2016 WSOP Day 39: The Main Event Begins and More
Day 39 of the 2016 World Series of Poker saw the first of three starting flights for the 2016 WSOP Main Event kick off.
The biggest buy-in event of the year continued as they played into the money and beyond in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, and a $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller bracelet winner was crowned.
Plus, the 2016 WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship played down to a final table and two more bracelets were captured.
All summer long, PokerNews.com will be bringing you daily coverage of the 2016 WSOP, brought to you by our sponsors, 888poker.
The 2016 WSOP Main Event Begins
The 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off Saturday at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino with the first of three starting flights.
2015 WSOP Player of the Year Mike Gorodinsky made the call to "Shuffle Up and Deal" and a banner acknowledging his accomplishments was unveiled.
The flight drew 764 players, 20 more than Day 1a of the 2015 WSOP Main Event. A total of 567 players survived the day with Californian Gary Sewell, who has just one WSOP cash on his resume after a 27th-place finish in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event in 2014, grabbing the Day 1a chip lead with 312,500.
Notable players Matthew Ashton (212,600) and Dan Shak (208,400) also built top ten stacks.
2016 Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Sewell | 312,500 |
| 2 | Alvaro Lopez | 306,200 |
| 3 | Scott Neuman | 226,000 |
| 4 | Sean Case | 222,500 |
| 5 | Matthew Ashton | 212,600 |
| 6 | Alexander Barlow | 212,100 |
| 7 | Joep Raemaekers | 211,170 |
| 8 | Carl Carodenuto | 210,800 |
| 9 | Dan Shak | 208,400 |
| 10 | Derek Chang | 205,200 |
Recognizable names in the top 100 stacks included Adam Friedman (165,100), Gaelle Baumann (126,000), Shannon Shorr (125,900), Walter Treccarichi (119,500), Poorya Nazari (110,000) and Jon Turner (106,900).
The list of players who had their Main Event dreams dashed on Day 1a included Calvin Anderson, David Peters, David Bach, Greg Mueller, Luca Pagano, Josh Arieh, James Akenhead, Alex Luneau, and Billy Baxter.
The last woman standing in the 2015 Main Event, Kelly Minkin ran kings into aces and failed to survive the day as well.
Day 1 a survivors will return for Day 2a July 12, 2016 at 11 a.m. local time. The 2016 Main Event continues with Day 1b Sunday.
Just 13 Left in the One Drop
Registration closed before the start of play on Day 2 of the 2016 WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em on Saturday. The final tally of 183 entries was enough to create a $19,316,565 prize pool.
The plan was to pay the top 28 spots with a min-cash worth $166,212 and they reached that mark just before midnight when Jack Salter busted Taylor Paur. The top five finishers will all earn seven figure prizes and $4,981,775 and a WSOP bracelet awaits the winner.
By the time the day was through, just 13 players remained with high roller veteran Dan Smith grabbing the overnight lead.
He late registered for the event on Saturday after finishing third in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for $487,361. Smith ran it up and ended the day with a huge lead on 22.5 million in chips, close to 8 million more than anyone else in the final 13.
Players who cashed but failed to advance to the event's third day included Jason Mo, Tony Bloom, Rainer Kempe, Isaac Baron, Christoph Vogelsang, Kyle Julius, Igor Kurganov, Jeff Gross, Dario Sammartino, Jason Les and Sergio Aido.
Each of the remaining players are guaranteed at least $256,537. Play will resume at 2 p.m. local time Sunday with plans to play down to a winner. In addition to Smith, some of the most successful players in the game over the past couple of years are at the final two tables of this prestigious event.
One Drop Table 1
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Smith | 22,500,000 |
| 2 | Koray Aldemir | 7,140,000 |
| 3 | Jack Salter | 12,790,000 |
| 4 | Antonio Esfandiari | 1,650,000 |
| 5 | Joe McKeehen | 7,160,000 |
| 6 | --empty-- | |
| 7 | Fedor Holz | 5,365,000 |
| 8 | --empty-- |
One Drop Table 2
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niall Farrell | 5,100,000 |
| 2 | Brian Green | 14,865,000 |
| 3 | Brandon Steven | 1,985,000 |
| 4 | --empty-- | |
| 5 | Adrian Mateos | 3,830,000 |
| 6 | Scott Seiver | 2,685,000 |
| 7 | David Steicke | 4,375,000 |
| 8 | Nick Petrangelo | 2,400,000 |
Jens Kyllonen Wins the PLO High Roller
Online nosebleeds pot-limit Omaha legend Jens Kyllonen took down the 2016 World Series of Poker $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High-Roller event in Las Vegas on Saturday.
