2014 World Series of Poker

Event #17: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship
Day: 2
Event Info

2014 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
62
Prize
$627,462
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,000
Entries
4,425
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
15,000

Welcome to Day 2 of the record-breaking Seniors Event 2014

The Golden Eagle Trophy
The Golden Eagle Trophy

It was once again another record being set at the World Series Of Poker 2014 and the $1,000 Seniors Event attracted a massive field of 4,425 runners, 19 more than 2013 and more than 4,000 entries for the third year in a row. Until the dinner break, almost two third of the field was sent to the rail and five further levels down, only 486 players would bag and tag chips.

Since the top 468 spots will get paid, we start pretty much straight on the bubble with blinds at 600-1,200 and an ante of 200. The tables in the Amazon orange and purple sections are already prepared and we will be playing a total of ten levels today. Chip leader going into Day 2 is Ronald Bradway with 125,100, he is one of only three players that accumulated six digits thus far.

Other notable names that made it through are Sammy Farha (89,400), Marcia Topp (78,900), Donna Rosenthal (70,400), Simon Trumper (45,400), Barny Boatman (39,100) and Irish legend Mick McCloskey (21,200). The min cash is worth $1,752 but everybody is eying the top prize of $627,462 as well as the coveted golden bracelet and stunning Golden Eagle Trophy.

Join us as of 11am Vegas time in the PokerNews live reporting where we get you all the good and bad beats. The full seat draw for Day 2 can be found on the WSOP website.

Hand for Hand Combat

Level 12 : 600/1,200, 200 ante
A full rail has come out to sweat the Seniors as they try to work their way into the money
A full rail has come out to sweat the Seniors as they try to work their way into the money

The tournament has ground to a halt as hand-for-hand play is now underway. With hundreds of seniors struggling to preserve their stacks in order to earn the most coveted cash in an amateur player's poker experience, the tension is high here in the Amazon Room.

A few players with big stacks are taking advantage of the situation, and we've seen quite a few three-bets meant to apply pressure to those who cannot afford to sustain a loss if they hope to make the money.

Two more eliminations are needed to burst the bubble, so stay tuned to see who has their aces cracked or their sets ran down in this crucial spot.

Keeping it Close to the Vest

Level 13 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
As long as you have one of these left in play, anything can happen... just ask Richard Vest
As long as you have one of these left in play, anything can happen... just ask Richard Vest

With hand-for-hand play entering its third or fourth deal, Richard Vest saw his chances of backsliding into the money slipping away with every 200 ante he was forced to sacrifice.

Down to just a single black T100 chip, things were looking bleak indeed for Vest, a resident of Okeechovee, Florida in town to compete in the World Series of Poker like thousands of other seniors.

Vest has cashed here at the Rio once before, when he finished in 268th place for $1,836 in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event back in 2012, but even he couldn't imagine finding away to turn the trick again, not with one-half an ante left to work with.

That final chip was tossed into the pot blind and Vest peered down to peek at {k-}{2-}, not exactly a monster hand but one which would likely be live against the ace-highs looking to send him home short of the money. After one player raised to isolate the vulnerable Vest, it turned out he wasn't even drawing live, as his ragged hand was up against {k-}{10-}.

Vest was all but packing his things to make the ignominious walk of bubble shame, but in a flash the dealer and the deck decided his fate, as a {2-} appeared right in the window to extend a tenuous lifeline. The pair of deuces dodged tens on the turn and river, and with that Vest managed to drag a pot containing right around 1,000 chips. At the same time, another player ran his multiple draws into two pair and whiffed, leading to the long awaited announcement that the bubble had burst.

After dwindling down to a lone chip, Vest rebounded to receive a payday here in the Seniors Championship, and shortly afterward his {10-Diamonds}{5-Diamonds} managed to flop a flush to score him another pot.

