What to Watch For: June 26, 2017

Phil Hellmuth

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Day 3 of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship plays out in the Rio on Monday where Phil Hellmuth will be among the final 11 players. Among those aiming to stop Hellmuth's quest for a 15th bracelet will be Jonathan Duhamel, Abe Mosseri, Brock Parker and Benny Glaser. Meanwhile the Monster Stack enters Day 2 with a still-huge remaining field of 2,000-plus, and several big names return today for the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed.

Event #47: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MONSTER STACK

The monster chip stacks are even bigger now as the event's Day 2 brings back 2,030 players. The weekend's two opening day flights attracted a total of 6,716 entries, creating a total prize pool of just over $9 million. There will be 1,008 places paid at least a min-cash of $2,249, and the winner will take home $1,094,349 and the bracelet.

Matt Downs leads all those remaining with 320,200. Downs has $64,269 in live tournament earnings and this would certainly be the biggest win of his career. Other notables who played Day 1B and managed to advance include Joe McKeehen, Maurice Hawkins, Kitty Kuo, Matt Affleck, Michael Tureniec, Bruno Politano, Scott Davies and Aditya Agarwal.

PokerNews will continue to cover all of the monstrous action when play kicks off at 11 a.m. today. Click here for all the live updates.

Event #48: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

Following the final hours of this event's second day was like reading a "Who's Who" of some of poker's biggest names as it played down to the final 11 players. Andrew Kelsall currently leads with 965,000, but get a look at the talented crowd of players following him — Christopher Vitch (925,000), Jameson Painter (919,000), Abe Mosseri (767,000), Brock Parker (609,000), Benny Glaser (477,000), Phil Hellmuth (420,000), Dan Shak (406,000), Alex Luneau (331,000), Jonathan Duhamel (228,000) and Randy Ohel (203,000).

Multiple bracelet winners still alive in the field include Mosseri (two), Parker (three), Glaser (three), Duhamel (three) and of course Hellmuth with a record 14. Hellmuth has already extended another of his WSOP records in this one by recording his 123rd career cash, and he's pleased to be returning for Day 3:

The event also marked the 100th career WSOP cash for Daniel Negreanu career who finished 18th for $15,182.

Players return to the Rio for the 2 p.m. restart on Monday. It should be an exciting and entertaining final table and PokerNews wil have it all covered — click here to follow the reports from our great live updates team.

Event #49: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed

Day 1 of this PLO event attracted 630 players (significantly more than 2016's 580) and 127 of them will return on Monday for Day 2. The winner will take home a payday of $362,185 while a min-cash is worth $4,499 for those making the top 95.

Brazilian Guilherme Barbosa leads the pack with 256,600 followed by David "Chino" Rheem (214,400), Gionni DeMers (211,300), Samuel Higgs (200,100) and Juha Helppi with 194,500. Other notables returning for Day 2 include former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen (103,700); recent bracelet winners Nadar Kakhmazov (154,200), Dmitry Yurasov (71,400) and Loren Klein (37,900); and David Williams (84,800), Aron Dermer (85,800), Jason Wheeler (126,100), Mike Sexton (63,000) and James Obst (32,700).

Check back to the PokerNews live updates when play resumes at 2 p.m.

Event #50: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em BOUNTY

The bounty hunters will be out in force when this event starts on Monday. Players will not only be battling it out for the bracelet and cash, but can also accumulate $500 for each knockout.

Last year's version of this event drew 2,158 entries for a prize pool of $1,834,300. Canadian Kristen Bicknell took home $290,768 for first place and her second career bracelet. Bicknell is fresh off a deep run in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship, where she finished sixth for $96,823. Join PokerNews on Monday at 11 a.m. for all the bounty-busting live updates.

Event #51: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

The PLO championship should attract a plethora of poker sharks looking to add this nice title to their poker résumés. This is a new event on the WSOP schedule and no doubt many will be looking to take part. The $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better wrapped up on Sunday where Texan Nathan Gamble won the event for $223,339.

As always, stick with PokerNews for start-to-finish coverage of this event beginning at 3 p.m. today.

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  • @Phil_Hellmuth looks for bracelet no. 15 as one of 11 remaining in the $10K Stud Hi-Lo Championship.

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