What to Watch For: June 30, 2017
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With the weekend approaching, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event continues on Friday with Michael Mizrachi and Olivier Busquet among those returning to above average stacks. Several big names also advanced in the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Mix, including Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow. With the Giant resuming on Friday and several other tournaments underway, it will be a busy day in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.
Event #54: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship
From a big 428-entry field just 39 players remain for today's Day 3 in Event #54. All left will cash for at least $17,420, but the winner will take home a sweet $938,732 first prize.
Several big names remain in the hunt. Chip leader Scott Clements (1,700,000) has more than $7 million in tournament winnings and is looking for his third bracelet. Following Clements are Michail Karapanos (1,133,000), 2011 WSOP Player of the Year Ben Lamb (1,090,000), Ryan Miller (1,011,000), John Racener, (987,000) and Cyrus Parton (931,000).
Others still remaining include Aleksei Altshuller (794,000), Johnny Lodden (672,000), Jason DeWitt (657,000), Miltiadis Kyriakides (542,000) and Mike Gorodinsky (228,000).
The tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner, but with so many remaining in the field a fourth day may be required.
The pot-limit fun resumes on Friday at 12 noon, and as always, PokerNews will be there covering all the action.
Event #55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud
After beginning Day 2 with 68 players left from a starting field of 298, only seven will return when Day 3 resumes today at 2 p.m., with the winner collecting $96,907 and the gold bracelet.
Tsong Lin leads at present with 791,000. It would be a massive win for Lin, who only has one previous WSOP cash and a little under $27,000 in career tournament winnings.
Rounding out the remaining field are Yueqi Zhu (512,000), Cheryl Denzik (304,000), Alexander Freund (206,000), Daniel Mogavero (163,000), Tom Koral (147,000) and Todd Bui (113,000).
Check back to PokerNews to follow all the live updates.
Event #56: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em
This $5K NL event yesterday attracted 623 players hoping for the first-place money of $618,285. Of those, only 250 survived to return for Day 2 on Friday. Argentina's Nacho Barbero (230,300) is the chip leader and looks to add to his more than $3.5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. This would be his sixth cash this summer if he gets it, and he is seeking his first WSOP bracelet.
Following Barbero in counts are David Coleman (205,200), Carlos Chang (197,600) and Juha Helppi (193,200). Other notables remaining include Matt Berkey (165,500), Michael Mizrachi (148,900), Olivier Busquet (144,000), Jason Koon (108,000), Dietrich Fast (94,500), Ari Engel (91,100), Jason Mercier (89,000), Dzmitry Urbanovich (47,600) and numerous other pros.
Play resumes on Friday at 12 noon and the PokerNews live updates team will bring you every important bet, raise, check, fold and all-in shove.
Event #57: $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Mix
This mixed split-pot event kicked off on Thursday with 405 runners taking part. Only 126 will back for Friday's restart, with Larry Tull leading the field with 152,500. Tull has close to $96,000 in career winnings with his biggest cash thus far being $21,285. With only five career WSOP cashes, this would be a major score if he can continue his nice run.
Israeli Hani Awad won last year's event after finishing runner-up in it in 2015, but he won't be making yet another deep Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo run as he was knocked out on Day 1.
Joining Tull at the top of the leaderboard are David Matsumoto (124,900), Igor Sharaskin (112,600), Jeremiah Callahan (95,400) and Alex Luneau (94,000).
Others remaining include Jared Bleznick (71,000), David Bach (64,000), Chris George (63,600), Esther Taylor (61,800), Mike Ross (53,800), Anthony Zinno (32,800), Mike Matusow (31,400), Phil Hellmuth (24,200), Sorel Mizzi (20,000), Benny Glaser (10,900) and Ben Yu (8,700).
Play resumes at 2 p.m. and PokerNews will be there — click here for all the updates.
Event #58: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Another lower buy-in NLHE event gets going on Friday and should attract a decent-sized crowd of players looking for a shot at some poker glory. The $1,500 event from earlier this week attracted 1,580 entries, and with the weekend coming up it's a good bet this one will attract even more.
Check back to PokerNews for live updates from this one once play gets underway at 11 a.m.
Event #59: $2,500 Big Bet Mix
Mixed game madness returns to the Rio in this event in which players will need an extensive knowledge of several variants to bring home the title. This is a new event on the schedule featuring seven different "big bet" games, including some lesser played ones — Big O, NL 2-7 draw, pot-limit Omaha hi-lo, NL five-card draw, PL 2-7 triple draw — plus PLO and NLHE.
Grab your lucky charm – play starts at 3 p.m. PokerNews will have all the important updates from this unique tournament.
Event #19C: THE GIANT - $365 No-Limit Hold'em
Another bargain poker event new to the WSOP schedule, the fourth leg of the Giant gets will play out tonight. This $365 No-Limit Hold'em event features weekly Friday night flights on June 9, 16, 23, 30, and July 7.
Each opening flight plays deep into the money and remaining players are paid out an amount equivalent to the last paid place of the night. Players' chips are then bagged and remaining prize pool carried over to Day 2 and a cumulative restart on July 8. Players are allowed unlimited re-entry during each Day 1 flight.
Stick with PokerNews for continuing live updates of all the multi-bullet firing in this one.
