2011 World Series of Poker

Event #55: $50,000 Poker Player's Championship
Day: 4
Event Info

2011 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kq
Prize
$1,720,328
Event Info
Buy-in
$50,000
Prize Pool
$6,144,000
Entries
128
Level Info
Level
27
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
30,000

Rast on a Roll

2-7 Triple Draw

Yan Chen raised from under the gun, Josh Arieh called from the cutoff, and Brian Rast called as well from the small blind. Rast and Arieh each drew two, while Chen took one. Rast checked, Chen bet, Arieh called, Rast raised, and both Chen and Arieh called.

On the second draw, Rast stood pat, Chen took one, and Arieh two. This time Rast bet out, and both of his opponents called.

The third draw saw Rast stand pat again and his two opponents each draw one more card. Rast bet out once more, Chen folded, and Arieh called.

Rast turned over {7-}{5-}{4-}{3-}{2-}, and Arieh mucked.

Player Chips Progress
Brian Rast us
Brian Rast
WSOP 6X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
3,530,000 420,000
Josh Arieh us
Josh Arieh
WSOP 6X Winner
1,050,000 -370,000

Tags: Brian RastJosh AriehYan Chen

Arieh Takes from Glantz

2-7 Triple Draw

Josh Arieh raised on the button, and Matt Glantz called out of the small blind. Glantz drew two, Arieh drew three, and Glantz bet out. Arieh called.

On the second draw, Glantz drew one, Arieh drew two, and Glantz led again. Arieh raised, and Glantz called.

Glantz drew one on the final draw, Arieh patted, and Glantz check-folded to a bet.

Player Chips Progress
Matt Glantz us
Matt Glantz
1,730,000 -190,000
Josh Arieh us
Josh Arieh
WSOP 6X Winner
1,420,000 260,000

Tags: Josh AriehMatt Glantz

Seiver Back on the Horse

2-7 Triple Draw

Scott Seiver raised on the button, Josh Arieh called out of the small blind, and Matt Glantz re-raised from the big. Seiver and Arieh called.

Arieh drew two, Glantz drew one, and Seiver drew three. Arieh checked, Glantz bet, and both Seiver and Arieh called.

On the second draw, Arieh and Glantz drew one, and Seiver drew two. The same betting action occured.

All three players drew one on the final draw, and then checked. Seiver's {q-}{7-}{5-}{4-}{3-} was best, and he won the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Matt Glantz us
Matt Glantz
1,920,000 -110,000
Scott Seiver us
Scott Seiver
WSOP 4X Winner
1,540,000 440,000
Josh Arieh us
Josh Arieh
WSOP 6X Winner
1,160,000 70,000

Tags: Josh AriehMatt GlantzScott Seiver

Shchemelev Doubles Through Lisandro

Level 19
Vladimir Shchemelev
Vladimir Shchemelev

Omaha-8

Vladimir Shchemelev opened with a raise from middle position, then Jeffrey Lisandro three-bet from late position. It folded back to Shchemelev who reraised again, Lisandro made it five bets total, and Shchemelev called with his last chips.

Shchemelev: {6-Diamonds}{6-Spades}{3-Spades}{2-Diamonds}
Lisandro: {A-Clubs}{K-Diamonds}{Q-Diamonds}{8-Clubs}

The board ran out {3-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}{5-Diamonds}{Q-Spades}{2-Spades}, which gave the Russian a scoop. He bumps back to 590,000, while Lisandro slips to 780,000.

Tags: Jeffrey LisandroVladimir Shchemelev

"Biggest Flip of My Life"

Scott Seiver couldn't hold.
Scott Seiver couldn't hold.

Pot-Limit Omaha

Scott Seiver raised to 55,000 in the cutoff, Josh Arieh called on the button, and Brian Rast defended his big blind. The dealer fanned {a-Spades}{7-Diamonds}{4-Hearts}, Rast checked, Seiver continued for 115,000, and both Arieh and Rast called.

Time for things to get crazy.

The turn was the {8-Clubs}, and Rast led for 250,000. Seiver potted (1.27 million), Arieh quickly mucked, and Rast went into the tank. He eventually shrugged, and called all in for 1.05 million chips.

Seiver: {a-Clubs}{4-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}{6-Diamonds}
Rast: {10-Clubs}{9-Spades}{7-Spades}{7-Hearts}

"Please hold," Seiver chanted. "Please hold."

The river was the {8-Hearts}, which paired the board and gave Rast a winning full house. Seiver slapped the table furiously. It took a minute or so for the dealer to verify the counts, and Seiver was frantically typing on his phone the entire time.

"I'm pretty sure that was the biggest flip of my life," he lamented after Rast was shipped a wave of chips.

We later found out what he was typing on his phone:

@Scott_Seiver: Had to fade 13 outs once for 5 million chips where avg is 1.3 with 13 left. Brian Rast is luckier than I am.

Player Chips Progress
Brian Rast us
Brian Rast
WSOP 6X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
3,100,000 1,540,000
Scott Seiver us
Scott Seiver
WSOP 4X Winner
1,100,000 -1,380,000

Tags: Brian RastScott Seiver

Another Deep Run in the $50K for Russian Phenom Vladimir Shchemelev

Level 19
Vladimir Shchemelev
Vladimir Shchemelev

Last year, the World Series of Poker was taken by storm with the emergence of Russian Vladimir Shchemelev. First, he stormed his way to the final table of the $50,000 Player's Championship en route to a second-place finish behind Michael Mizrachi. Then, he made three more final tables during the 2010 Series.

His finishes at last year's WSOP include a seventh-place finish in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, another seventh in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 Championship and a fourth-place finish in the $2,500 Seven Card Razz. In total, he earned $1,144,617 at the 2010 WSOP.

This year, Shchemelev has been rather quiet. He only has one final table and that came back in Event #3: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better. Unfortunately, his run ended in eighth place for $25,174 -- much farther from the gold he dreams of. Shchemelev also finished in the money in the $2,500 Limit Hold'em / Six Handed event for $4,743. So far, he's locked up nearly $125,000 with this in-the-money finish.

Although we may have lost our defending champion on Day 2, we could see a repeat runner-up performance from Shchemelev -- or better, he could win. Is it the Russian's time? He sure has a lot of ork cut out for him as his stack is short, but anything could happen in these swingy games.

Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for coverage on his run.

Tags: Michael MizrachiVladimir Shchemelev

Seiver Makes the Call, Gets the Chips

Level 19

Pot-Limit Omaha

Minh Ly opened the action with a raise to 52,000 from early position, and Scott Seiver called from the button. Matt Glantz called as well from the big blind, and the flop came {J-Diamonds}{6-Hearts}{4-Spades}. It checked to Seiver who bet 90,000, Glantz called, and Ly folded. The turn came the {A-Clubs}, and both Glantz and Seiver checked.

The river was the {4-Diamonds}, bringing a bet of 155,000 from Glantz. Seiver called, tabling {A-Spades}{9-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{6-Spades} for aces and sixes, and Glantz mucked.

Seiver moves up to 2.48 million, while Glantz slips a bit to 1.96 million.

Tags: Matt GlantzScott Seiver

Language Lessons

Level 19

Matt Glantz and Minh Ly just got into a little friendly banter. After Glantz said something to Ly, Ly responded by asking, "You think I'm the worst player here?"

"No," said Glantz. "I said you speak English the worst," he continued with a smile. "I feel bad for the one that interviews you."

Tags: Minh LyMatt Glantz