2016 WSOP Day 35: Can Michael Mizrachi Take the $50K PPC Title Again?
On Day 35 of the 2016 World Series of Poker, one man continued his push for history as Michael Mizrachi once again advanced to the $50,000 Poker Players Championship final table. Meanwhile, three other events ended with gold bracelets awarded on the busy day at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
All summer long, PokerNews.com will be bringing you daily coverage of the 2016 WSOP, brought to you by our sponsors, 888poker.
Mizrachi Chasing Third PPC Title
Michael Mizrachi, the only player to win the $50,000 Poker Players Championship twice, is on the cusp of adding a third Chip Reese Memorial Trophy to his collection. At the end of Day 4, he sits in second place to Justin Bonomo with an official final table of six having been determined.
Here are the remaining chip counts and seating assignments:
| Seat | Player | Stack |
| 1 | Lamar Wilkinson | 2,045,000 |
| 2 | Ray Dehkharghani | 395,000 |
| 3 | Eric Wasserson | 3,800,000 |
| 4 | Justin Bonomo | 7,750,000 |
| 5 | Michael Mizrachi | 5,535,000 |
| 6 | Brian Rast | 3,185,000 |
Brian Rast is the other former winner still in the hunt. Last year's champion, Mike Gorodinsky, was one of the 13 players who started the day with chips. He was the shortest of the remaining stacks though, and busted to Rast in a 2-7 triple draw pot early in the day.
Daniel Negreanu, Paul Volpe, Rep Porter, Elior Sion, and Daniel Alaei then busted in that order to leave an unofficial final table of the players listed above and Tommy Hang. He got his stack in the middle preflop in pot-limit Omaha with A♦A♣K♠5♠ against the A♥Q♥J♥8♠ of Mizrachi but Mizrachi flopped a queen-high straight to eliminate the unfortunate Hang.
Bonomo, for his part, continues to dominate the event, as he has now finished as the chip leader each of the past three days.
When the final table gets underway, betting limits for limit games will be 100,000/200,000, so short stack Ray Dehkharghani, who won the $10,000 Razz Championship just weeks ago for $273,338, will have less than two big bets.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. for the fifth and final day.
Long-Awaited Gold for David Peters
Longtime high roller David Peters finally got his bracelet at the World Series of Poker after years of close calls, and it came in the everyman's event, a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. He bested a field of 1,860 for a $412,557 first-place prize.
“I'm definitely surprised,” he said when asked if he imagined it would take this long for a player with so much success to finally find WSOP gold. “Lot of close calls, almost every place at the final table except first. I knew it was coming so it definitely feels amazing to finally get it.”
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | Toledo, OH | $412,557 |
| 2 | Cathal Shine | Ireland | $254,890 |
| 3 | Matt Affleck | Mill Creek, WA | $184,456 |
| 4 | Muhammad Abdel Rahim | Derry, NH | $134,845 |
| 5 | Zachary Okin | Queens Village, NY | $99,592 |
| 6 | Brendan Sheehan | Woodbury, NY | $74,321 |
| 7 | Takuya Suzuki | Minatoku, Japan | $56,044 |
| 8 | [Removed:172] | Vienna, Austria | $42,711 |
| 9 | David Patterson | Wilmington, NC | $32,900 |
Day 3 got underway with 28 players, and Michael Aron, Assani Fisher, Ben Zamani, Adrien Allain, Faraz Jaka, and Ivan Luca all fell before the final table, the latter coming 11th in his quest for his second bracelet.
Read more about Peters' win here.
Turbo Thompson Wins Gold
Florida-based pro Corey Thompson came out on top of a 1,397-player field to win gold in the $1,000 turbo event for $221,163. It's his first bracelet win and represents more than half of his career tournament cashes.
“It's been a huge year,” said Thompson, who took down a Heartland Poker Tour event last fall for $131,720. “I really caught fire since [the HPT win].”
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corey Thompson | Winter Park, FL | $221,163 |
| 2 | [Removed:4] | Germany | $136,651 |
| 3 | William Liang | Toronto, Canada | $97,811 |
| 4 | Darren Terazawa | San Ramon, CA | $70,821 |
| 5 | Ankit Ahuja | Charlotte, NC | $51,878 |
| 6 | Terry Fan | Taipei, Taiwan | $38,452 |
| 7 | Matthew Chang | Rockville, MD | $28,842 |
| 8 | Ryan Pochedly | Mantua, OH | $21,897 |
| 9 | Benjamin Reinhart | La Porte, IN | $16,827 |
All eyes were on 2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess at the start of play with 28 left, but he fell in 23rd when he shoved his last four big blinds in with Q♥J♣ and busted to an opponent who had A♦K♦ and flopped two pair.
