WSOP What to Watch For: David Williams Leads Omaha Hi-Low; Little One for One Drop Begins

July 02, 2014

Martin Harris

WSOP What to Watch For: David Williams Leads Omaha Hi-Low; Little One for One Drop Begins 0001

Things are starting to wind down during this sixth week of the 2014 World Series of Poker with the kickoff of the Main Event starting this Saturday. Meanwhile there are still a few more bracelets to be won, and today sees six different events in action for players still seeking to earn WSOP gold.

Here’s a rundown of all that’s happening today WSOP-wise at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

Event #58: $1,500 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold’em

Just 10 remain in Event #58: $1,500 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold’em, with Jared Jaffee (1,583,000) enjoying a big chip lead over nearest competitors Mark Herm (927,000) and Brandon Cantu (918,000).

There were 1,475 to begin this event which played nine-handed on Monday, then began six-handed on Tuesday before switching to four-handed with 24 left last night. They’ll continue with that format until four remain, then play out the finale as a heads-up tournament as dictated by the “mixed-max” format.

Jaffee seeks a first career WSOP bracelet to go along with his win last fall in the WPT Jacksonville bestbet Fall Poker Scramble. Herm looks to add a big live score to a long list of online wins. And Cantu seeks a third career bracelet after already having cashed six times and final-tabled one event this summer.

Also still in the hunt in Event #58 are Jeff Gross (sixth, 550,000) and Mike Watson (eighth, 388,000), each of whom also aims at picking up a first WSOP title to go along with significant previous tourney successes, with Gross sitting with over $2 million in career earnings and Watson over $7 million.

Play resumes at 1 p.m. PDT today, and while the tournament is scheduled to complete tomorrow it is possible they might move quickly enough to find a winner tonight. Follow the Event #58 live updates to see how this one turns out.

Event #59: $3,000 Omaha Hi-Low

Meanwhile they are down to 20 in Event #59: $3,000 Omaha Hi-Low, a tournament that is scheduled to play down to a winner today. 2004 WSOP Main Event runner-up David Williams leads all with an even 500,000 at the moment. Williams has his sights set on a second career bracelet after having won a $1,500 seven-card stud event in 2006, as he reported to his Twitter followers late last night:

In 19 hours I will win an omaha 8 or better bracelet. #WSOP2014 #dreamdeclaredeliver
— David Williams (@dwpoker)

Joe Mitchell (second, 406,000) will be Williams’s nearest challenger to start play today, with a number of notables still alive to battle as well for the $286,876 first prize.

The upper division includes Matt Glantz (third, 396,000), Scott Abrams (fifth, 254,000), Brett Richey (sixth, 249,000), Ismael Bojang (seventh, 238,000), and John D’Agostino (eighth, 209,000), and Melissa Burr (tied for 10th, 189,000). And among the shorter stacks one finds still more familiar names, among them Justin Bonomo (14th, 137,000), Don Zewin (15th, 100,000), and Mike Leah (19th, 36,000).

They pick back up at 2 p.m. local time in this one today, so start checking those Event #59 live updates then.

Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

The first day of play in Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em saw a big field of 2,563 sign up for the final $1,500 buy-in NLHE event of the summer. A total of 293 made it through to today, and since only the top 270 finishers make the cash the bursting of the bubble will be an early item of business on the Day 2 agenda.

Chris Kolla ended up the overnight chip leader after bagging up 130,300, with Yaron Zeev Malki (second, 126,000) and Ty Reiman (third, 125,400) both close to the top of the counts.

Looking down the list a few spots, one sees Cherish Andrews (ninth, 96,600), David Peters (19th, 83,300), Kurt Jewell (20th, 81,900), Tony Dunst (21st, 81,700), and Vinny Pahuja (22nd, 81,800) among those who will be returning to above average chips.

Day 2 begins at 1:00 p.m., which is when the Event #60 live updates will begin again as well. Check in then to see who makes the cash, then which players position themselves best for a shot at the bracelet and $614,248 first prize.

Event #61: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship

Also entering Day 2 today will be the Event #61: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship. Yesterday 102 starters played down to 58, with Ben Yu (first, 126,600), James Obst (second, 120,700), and Nikolay Losev (third, 113,000) coming back today to the biggest stacks of those who remain.

Others with decent-sized stacks to begin play today include Adam Friedman (fourth, 109,500), Jesse Martin (eighth, 92,900), Todd Brunson (eighth, 91,900), John Cernuto (11th, 87,600), Vladimir Shchemelev (12th, 83,400), and Henry Orenstein (13th, 82,300).

Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 2008, the 90-year-old Orenstein is credited with having invented the hole card camera used in televised poker. He also won a WSOP bracelet back in 1996 in a $5,000 seven-card stud event.

They continue their battle toward the top 16 and the cash as well as the $268,473 first prize starting at 2 p.m. today, so point your browser at the Event #61 live updates starting then.

Event #62: The $1,111 Little One for One Drop

While the “Big One” just concluded yesterday — the $1,000,000 buy-in event won by Daniel Colman — Event #62: The $1,111 Little One for One Drop kicks off today with the first of two Day 1 flights.

Players who bust today will be able to reenter an unlimited number of times through the first six one-hour levels, and then try again on Thursday for Day 1b, if desired. Both Day 1 flights will feature eight levels total without a dinner break.

The combination of the reentry option and the fact that this is the final low buy-in NLHE event of the summer should add up to a huge field for this much anticipated tourney. Such was the case a year ago when Brian Yoon topped a 4,756-entry field to earn a $663,727 first prize in this event.

The “Little One for One Drop” finally drops at 12 noon today, so begin checking the Event #62 live updates then.

Event #63: $1,500 Six-Handed 10-Game Mix

Finally later in the afternoon will come the start of Event #63: $1,500 Six-Handed 10-Game Mix, an event that many pros just arriving for the latter part of the WSOP and the Main Event have earmarked as one not to miss.

As the tourney title suggests, players will rotate between 10 different poker variants in this one, playing no-limit hold’em, seven-card razz, fixed-limit hold’em, Badugi, seven-card stud, 2-7 no-limit draw, Omaha hi-low, pot-limit Omaha, 2-7 triple draw, and seven-card stud hi-low.

The buy-in for this event was reduced from $2,500 to $1,500 this time around. Brandon Wong bested a field of 372 to win the 10-game last year for a $220,061 first prize, and Vanessa Selbst won it in 2011, topping 421 to earn a $244,259 payday.

This one begins at 4 p.m. local time, so check the Event #63 live updates then to get into the mix.

Here again is a full rundown of all the bracelet events in action on Wednesday (all times PDT):