WSOP Day 16: Sam Greenwood, Ben Zamani and Christian Pham Win Bracelets

June 12, 2015

A busy Day 16 of the 2015 World Series of Poker saw three bracelets awarded, two events reach their final few tables and two Day 1's kick off.

We have all those stories and more in our end-of-day recap, so check it out.

Greenwood Breaks Through With First Bracelet

Sam Greenwood (pictured) scored the first WSOP bracelet of his career and the first one for Canada in 2015, winning Event #22: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $318,977. He topped a field of 1,915 runners. It's Greenwood's first win in a live tournament.

“I won most of my preflop all ins and didn't step on any landmines,” he said. “I made some hands and got paid off when I did.”

Greenwood defeated Cole Jackson heads up. It's not often you don't have a sweat in poker, but Greenwood managed to take the bracelet with a cinch hand after he called a min-raise to 160,000 and then checked a 2♥6♥6♦ flop. Jackson bet 150,000, and Greenwood raised to 400,000. Jackson called, and Greenwood bet 575,000 on the 5♠ turn. Jackson shipped it, and Greenwood snapped it off with J♦6♠. That was it, as Jackson was dead with the A♦10♠.

Others making the final day included John Myung (5th - $71,904), Stephen Chidwick (14th - $14,391), Lisa Hamilton (15th - $14,391), Ryan Tepen (17th - $11,495), Nacho Barbero (18th - $11,495), and Paul Darden (19th - $9,306).

“It's great,” Greenwood said of being the first Canadian winner this year. “As someone who doesn't necessarily like standing around for the anthems, I like the fact that I'm the one Canadian to get the anthem.”

Event #22 Final Table Results

Ben Zamani Finds Redemption in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

Just four days removed from his runner-up finish in Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, 28-year-old Floridian Ben Zamani won his first WSOP bracelet.

It took an extra day to get it done, but Zamani came out on top of Event #20: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, collecting the WSOP hardware and a first-place prize of $460,640. In doing so, he also managed to keep the WSOP's female contingent from their first bracelet of the campaign, defeating Natasha Barbour heads-up.

The event saw five players return for an added fourth day Thursday with Zamani holding a chip lead he would relinquish early, but would reclaim heading into heads-up play. On the final hand, he managed to make trip aces and pick off a Barbour bluff to secure the victory.

Event #20 Final Table Results

Lowball Rookie Christian Pham Takes Down $1,500 No-Limit 2-7

Playing No-Limit Deuce-To-Seven Lowball for the first time in his life after signing up for the wrong event, Minnesota-based Poker Pro Christian Pham went nearly wire-to-wire to win his first WSOP bracelet Thursday.

The 2015 WSOP Event #23: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball drew 219 entries and Pham led a group of 40 Day 1 survivors into Wednesday's Day 2. They played all the way down to three on Wednesday and again, Pham bagged the overnight lead. Thursday, he made short work of second and third-place finishers Daniel Ospina and Matthew Smith to collect the bracelet and the $81,314 first-place prize.

Pham told reporters he learned the game on the go after originally thinking he was entering a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event and only realized he was playing the wrong game after the cards were already in the air. In the end, he beat out a final table that included 1996 WSOP Main Event Champion Huck Seed and WSOP Bracelet Winner Mike Leah.

“I’d played lots of poker before, but not this game,” Pham said. “I guess I learned fast.”

Event #23 Final Table Results

Mike Watson Leads Final 31 of the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

Day 2 of Event #24: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. began with 299 players remaining from the starting field of 772. After another 10 levels on Thursday, the field is down to 31 players and plenty of big names are still in the hunt.

Mike Watson leads the way with 634,000 and is chasing that elusive first bracelet. He is followed by Arash Ghaneian (601,000) and David Levi (481,000). Others still in hunt include Stuart Rutter (254,000), Mike Wattel (196,000), Esther Taylor-Brady (188,000), Brian Tate (162,000), two-time bracelet winner Brandon Cantu (133,000), two-time bracelet winner Steve Sung (123,000), six-time bracelet winner Ted Forrest (95,000) and none other than Phil Hellmuth (51,000), fresh off of his 14th bracelet. He'll come into the day 29th in chips out of the 31 remaining players.

Day 3 commences at 1 p.m. Friday afternoon and is scheduled to play until a winner emerges.

Khan Leads as Only 10 Percent Advance in the $1,000 PLO

Event #26: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha drew 1,293 runners, an improvement over last year's 1,128, and just 129 advanced after 10 levels of Day 1 play as the field reached the money.

Mo Khan built up the biggest stack with 263,100. Among the players joining him for Friday's Day 2 will be Brett Shaffer (113,300), Andrew Brown (82,600), John Racener (71,900), Mike Leah (62,000), Allen Kessler (36,800), Matt Stout (22,600), Jacob Bazeley (20,200), and Greg Merson (15,400).

Day 2 play commences at 1 p.m. in the Amazon Room, and the players will battle for the opportunity to make a final table with $226,985 up top.

Tyler Cornell Heads the Final 23 of the $5,000 Eight Handed

Day 2 of Event #25: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Eight-Handed began with 198 players returning from the starting field of 293. Following another 10 levels of action, only 23 players remain with hopes of capturing the gold bracelet.

Tyler Cornell is on top of the chip counts with 1,409,000, followed closely by Dan O'Brien with 1,328,000. It will be a battle to reach the final table, though, as the remaining field is absolutely stacked.

Here are the complete chip counts for the remaining 23 players.

Play resumes Friday at 2 p.m. and is scheduled to continue until a winner emerges.

Bryn Kenney Leads After Day of 1 Event #27: $10,000 Stud Championship

A star-studded field of 91 players took to the felt in Event #27: $10,000 Stud Championship. Bryn Kenney bagged up the chip lead by night's end, finishing with 155,000. Rounding out the top five counts are Andre Akkari (117,900), Brian Hastings (112,600), Justin Smith (111,800), and Daniel Negreanu (104,700). Only 51 players remain, with 16 making the money.

Play resumes Friday at 2 p.m.

_{Lead photo courtesy of wsop.com}

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