WSOP What to Watch For: Tommy Hang Leads $10K H.O.R.S.E.; Negreanu, Bonomo, ElkY Still in Hunt

June 10, 2014

Martin Harris

WSOP What to Watch For: Tommy Hang Leads $10K H.O.R.S.E.; Negreanu, Bonomo, ElkY Still in Hunt 0001

Today starts the third week of the 2014 World Series of Poker — already (!). Tuesday will be a day of beginnings and ends at the WSOP, with two new events getting started and three others coming to conclusions.

Hundreds of hopefuls will be collecting around the tables at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino this afternoon to take part in Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em starting early on and Event #25: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low getting underway later in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, just a few handfuls of players are left in three other events, all of which are scheduled to play down to winners tonight. Read on for the full skinny:

Event #21: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em

A total of 2,043 came on Sunday, then just 168 were still with chips to return on Day 2. Today just 16 remain with a chance to claim the Event #21: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em bracelet, with 2011 November Niner Badih “Bob” Bounahra leading the counts to start play as the only player with more than 1 million chips.

Hailing from tiny Belize in central America, Bounahra made history three years ago as the first from his country to make a WSOP Main Event final table where he eventually finished seventh. Short-stacked to start that final table, Bounahra will have the edge to begin play today although faces some stiff competition in online star Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen (currently second in chips) and Dominik Nitsche (in third).

It was less than three weeks ago when Nitsche topped a field of 126 to win the 2014 WSOP National Championship in Atlantic City to win his second career WSOP bracelet.

While Nitsche is the only one of the remaining 16 to have won WSOP gold before, other tough challengers returning today include Jeff Gross with nearly $2 million in career tourney earnings, EPT8 Copenhagen Main Event champion and PokerStars Team Online member Mickey Petersen, and longtime pro Dan Alspach.

The final day of play gets started at 1 p.m. PDT today, with the Event #21 live updates cranking up shortly thereafter.

Event #22: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

The Event #22: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship predictably saw numerous decorated pros fill seats around the tables to make up the 200-entrant field, and after two days of play Tommy Hang of Seattle leads the final 21.

This makes two dozen WSOP cashes for Hang who has made five WSOP final tables before, including a runner-up finish in a previous H.O.R.S.E. event. However, for Hang to earn his first bracelet he’ll have to overcome a field containing more players who have WSOP wins than don’t.

A total of 11 of the 21 players returning for Day 3 of Event #22 have won at the WSOP before, led by Daniel Negreanu with six bracelets; “Miami” John Cernuto with three; Max Pescatori, Nick Schulman, Bill Chen with two apiece; and Randy Ohel, Richard Ashby, David Benyamine, Justin Bonomo, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and Nick Kost each with one.

Play starts back at 2 p.m. for this one, with yet another “Championship”-worthy final table sure to emerge later tonight. Start checking the Event #22 live updates then.

WSOP What to Watch For: Tommy Hang Leads K H.O.R.S.E.; Negreanu, Bonomo, ElkY Still in... 101 — Doug "WCGRider" Polk currently leads Event #23

Event #23: $1,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em

They raced down from 1,473 entrants to a final table of nine yesterday during the first day of the two-day Event #23: $1,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em. Thirty-minute levels helped ensure such rapid attrition would occur, and while the levels will be a little longer for today’s final table at 40 minutes, they’ll still be quicker than the usual one-hour levels for most bracelet events.

Doug “WCGRider” Polk returns to the chip lead to start play today, with Tony “wwwBTHEREcom” Gregg the other name from the final nine that leaps out at first notice. Gregg, of course, earned a more than $4.8 million payday when he won last year’s $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Rollers event.

None of other Event #23 final tablists has won a bracelet before. Of the group, Andy Philachack (in second position) sports an impressive $1 million in combined earnings at the WSOP and on the WSOP Circuit. Dash Dudley (currently in fifth position) has 14 other WSOP cashes, too — and an excellent name for headlines should he capture this year’s turbo title.

They begin at 1 p.m. local time today, so don’t be too late getting over to check the Event #23 live updates as the final table may be over before you get there.

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

As mentioned, two new events get going today, the first of which is the popular $5K six-handed NLHE event that drew 516 entrants a year ago with Erick Lindgren winning his second career WSOP bracelet and a $606,317 first prize.

This is actually the first $5,000 buy-in event on the schedule for 2014, so it should prove interesting to see how many take part. Event #24 is also the first to get going today at 12 noon local time, so find the Event #24 live updates and start your day-long page-refreshing there.

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

Also starting later today will be the $2,500 buy-in Event #25 in which players will alternate between eight hands of Omaha hi-low and eight hand of seven-card stud hi-low.

Mike Gorodinsky is the defending champion in this one after he topped a field of 374 last year to win a $216,988 first prize, following Oleksii Kovalchuk and Owais Ahmed as recent winners of the event.

Phil Ivey won this one back in 2009, and Norman Chad is a frequent participant in it as well, having made a final table to finish sixth in 2012. Tune into the Event #25 live updates starting at 4 p.m. PDT to see who shows up this year.

Here again is a rundown of today’s full schedule at the 2014 WSOP: