WSOP What to Watch For: George Danzer Guns for #2; $10K Heads-Up, Dealer’s Choice Begin

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WSOP What to Watch For: George Danzer Guns for #2; $10K Heads-Up, Dealer’s Choice Begin 0001

Five events will be in action on Thursday at the 2014 World Series of Poker, with two playing down to winners including the stacked Event #38: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Championship where George Danzer enjoys a big lead and hopes of landing a second bracelet of the summer.

Also sure to draw a lot attention are the two new events kicking off today — the Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship and Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer’s Choice.

Here’s a rundown of what to watch for in all five of today’s events:

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

They are down to 11 in Event #37: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha, all that’s left from the big starting field of 967. Marcel Vonk of the Netherlands returns as the chip leader today with 604,000. The physics Ph.D. is seeking his second WSOP bracelet after having won a $1,000 no-limit hold’em event in 2010 where he topped a field of 3,844 to win $570,960.

Brandon Paster sits behind Vonk in second position heading into today with 588,000, with Galen Hall (in third with 553,000) and Kevin Saul (in fifth with 506,000) close as well. Hall and Saul both have impressive records of tourney success, with Hall winning the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and Saul (a.k.a. “BeL0WaB0Ve”) the 2007 World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup, but neither have made WSOP final tables before.

Of the 11 players left in Event #37 all have previous WSOP cashes, but aside from Vonk only the Parisian Gabriel Nassif (in 10th with 206,000) has made a WSOP final table before. In fact, Nassif was just playing at his fifth career WSOP final table two days ago as he finished eighth in Event #33: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Nassif’s best WSOP finish was a runner-up in the $5,000 limit hold’em event last year.

Play restarts at 1 p.m. PDT. Start checking the Event #37 live updates then to see who from the final 11 emerges to win the bracelet and $264,400 first prize.

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

The eighth $10K event of the summer will conclude today, and like the others the $10K Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low event has another stellar line-up left to battle at the finish. Event #18: $10,000 Seven-Card Razz Championship winner and current 2014 WSOP Player of the Year leader George Danzer will lead a talented group of 13 into today’s final day of play, with his current stack of 785,000 nearly twice that of the chase pack.

While Danzer only won his first bracelet two weeks ago, his WSOP record over the last five years has been remarkable, with seven final tables among his 10 cashes, a runner-up and two third-place finishes among them. And he just missed another final table this week with a ninth-place showing in the Event #32: $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship.

As mentioned, however, Danzer faces some heady competition today, with seven of his 12 remaining opponents having won bracelets before, many in stud games:

  • Jeff Lisandro (second, 420,000) — five bracelets; four in stud games
  • Brian Hastings (third, 415,000) — one bracelet
  • Ted Forrest (fourth, 387,000) — six bracelets; four in stud games
  • Calvin Anderson (fifth, 372,000) — one bracelet this year in Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low
  • Todd Brunson (eighth, 290,000) — one bracelet
  • David Singer (ninth, 202,000) — one bracelet
  • John Monnette (12th, 139,000) — two bracelets; one in a stud game, the other 8-game mix

Still in the hunt as well are more tough competitors in Richard Sklar (sixth, 301,000), Alexander Jung (seventh, 293,000), Christopher George (10th, 162,000), and John Racener (13th, 111,000).

ESPN commentator Norman Chad is also still with chips (currently in 11th with 148,000). He’s looking to get back to a WSOP final table and better his sixth-place finish in the $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Low event two years ago.

As the top 16 made the money in this one, that means Chad has notched his fourth career WSOP cash. Really.

Most of the $1,259,600 prize pool is still to be divided, with $352,696 reserved for the champion. Start tuning it at 2 p.m. today to follow the Event #38 live updates as no matter who makes it to the final eight, this is sure to be one of the more interesting final tables of the summer.

Event #39: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Also continuing on Thursday will Event #39: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em with Daniel Makowsky returning as the chip leader among the 205 who survived from a starting field of 992 yesterday.

James Mackey, Matthew Lapossie, James Dempsey, Barny Boatman, Aditya Agarwal, Thomas Muehloecker, and Dario Sammartino will also be coming back to big stacks today.

The top 117 will make the cash, with $548,460 eventually going to the winner. They’ll play 10 more one-hour levels today, with action starting at 1 p.m. Check the Event #39 live updates beginning then to see who makes it through to tomorrow’s finale.

Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship

As the $10K Stud Hi-Low Championship concludes, another $10K event gets going today, with the $10K Heads-Up NLHE tourney sure to attract a lot of interest as many of poker’s top pros are likely to compete.

Last year Mark Radoja won eight matches to top the field of 162 and collect the $336,190 first prize, including running through Ankush Mandavia, Alex Venovski, Phil Hellmuth, Justin Bonomo, and Don Nguyen in his last five to win.

Play starts at 12 noon, with room in the schedule for four rounds’ worth of matches although that will depend on how many turn out. Check the Event #40 live updates then to see who participates and how they get matched up.

Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer’s Choice

Then later in the afternoon will come the start of one of the most talked about events on this year’s schedule, the newly-introduced “dealer’s choice” event which will allow players to take turns calling the games with 16 different variants from which to choose.

Here is the list of games available for players to select from in Event #41:

  • no-limit hold’em
  • fixed-limit hold’em
  • razz
  • seven-card stud
  • seven-card stud hi/lo
  • pot-limit hold’em
  • pot-limit Omaha
  • pot-limit Omaha hi/lo
  • fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo
  • fixed-limit 2-7 triple draw
  • fixed-limit A-5 triple draw
  • Badugi
  • Baducy
  • Badacy
  • no-limit 2-7 single draw
  • five-card draw

Talk about a challenge — to players and dealers alike! Check in to the Event #41 live updates starting at 4 p.m. today to see how it all plays out.

Here’s the full schedule of bracelet events for today (all times PDT):

  • 12:00 p.m. — Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship (Day 1 of 3)
  • 1:00 p.m. — Event #37: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha (Day 3 of 3)
  • 1:00 p.m. — Event #39: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Day 2 of 3)
  • 2:00 p.m. — Event #38: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Championship (Day 3 of 3)
  • 4:00 p.m. — Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer’s Choice (Day 1 of 3)

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