegas time today to see both how many play this one as well as which of the many notables sure to populate the Event #28 field show up to play.

Here again is the full schedule for Day 17 of the 2014 World Series of Poker (all times PDT):