WSOP Day 8: Benny Glaser Leads Dealer's Choice Heading into Final Day

June 05, 2019

Yesterday's Day 7 of the World Series of Poker featured seven events with three bracelets scheduled to be awarded.

Instead, Event #9: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack added a third day to the event with the final table to be streamed on Wednesday at CBS All Access in the United States and at PokerGO in the rest of the world.

Yesterday, Alex Epstein won his first WSOP bracelet after outlasting a field of 114 entrants in Event #8: $10,000 Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em to claim the top prize of $296,277. This continues the American dominance thus far in bracelet events with players from the United States claiming six of the seven bracelets.

Also winning a bracelet was Daniel Park after finishing on top of a huge field of 2,452 players to win the one-day Event #12: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty marathon event for $226,243.

In addition to the five continuing events on Day 8, three new ones will kick off making it a busy day at the Rio Convention Center.

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

Event #3: BIG 50 - $500 No-Limit Hold'em

The fourth and final Day 2 flight featured the 2,110 survivors from an original field of 9,121 entrants trimmed down to 553 players. When the final tallies were done, the event attracted a record-breaking field of 28,371.

Each of the four opening flights could have been a massive tournament by themselves with prize pools bigger than many other bracelet events. Here is a look at the day-by-day breakdown:

The massive field is down to just 1,594 players with three more days of action to come starting with today's Day 3 at 11 a.m. PST. The final table will be streamed live at CBS All Access in the United States and at PokerGO in the rest of the world on Friday, June 7.

Zachary Ackley bagged the Day 2d chip lead with 2,925,000 but will find himself in ninth place heading into today's Day 3 with all four opening fields merging into one.

Day 2b chip leader Jerald Williamson, who chatted with PokerNews here, is the leader of the pack entering Day 3 with a big stack of 4,105,000 in chips. Williamson will be followed by Saya Ono (second - 3,810,000) and Benjamin Dobson (third - 3,560,000), both of whom emerged from the Day 2c flight.

Here is a look at the top ten on the leaderboard entering Day 3.

BIG 50 Day 3 Big Stacks

Event #9: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack

This new event has turned into a small marathon with event organizers adding a third day to the schedule which will be streamed live today at CBS All Access in the United States and at PokerGO in the rest of the world.

Yesterday's penultimate day began with 581 hopefuls out of the 6,150 hungry to advance to the final day in good enough shape to snag the bracelet.

Just nine players kept their hopes alive after a long day of play, each guaranteed a $35,183 payday with the winner walking home with a huge $398,281 top prize on their $600 investment.

Paul Jain advanced to the final table with a big chip lead with 41,700,000 in chips or nearly double that of his nearest competitor Jeremy Pakarek with 21,800,000. Rounding out the top five are David Elet with 21,300,000, Noomis Jones with 21,100,000, and Juan Magana with 19,500,000.

Event #9: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Final Table Seat Draw

Event #9: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Final Table Payouts

Event #10: $1,500 Dealers Choice

The dealer's choice game is a true test of poker for mixed game players with the action constantly changes. The player on the button is allowed to choose between the following games:

• Limit Hold'em
• Razz
• Seven Card Stud
• Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Regular
• Pot-Limit Hold'em
• Pot-Limit Omaha
• Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• Big O
• Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Limit
• 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw
• Pot-Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw
• A-5 Lowball Triple Draw
• Badugi
• Badeucy
• Badacy
• No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw
• No-Limit Five-Card Draw High

Yesterday's Day 2 began with 155 entrants out of the original field of 470 battling it out. After ten levels of play, the field was trimmed down to just 21 players led by three-time WSOP champion Benny Glaser.

Rounding out the top five in chip counts are Rob Campbell (second - 454,500), WSOP bracelet winner Michael Chow (third - 443,000), two-time bracelet winner Frankie O'Dell (fourth - 342,000), and Wes Self (fifth - 324,000).

In addition to Glaser, Chow, and O'Dell, there are a number of other bracelet winners in the hunt for another including John Cernuto (300,000), Scott Clements (270,500), Naoya Kihara (202,000), Jesse Martin (153,000), John Monnette (149,500), Robert Mizrachi (140,500), Josh Arieh (134,500), and Andrey Zhigalov (114,500).

The final day kicks off today at 2 p.m. PST where we will see another WSOP champion crowned. The returning players are each guaranteed a $4,754 payout with the eventual winner banking $144,957.

The opening blind and ante level will depend on the game chosen by the player on the button. Limit flop and draw games will feature 5,000/10,000 blinds, while Stud games will have a 2,000 ante, 3,000 bring-in, and 10,000 completion. No Limit and Pot Limit games will be played at 2,500/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante, with draw games having an 7,500 big blind ante.

