WSOP Day 23: Will Rainer Kempe Win His First Bracelet?

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Jun 20, 2019 9 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Day 23 is set to be another big one at the Rio Convention Center with three of the five continuing events set to award World Series of Poker bracelets.

A big story could be developing on the final table of the $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack where German poker phenom Rainer Kempe is in the middle of the pack. Adam Lamphere will start the action in the chip lead in this event after bagged the biggest stack on back-to-back days.

Another big story surrounds two-time WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Hughes. Last year, Hughes came close to winning a third bracelet in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet. This year, Hughes can accomplish what he failed to do last year as he has the chip lead with seven players remaining in the very same event.

Three new events kick off today; the popular Ladies Event, the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Event, and the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em.

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

Event #39: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em

This event was originally scheduled to be a three-day affair but it came to little surprise to anyone that a fourth day was added with yesterday's field starting at 120 players from an original record-breaking field of 2,650 entrants.

Just ten players remain in hopes for the bracelet and the $359,863 top prize with Michael Blake in the driver's seat with a chip leading stack of 12,300,000.

Blake has a sizeable chip lead against his closest opponent Kanajett Hathaitham (9,235,000) while the latter has a gap on the rest of the field with Rick Austin (6,475,000), Jeffrey Miller (5,525,000), and Cary Marshall (5,500,000) all tightly grouped together.

Miles Harris (3,265,000), Bruce Treitman (3,254,000), William Davis (2,755,000), two-time bracelet winner Barry Shulman (2,665,000), and Timothy Joseph (2,535,000) all enter the final day with shorter stacks. However, no player is super short with blinds starting off at 80,000/160,000 and a big blind ante of 160,000 and increasing every hour.

Event #39: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Final Day Seat Draw

Players will be seated at two tables when the action resumes today at 11 a.m. PDT. This will change early in the day as a seat draw for the nine-max final table will take place after one elimination.

Event #39: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Remaining Payouts

Event #42: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack

It also wasn't a surprise that this event added another day. Originally scheduled as a two-day event, yesterday witnessed 195 players out of a massive original turnout of 2,403 entrants battle it out.

The tournament was able to play down to the final eight players with Adam Lamphere parlaying his Day 2 chip lead into a final day chip lead with a stack of 17,200,000. Dan Matsuzuki, the sole player remaining that has experienced WSOP gold, is the only player near Lamphere with 14,000,000 in chips.

Raghav Bansal is next behind this bunch with 9,300,000 followed by German high roller regular Rainer Kempe with 8,000,000. While the $194,759 top prize would be a blimp on Kempe's profile with more than $20.4 million in live tournament cashes, he would gain the prestige of his first WSOP bracelet if he was able to manage to win.

Also battling it out today starting at noon PDT are Aristeidis Moschonas (7,325,000), Ashish Ahuja (6,975,000), Stephen Ma (6,325,000), and short-stacked Daniel Moravec (2,950,000).

Event #42: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack Final Table Seat Draw

Event #42: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack Final Table Payouts

After the elimination of Simon Samokovski (ninth - $16,603) ended the action yesterday, the eight returning players are each guaranteed a $21,469 payday.

The action resumes at noon PDT with a PokerGO live stream broadcasted on delay an hour later and will play down until someone claims the bracelet. The action will begin with blinds at 200,000/400,000 with a big blind ante of 400,000 added when no-limit hold'em is played.

Event #43: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet

This event has kept on schedule and will complete its third and final day today with seven players remaining. Players have to be on their toes in this event with games rotated between the following:

• Big O
• No-Limit Hold’em
• No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw
• Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• No-Limit 5-Card Draw High
• Pot-Limit Omaha
• Pot-Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw

The big story developing is whether two-time bracelet winner Ryan Hughes can parlay his chip leading stack of 1,212,000 into a win. Hughes came close to winning this event last year for his third bracelet but he couldn't eliminate Scott Bohlman who claimed the title for himself.

Bohlman won't be a problem for Hughes this year. Hughes already took care of business when he eliminated Bohlman in eighth place for $12,240 to end yesterday's penultimate day.

Four other bracelet winners are also featured at today's final table; Phil Hui (425,000), Joey Couden (405,000), Mike Sexton (182,000), and three-time bracelet winner Loren Klein (95,000). Seeking their first taste of WSOP gold at the final table are Arthur Morris (728,000) and Jonathan Depa (223,000).

