WSOP What to Watch For: Boyd Goes for Three; Trickett, Rast, Hellmuth Bracelet Hunting

June 17, 2014

Martin Harris

WSOP What to Watch For: Boyd Goes for Three; Trickett, Rast, Hellmuth Bracelet Hunting 0001

Welcome to the start of Week 4 of the 2014 World Series of Poker. Six bracelet events are in action today — two Day 1s, two Day 2s, and two Day 3s. Sure to grab headlines tonight will be the winning of the next two bracelets this summer in Event #33: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em which is currently down to just 10 players with Dutch Boyd looking to win his third career title and Event #34: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud where just six players will be returning.

Meanwhile among the other tourneys playing out today Sam Trickett and [B]Brian Rast[/B] are chip leaders in their respective events while Phil Hellmuth is again making a run at bracelet #14 as he sits just outside the top 10 in his.

Here’s a look at what to expect in all six events scheduled for today:

Event #33: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em

From 1,688 entrants just 10 are left in Event #33, led by Will Givens (1,217,000) with Steven Norden (910,000), and Dutch Boyd (812,000) next in line. It’s a first WSOP final table for both Givens and Norden, while Boyd is looking to pick up gold at the WSOP for a third time.

Of the other players remaining, Vinny Pahuja (currently in fifth with 461,000) has a dozen previous WSOP cashes though no finish higher than 11th. The lone non-American left among the 10, the Parisian Gabriel Nassif (in eighth with 231,000), has won more than half a million dollars at the WSOP over the last decade, including making four final tables with a runner-up finish in last year’s $5,000 limit hold’em event. And a short-stacked Pok Kim (in ninth with 194,000), originally from Korea and now a Portland, Oregon resident, hopes to add another final table and perhaps a bracelet, too, to the women’s column at this year’s WSOP.

The Event #33 live updates will begin when play resumes at 1 p.m. PDT. Click over then to see who takes away the bracelet and $288,744 first prize.

Event #34: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud

There are only six left from the 345 starters in Event #34, with Aleksandr Denisov of Russia starting today well in front with a stack of 668,000. William Thompson is Denisov’s nearest challenger presently with 415,000, while everyone else sits with stacks less than 170,000.

Denisov is looking to join an exclusive club of players who have won events while making their first WSOP cash. He also aims to be the second Russian player in a week to earn a WSOP title this summer, following Alex Bilokur’s triumph in the Event #28: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship. Meanwhile this marks Thompson’s third and best career WSOP cash, his previous two having both come in stud events.

The short stacks include some heady competition. Bryn Kenney (in third with 165,000) has two dozen cashes and more than $1 million in WSOP earnings, with three previous final tables including a fourth-place finish in this year’s Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em.

Just behind Kenney are Eric Buchman (fourth, 164,000) and Alex Kravchenko (fifth, 104,000), both of whom have won WSOP bracelets before and have made WSOP Main Event final tables. Buchman finished fourth in the 2009 WSOP Main Event then won a bracelet the next year in a $2,000 limit hold’em tourney, while Kravchenko likewise finished fourth in the 2007 WSOP Main Event after having won a bracelet in a $1,500 Omaha hi-low event earlier that summer.

Rounding out the final six is Nabih Helmi with just 36,000 — not even two big bets to start Day 3. Like Denisov, Helmi is making his first career WSOP cash in this event.

Play resumes at 2 p.m. local time, so start checking the Event #34 live updates then to see if Denisov can hold off the others or if someone else emerges to win the title and $118,785 first prize.

Event #35: $5,000 Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

Yesterday Event #35: $5,000 Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold’em drew 550 entrants — up considerably from the 481 who played the event last year — with Sam Trickett managing to end the day atop the counts with 170 players remaining.

The top 56 get paid in this one, and Trickett is hoping to earn his first cash of the summer, one of several topics he discussed with PokerNews yesterday during a Google Hangout. Also hoping to see Trickett do well are Everest Poker players who’ve qualified to share 10% of his winnings at this year’s WSOP.

Josh Arieh and Dan Smith are next in line in the counts behind Trickett to start Day 2, with Jeff Madsen, Chris Tryba, Russell Crane, and Timo Pfutzenreuter also returning to big stacks.

Start refreshing the Event #35 live updates at 1 p.m. today to see how Trickett and everyone else does as they march toward tomorrow’s final day and the big $633,341 first prize awaiting the winner.

Event #36: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball

Event #36: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball also kicked off yesterday, featuring a low buy-in and drawing a modest-sized field of 241 players. The total prize pool is just $325,350 — a little over half what the winner of Event #35 is going to take home — with only $89,483 up top.

That said, the event nonetheless drew a number of notables, with a couple of them — Brian Rast and Joseph Cheong — sitting in the top two spots to begin today’s Day 2.

Also still alive among the 38 players left are Bryce Yockey (in fifth position), Ali Eslami (eighth), Phil Hellmuth (11th), Eli Elezra (13th), Scott Abrams (16th), John Racener (17th), Chino Rheem (18th), Max Pescatori (20th), Robert Williamson III (22nd), Mike Leah (24th), and Chris Klodnicki (26th).

See who makes the top 28 and the money and then who makes it through to tomorrow’s finale starting at 2 p.m. Vegas time today which is when the discards and draws — and the Event #36 live updates — get underway.

Event #37: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha

Getting things going on Tuesday will be Event #37: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. Last year this event drew 1,022 entries with Josh Pollock collecting the title and $279,431 first prize.

With that big turnout a year ago, the 2013 $1,500 PLO event became one of those rare non-hold’em tournaments at the WSOP to attract more than 1,000 players. Incidentally, a new record was set this year in that regard when 1,128 took part in Event #3: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha.

Click over at 12 noon today to see how many Omahalics take part once the Event #37 live updates get started.

Event #38: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Championship

Finally later in the afternoon comes the start of the Event #38: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Championship, the eighth $10K “Championship” event thus far this summer and a new event for 2014.

Here are the turnouts and results thus far for the $10K events:

Event	Winner (First Prize)	Total Prize Pool	Entrants
#5: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball	Tuan Le ($355,324)	$1,128,000	120
#10: Limit Omaha Hi-Low	Brock Parker ($433,407)	$1,673,200	178
#13: No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball	Paul Volpe ($253,524)	$817,000	87
#18: Seven-Card Razz	George Danzer ($294,792)	$1,052,800	112
#22: H.O.R.S.E.	Christopher Wallace ($507,614)	$1,880,000	200
#28: Pot-Limit Hold'em	Alex Bilokur ($398,567)	$1,504,000	160
#32: Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em	Joe Cada ($670,041)	$2,481,600	264