Event #11: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em

This event witnessed the 343-entry field grow to 400 entrants by the time late registration closed four blind levels into Day 2. The 137 opening day survivors and the 57 to join on Day 2 battled it out for ten hour-long blind levels until just 27 players were remaining.

Finland's Pauli Ayras will be on the hunt for his first bracelet after bagging a cool 1,000,000 in chips for the chip lead. Ognjen Sekularac (second - 909,000) isn't too far behind with both players having a gap on the rest of the field with Daniel Strelitz (third - 694,000), Pete Chen (fourth - 691,000), and Maria Mcalpin (fifth - 648,000) rounding out the top five in chip stacks.

Several bracelet winners will be looking to add a second to their collection with Giuseppe Pantaleo (597,000), Anthony Zinno (249,000), Jeremy Ausmus (208,000), and Niall Farrell (162,000) all in the hunt. Maria Ho is in better shape to win her first bracelet after bagging a sixth-place chip stack of 632,000.

Among the players not to survive the second day included Day 1 chip leader Dan Smith, Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em winner Ben Heath, three-time WSOP champion Adrian Mateos, and 15-time WSOP champion Phil Hellmuth.

The penultimate day of this event kicks off at 2 p.m. and will play down to a final table of six players, which will be live streamed simultaneously at PokerGO and CBS All Access. Blinds will begin at 6,000/12,000 with a big blind ante of 12,000.

Event #13: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw

This event made WSOP history for the biggest turnout for a $1,500 NL 2-7 single draw event after 296 entrants joined in on the action to generate a $399,600 prize pool. A total of 63 players survived with 45 guaranteed at least a min-cash of $2,242 with Thursday's winner slated to walk home with the $96,278 top prize.

Steven Tabb emerged from the opening day as the chip leader with 185,400 in chips. Frank Kassela (136,600), four-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (119,500), three-time bracelet winner Michael Gathy (116,000), and Jon Turner (113,600) are the closest players on Tabb's tail.

Also bagging chips were last year's champion Daniel Ospina (67,500) and six-time WSOP bracelet winners Daniel Negreanu (59,000) and Chris Ferguson (10,800).

The penultimate day of this event will kick off at 2 p.m. PST with blinds at 500/1,000 along with a big blind ante of 1,500. The action will continue until there are just six players.

Event #14: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

The mixed-game fun continues on Wednesday with the H.O.R.S.E. making its first return this summer to the Rio. The action rotates between Limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better.

• Limit Hold'em
• Razz
• Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• Seven Card Stud
• Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

The action in this four-day event commences today at 11 a.m. with players starting off with 10,000 in chips and blinds increasing every 60 minutes. Players will bag chips after ten levels of play with late registration closing after the conclusion of Level 8.

Last year's event attracted 731 players to generate a $986,850 prize pool. Russia's Andrey Zhigalov claimed his only WSOP bracelet after shipping the event for $202,787.

Event #15: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship

The best heads-up tournament players in the world will be battling it out in this Championship event starting at 3 p.m. PST. The event is capped at 512 entrants but there should be room for everyone with last year's event attracting 114 entrants for a $571,600 prize pool with many of the players getting half their buy-in back by playing in a $5,000 satellite in a "play-in" round.

Last year, Justin Bonomo won the first of his two 2018 WSOP bracelets before also shipping The Big One For One Drop later in the festival for his third career bracelet.

Here is a breakdown of the heads-up tournaments over the years at the WSOP:

Today's action is scheduled for three heads-up matches with start times at 3 p.m. PST, 6 p.m. PST, and 9 p.m. PST with each match featuring 20-minute blind levels.

Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed

This three-day event is the last new one to kick off on Day 8 of the 2019 WSOP with a starting time of 4 p.m. PST. The event is a deep-stacked affair with players will starting off with 25,000 in chips with blinds at just 100/100.

The first day of action will feature 14 blinds levels of 40 minutes each with late registration closing at after nine blind levels. Those bagging chips will have more time to react with blind levels increasing by 50 percent to one hour in length until a winner is crowned.

Last year's event attracted 1,663 entrants to generate a $2,245,050 prize pool. Ognyan Dimov proudly raised the Bulgarian flag after he shipped the event for $378,743.

2019 WSOP Bracelet Winners

Ben Heath is still the only player from outside the United States to win one of the six bracelets awarded thus far after taking down Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $1,484,085.

Joining Heath on winning their first bracelets were Nicholas Haynes (Event #1 - $62,345), Brian Green (Event #2 - $345,669), Derek McMaster (Event #4 - $228,228), Dan Zack (Event #6 - $160,447), and Yong "LuckySpewy1" Kwon (Event #7 - $165,263).

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