Event #43: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Final Table Seat Draw

Event #43: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Final Table Payouts

The final seven players are each guaranteed $12,240 with the winner walking away with $127,808 and the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

Event #44: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Bounty

This three-day event kicked off yesterday attracting a field of 1,807 unique players to generate a $2,439,450 prize pool. This is slightly down from the 1,983 players attracted last year when Ryan Leng won the bracelet and the $272,765 top prize. Despite the smaller turnout, the field is still huge the winner will walk away with $253,933 in prize money.

The action ended yesterday after the money bubble broke with today's returning Day 2 field of 272 players each guaranteed a $1,414 payout plus a $500 bounty from each player they eliminated.

Day 2 kicks off today at noon PDT with Ignacio Molina on top of the leaderboard with 624,500 in chips. Just behind him are [Removed:124] (576,500), Baitai Li (506,000), and Benjamin Chalot (505,000). Meanwhile, Walter Fisher (499,500), David Thomas (475,500), Jose Barbero (444,000). Asi Mosh (346,000), David Wells (322,000), Nakita Luther (267,500), Ronni Borg (264,500), and two-time bracelet winner Lonni Harwood (190,500) all bagged above average stacks into today's action.

Big names to advance with shorter stacks include ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey (59,500), three-time bracelet winner Barry Greenstein (46,000), and two-time bracelet winner Steven Wolansky (24,500).

The action gets deeper on the final two days with blind levels increasing to one hour in length.

Event #45: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller

This four-day event has gone so far as advertised with 222 entrants entering on Day 1. The final field size might grow beyond the 230 entrants battling it out last year when 2018 WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb won the $1,402,683 top prize for the third of his four bracelets with late registration not closing until the end of Level 12 or the second blind level of today's Day 2. Players can also reenter once during this period.

Deeb is in the hunt for back-to-back bracelets in this event after bagging up a ninth-place chip stack of 518,500; not too far behind Day 1 chip leader and two-time bracelet winner Keith Lehr with 692,000. Players between Lehr and Deeb in the chip counts entering today's action are three-time bracelet winner Paul Volpe (682,000), Firas Sadou (625,000), Dario Sammartino (595,500), Ludovic Geilich (590,000), online phenom Alexey Makarov (584,500), Niko Soininen (574,500), and John Riordan (537,000).

Day 2 resumes at 2 p.m. PDT with blinds at 1,500/3,000 and is scheduled to end after ten blind levels of an hour each.

Previous WSOP $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Rollers

Event #47: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship

Thus far, no lady has found WSOP gold this summer even though five have appeared at final tables; Maria Ho, Maria Mcalpin, Thida Lin, Jennifer Dennis, and Arianna Son. This is likely to change in this event, although it is possible that a man could win. Although it isn't recommended for obvious reasons, men can decide to pay ten-times the $1,000 buy-in for ladies for a total of $10,000 to enter this event.

Last year, Jessica Dawley claimed her first WSOP bracelet and the $130,230 top prize after finishing on top of a field of 696 entrants.

Today's first of four days kicks off at 11 a.m. with players starting with 20,000 in chips and blinds increasing every hour. Players will bag up after 10 levels of play. Those not finding early success can reenter once until late registration closes after Level 8.

Event #48: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em

This four-day freezeout event has a noon PDT start today. Players begin the action with 15,000 in chips and blinds increasing every hour.

Last year, Israel's Timur Margolin outlasted a field of 1,248 players to win his first bracelet and the $507,724 top prize. Margolin then went on to win a second bracelet at the WSOP Europe at King's Resort in October when he bested a devilish field of 666 entrants in the €1,100 Monster Stack for €134,407 ($155,407).

Event #49: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship

High stakes low-ball players will be out in full force for this four-day Championship Event starting at 3 p.m. PDT.

Players start with 60,000 in chips with blinds at 300/500 and limits of 500/1,000. The opening day will feature ten blind levels of an hour each with subsequent days providing a deeper structure of 90-minute blind levels. The final field size won't be known until tomorrow with late registration open until the start of Day 2.

History of the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship

This tournament began in 2013 when Jesse Martin finished on top of a field of 87 players to win the $253,524 first-place prize. Tuan Le then won back to back titles in 2014 and 2015 with field sizes over 100 players each.

John Hennigan won the biggest one of these events to date in 2016 when he outlasted a field of 125 entrants to win $320,103. The event then went from biggest to smallest when in 2017 Ben Yu bested a field of 80 players to win the $232,738.

The event rebounded last year to 109 players with Nicholas Seiken winning the bracelet and the $287,987 top prize.

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