A 26-year-old pro from Helsinki, Finland who has been a fixture in the highest stakes PLO games online for years, Kyllonen captured his first WSOP bracelet alongside the event's massive $1,127,035 first-place prize.
Kyllonen got the best of a 184-player field, including WSOP bracelet winners Ryan D’Angelo and Robert Mizrachi in the final nine. Heads-up play was a back and forth affair with Tommy Le, who has put together and incredible run in PLO events at the WSOP this summer, finishing fifth in Event #37: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha for $46,452, third in Event #51: $10,000 8-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $376,667, and now second in the $25,000 PLO High-Roller for $696,558.
More from Kyllonen on his big win can be found here.
$25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jens Kyllonen | $1,127,035 |
| 2 | Tommy Le | $696,558 |
| 3 | Dan Smith | $487,361 |
| 4 | Ryan D'Angelo | $347,641 |
| 5 | Veselin Karakitukov | $252,909 |
| 6 | Dmitry Savelyev | $187,724 |
| 7 | Ludovic Geilich | $142,227 |
| 8 | Sean Winter | $110,035 |
WPT Analyst Tony Dunst Wins the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Poker pro and World Poker Tour Raw Deal Analyst Tony Dunst won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Dunst booked the win in the 2016 WSOP Event #63: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, outlasting a massive field of 2,452 players to collect a $339,254 top prize.
"I ran really good at the right place at the right time," Dunst said. "It's awesome that it happened at the World Series in the very last preliminary event of the summer in this huge field. I just ran the purest and it means today, and the last couple of days, were my days."
More from Dunst on his win can be found here.
$1,000 NL Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Dunst | $339,254 |
| 2 | Jason Rivkin | $209,586 |
| 3 | Joshua Field | $153,015 |
| 4 | Francisco Araujo | $112,724 |
| 5 | Matas Cimbolas | $83,804 |
| 6 | Sergio Cabrera | $62,880 |
| 7 | Levon Torosyan | $47,622 |
| 8 | Raffaele Castro | $36,406 |
| 9 | David Sciacqua | $28,097 |
Kyle Bowker Wins the $3,000 PLO 8
Walton, New York poker pro Kyle Bowker won the 2016 WSOP Event #64: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8 or Better on Saturday night.
Bowker earned $294,960 and his first WSOP bracelet after a decade of coming up short.
“I’ve been playing professionally for ten years," he said. "I’ve probably played in 200 of these events. So now, to finally get a win after all that, and towards the end of the series, is pretty awesome.”
Bowker outlasted a field of 473 players including a final table featuring WSOP bracelet winners Scott Clements and Richard Ashby.
$3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Bowker | $294,960 |
| 2 | Kate Hoang | $182,281 |
| 3 | Jarred Graham | $124,360 |
| 4 | Richard Ashby | $86,422 |
| 5 | Chris Ruby | $61,196 |
| 6 | Noah Bronstein | $44,171 |
| 7 | Daniel Lowe | $32,510 |
| 8 | Scott Clements | $24,409 |
The Ladies Championship Final is Set
After two days of play, the 2016 WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship final table is set.
Leading the final nine is well-known grinder Wendy Freedman, but top pros Amanda Baker, Amanda Musumeci and Yaxi Zhu are among the group standing in the way of her path towards a $149,108 first-place prize and WSOP bracelet.
The event played down from 112 to nine on Saturday with Ebony Kenney, Marie Lizette, Vanessa Selbst, Elizabeth Hille and Jamie Kerstetter among those who cashed, but failed to make the final.
The final table will resume at 12 p.m. local time Sunday with all nine players guaranteed at least $10,292.
Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship Final Table Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wendy Freedman | 909,000 |
| 2 | Amanda Baker | 675,000 |
| 3 | Courtney Kennedy | 567,000 |
| 4 | Barbara Johnson | 416,000 |
| 5 | Amanda Musumeci | 403,000 |
| 6 | Xiu Deng | 376,000 |
| 7 | Natalia Breviglieri | 357,000 |
| 8 | Yaxi Zhu | 221,000 |
| 9 | Nicole Schwartz 185,000 |
What's On Tap?
In addition to all the other action above, the 2016 WSOP Main Event continues Sunday with the second of three starting flights beginning at 11 a.m.
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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