WSOP Day 35: 888poker Ambassador Vivian Saliba Bags Big in the Crazy Eights

July 02, 2019

Tomorrow is a big day at the 50th annual World Series of Poker with the WSOP $10,000 Main Event scheduled to kick off.

The action on today's Day 35 will also be hot with seven events taking place including two new ones in the $500 SALUTE TO WARRIORS No-Limit Hold'em and the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship.

All eyes are currently on 888poker Ambassador Vivian Saliba as she is near the top of the chip counts in the Crazy Eights, which is sponsored by 888poker.

Meanwhile, David "ODB" Baker has bagged the chip lead in back to back days in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em and is hunting for his second bracelet today with just six players remaining.

Here's what's on tap today, in the daily What to Watch For on PokerNews, sponsored by 888poker.

Event #64: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em

The Crazy Eights is down to a field of just 91 players, each guaranteed a $6,957 prize with their eyes on the bracelet and the $888,888 top prize.

Among the chip leaders in this 888poker sponsored event heading into today's penultimate day is none other than 888poker Ambassador Vivian Saliba with a fourth-place chip stack of 9,565,000. The only three players ahead of Saliba are Natalia Panchenko (11,870,000,) and WSOP bracelet winners Scott Davies (11,855,000) and Ryan Leng (11,765,000).

In addition to Davies and Leng, four other former bracelet winners also bagged chips into today's Day 3; two-time winner Mark Radoja (7,170,000), Tommy Nguyen (5,885,000), David Williams (2,070,000), and Allyn Shulman (1,680,000).

The action resumes today at noon PDT with blinds at 60,000/120,000 and a big blind ante of 120,000 and increasing every hour. The day is scheduled to end with just eight players remaining.

Event #64: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em Top 10 Chip Stacks

Event #66: $1,500 Limit Hold'em

Bracelet winner David "ODB" Baker bagged a massive chip lead heading into yesterday's Day 2 and went coast-to-coast throughout the day to maintain the chip lead heading into today's final day with just six players remaining.

The other players to make it to the final six include Ruiko Mamiya (1,551,000), Brian Kim (1,106,000), Dominzo Love (620,000), six-time bracelet winner and 2017 WSOP Player of the Year Chris Ferguson (246,000), and Chicong Nguyen (152,000).

Players will return at noon PDT with PokerGO and CBS All Access simultaneously broadcasting today's action on a small delay with hole cards exposed until a winner is crowned starting at 1 p.m. PDT.

Event #66: $1,500 Limit Hold'em Final Table Seat Draw

Final Table Seat Draw

Event #66: $1,500 Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

After yesterday's eliminations of Greg Mueller (ninth - $10,418), Danny Woolard (eighth - $13,609), and Kenneth Donoghue (seventh - $18,118), the remaining six players are each guaranteed a $24,574 payout with the winner walking away with the bracelet and the $161,139 top prize.

Event #67: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

Yesterday's Day 2 witnessed seventeen new players enter the action before late registration closed at the start of play to grow the field to 151 players and a prize pool of $1,419,400.

The action is down to 16 players entering today's penultimate day starting at noon PDT hoping. The event is scheduled to end tomorrow with a bracelet and $385,763 top prize ready for the champion.

It is a tough field remaining with the final 16 winning 23 bracelets in the past. The top five in chip counts have all experienced WSOP gold with 13 bracelets behind led by four-time bracelet winners Eli Elezra (1,362,000) and Mike Matusow (1,005,000). Also in the top five are Andrey Zhigalov (968,000) and two-time bracelet winners Anthony Zinno (738,000) and Steven Wolansky (733,000).

Event #67: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship Day 3 Seat Draw

Event #69: $1,000 Mini Main Event

To say demand was high for the inaugural Mini Main Event would be an understatement with lines out the door to register and players required to wait for others to bust out to be able to take their seats during yesterday's opening day.

The tournament attracted a massive field of 5,521 entrants to generate a $4,968,900 prize pool featuring a $628,654 top prize. The tournament was scheduled to be a two-day affair, but with 547 players remaining, it's almost a certainty that the tournament director will add a third day of action tomorrow. This is despite two extra blind levels added to the end of the day yesterday.

The action resumes today at noon PDT with 40-minute blind levels starting at 15,000/30,000 and a big blind ante of 30,000 with Lula Taylor with a chip leading stack of 2,695,000. The only other player above 2 million in chips is Liran Betito with 2,625,000.

Several bracelet winners bagged above average stacks including Andres Korn (1,425,000), James Dempsey (950,000), Blair Hinkle (900,000), three-time bracelet winner Barry Greenstein (765,000), Yuval Bronshtein (745,000), and six-time bracelet winner Chris Ferguson (725,000).

Ferguson is pulling off the rare live multi-table since as mentioned earlier in the report, he is also at the final table of the $1,500 Limit Hold'em with both events resuming at noon PDT.

Event #70: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed

This four-day event is another success story of the 2019 WSOP with the first day attracting 751 entrants with more to come with late registration closing at the start of today's Day 2 at 2 p.m. PDT. This already crushes the field of 621 players attracted in this event last year when Jean-Robert Bellande won his only bracelet and the $616,302 top prize.

WSOP bracelet winner Barry Hutter bagged 200 big blinds into today's action with a stack of 400,000 in chips and blinds starting off at 1,000/2,000 and a big blind ante of 2,000 (increasing every hour.) Behind Hutter are Eder Murata (319,300), Faisal Shihabi (291,600), Darren Elias (257,500), and Joseph Couden (256,700).

In addition to Hutter, several other WSOP bracelet winners bagged big stacks including three-time champ Brian Yoon (203,400), Cord Garcia (196,500), Jeremy Wien (166,100), Julien Martini (156,100), two-time winner and 2012 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson (120,900), and Nick Schulman (120,000), who is fresh off winning his second career bracelet yesterday in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship for $463,670.

Event #71: $500 SALUTE TO WARRIORS No-Limit Hold'em

This is another new event on the schedule and will likely prove to be popular with a reasonable $500 buy-in fitting into the budgets of many players hunting for a bracelet.

The freezeout event is a way for poker players and the WSOP to raise funds for the United Service Organizations (USO) and other veteran organizations with $40 of each buy-in donated to those that served in the United States.

The action begins at 11 a.m. PDT with players starting with 25,000 in chips and blinds increasing every 40 minutes. Late registration closes at the start of Level 10 and players are scheduled to bag chips after 15 blind levels.

Day 2 is scheduled to play down to a field of just six players with players symbolically having July 4 off as it is Independence Day in the United States.

Event #72: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship

While the $1,500 Limit event is playing down to a winner today, an even bigger Limit Championship event kicks off today at 3 p.m. PDT with ten blind levels of an hour each.

Players start with 60,000 in chips and can late register up until the start of the first blind level of tomorrow Day 2 at 2 p.m. PDT when blind levels will increase to 90 minutes each.

Last year, Scott Seiver finished on top of a tidy field of 114 players to win his second career bracelet and the $296,222 top prize. Seiver has since added a third bracelet to his collection besting a field of 116 players in the $10,000 Razz Championship to collect the $301,421 top prize this year.

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  Anthony Zinno Barry Greenstein Blair Hinkle Chris Ferguson David Williams Eli Elezra Greg Merson Greg Mueller James Dempsey Jean Robert Bellande Mark Radoja Mike Matusow Nick Schulman Scott Davies Scott Seiver Team PokerNews World Series of Poker WSOP 888

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  Barry GreensteinChris FergusonMike MatusowDavid WilliamsBlair HinkleNick Schulman