Considering the 30-minute blind levels sped things up substantially, the final table saw a decent amount of play with 116 hands before Thompson triumphed over Germany's [Removed:4]. The American was complimentary of his opponent.
“The heads-up match was very tough,” he said. “There was no doubt he was the best player at the table, if not me then definitely him.”
David Nowakowski Comes Home, Ships PLO8
After a few years of playing professionally, David Nowakowski decided the poker life wasn't for him. The New Jersey native had moved to Panama to play for a living, grinding out hours upon hours of Rush pot-limit Omaha on PokerStars to achieve Supernova Elite status.
“It was too much for me,” he said. “I decided I was tired of online poker.”
So, he returned home to the U.S. six months ago and enrolled back in college to finish an accounting degree that he had put on hold to pursue poker.
Formerly a regular at the WSOP in Omaha tournaments, Nowakowski decided to fire a few events in 2016 as it was his first chance to do so after a two-year hiatus. He made his return count, shipping Event #57: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low for $203,113 in a field of 732 players. The final table for the event included Marco Johnson (third) and Martin Staszko (eighth).
Nowakowski lists PLO8 as his favorite game, but one he had barely touched in years, as the game is basically dead online according to Nowakowski. Though he called the win “a dream come true”, don't expect to see him at the tables much in the near future.
“I don't really like poker that much,” he said with a laugh.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Nowakowski | Voorhees, NJ | $203,113 |
| 2 | Timothy Vukson | Ottawa, Canada | $125,507 |
| 3 | Marco Johnson | Walnut Creek, CA | $87,192 |
| 4 | James Alexander | San Antonio, TX | $61,519 |
| 5 | Kenneth Po | Seven Hills, OH | $44,094 |
| 6 | Colin Gelker | Bellingham, WA | $32,114 |
| 7 | Stephen Johnson | Eugene, OR | $23,772 |
| 8 | Martin Staszko | Trinec, Czech Republic | $17,890 |
| 9 | Matt Lefkowitz | Carmel Valley, CA | $13,691 |
Helder Leads $5K in Early Stages
One of the more elite fields of the summer turns up for the last $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event every year, and Event #59 was no exception as each table had multiple notables sitting in.
The deep starting stacks and four-day schedule meant Day 1 was something of a precursor as only a little more than half of the field went bust. In total, 863 turned out for a prize pool of $4,056,100, of which $800,586 will head to the winner's pockets.
Jason Helder bagged the lead of the 359 survivors with 228,300. Others among the top 20 include Keith Lehr (163,300), Pierre Neuville (155,100), Ofer Zvi Stern (149,000), Kane Kalas (134,000), Liv Boeree (132,000), and Sorel Mizzi (126,400).
Isaac Baron, Fabian Quoss, Byron Kaverman, Bryn Kenney, Greg Merson, and Ryan Riess also advanced.
The tournament resumes at noon Wednesday with blinds and antes of 600/1,200/200.
Final Stud Tournament of 2016 WSOP Kicks Off
Event #60: $1,500 Stud Hi-Low, the final tournament for the summer of any form of stud, got underway at 3 p.m. Tuesday and drew 521 players for a prize pool of $703,350 and $156,546 up top.
When the dust settled after Day 1, 124 players advanced to Day 2, with Jesse Hampton in the lead with 87,500 and Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke in second with 82,200. Some other notables who punched Day 2 tickets included Calvin Anderson, John Monnette, David Chiu, Joe McKeehen, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Leah, and Mike Matusow.
Most of the remaining players will make the money as there are 79 paid spots. The tournament resumes at 2 p.m. Wednesday with betting limits of 1,200/2,400.
What's On Tap
For fans of either unique or prestigious events, Day 36 of the 2016 WSOP will surely be one to watch. First, the 11 a.m. start will be Event #61: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em. Teams of two-to-four compete in that, with each player required to sit in for at least one orbit. At 3 p.m., the $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha gets underway. That event is eight-handed and is scheduled for four days.
As the 2016 WSOP rolls on, be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage, brought to you by our sponsors, 888poker.
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