He had the chip, and he still has his chair, so we'll see if Vest can continue the miraculous comeback and build a stack with which to start climbing the payout ladder.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Richard Vest us
Richard Vest
2,400
-1,300
-1,300

Tags: Richard Vest

Phillips Up, Farha Down

Level 14 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Dennis Phillips
Dennis Phillips

Dennis Phillips had a miserable few last levels yesterday losing three flips close together to devastate his stack which was hard to take at the end of 11 hours of poker. Phillips seems much happier this afternoon though as he has managed to quadruple up and is now on 62,000 which is, as he told us, above the average stack of 57,717. “Now I’ve got to hang on to it.” he quipped.

Not having such a great start is Sammy Farha who has slid to 30,000, while Simon Trumper is stable on 48000.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Dennis Phillips us
Dennis Phillips
62,000
2,000
2,000
Profile photo of Simon Trumper gb
Simon Trumper
48,000
-1,800
-1,800
Profile photo of Sammy Farha us
Sammy Farha
30,000
-20,000
-20,000
WSOP 3X Winner

Young Ji the Go Getta

Level 15 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Young Ji
Young Ji

Last summer the Seniors Championship became a young man's game, as the inimitable Young Ji weaved his way to a 104th place finish in the 2013 edition of this event.

Along the way Ji became a favorite of railbirds and reporters alike, regaling his tablemates with a selection of jokes so juicy that even his opponents had to laugh along.

"I should not be playing in this event because I am Young," Ji once said. "None of you are young. Only I am young because that is my name."

Ji is back in the house here today playing in his second consecutive Seniors Championship Day 2 in as many attempts, and while his stack sits a little below the average at the moment, the active and energetic player is sure to make some moves as the afternoon progresses.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Young Ji (Ji Young)
Young Ji (Ji Young)
45,000
-500
-500

Tags: Young Ji

Milton Jaffee's Run Comes to an End

Level 16 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante
Jared Jaffee sweats his father Milton
Jared Jaffee sweats his father Milton

Milton Jaffee's son Jared is a well-known pro who has shined on several of poker's most prestigious stages, as his $1,655,465 in reported live earnings can attest.

For the last two days though, Jared was reduced to the role of railbird, sweating his father's action as Milton went deep in the Seniors Championship.

Jared was on hand throughout the day to offer support and talk his father through rundowns of recent hands, and while Milton's run recently ended with a 181st place finish for a $2,986 score, it was clear that skill on the felt runs strong in the Jaffee family.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Milton Jaffee us
Milton Jaffee
Busted

Tags: Milton JaffeeJared Jaffee

Bob Hooks: The Forgotten Texas Road Gambler

Level 17 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

Not many people are familiar with Bob Hooks, but he is a man the poker world should not soon forget. Despite not being active in the poker world anymore, Hooks came up as a Texas road gambler with the likes of Doyle Brunson, T.J. Cloutier, Johnny Moss, Amarillo "Slim" Preston, and so many more.

Hooks got his start in Texas, as so many of the old-time poker legends did, before he eventually made the leap to Las Vegas. Alongside his roommate Brian "Sailor" Roberts, Hooks made it to heads-up play in the 1975 World Series of Poker Main Event, but lost out on the title. Even without poker immortality reached, Hooks has so much to offer looking back on the old days of the game.

To hear some great stories from Hooks and find out much, much more about the legend, please click here to read Chad Holloway's feature piece.

Tags: Amarillo SlimDoyle BrunsonChad HollowayJohnny MossLas VegasT.J. CloutierWorld Series of PokerBob Hooks

Detienne Leads Seniors Championship with 32 Left

Level 21 : 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
Kevin Detienne leads
Kevin Detienne leads

Day 2 of Event #17: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship resumed today with 486 players returning from a record starting field of 4,425. At the end of the day, only 32 remained in contention for the massive $627,462 top prize.

Kevin Detienne ended the day as chip leader and was close to breaking the million-chip mark, finishing with a whopping 988,000. Michael Wilson will return Sunday in second place with 714,000, and Mitchell Lehman is third with 700,000.

Detienne spoke to PokerNews at the end of the day and told us that making an ace-high flush on the river early on had built his stack up. From there, he was always in contention, playing aggressive poker and avoiding any big coin flips with stacks that could hurt him.

"I don’t like coin flips," Detienne stated emphatically.

Dennis Phillips, the third-place finisher in the WSOP Main Event in 2008, rocked a short stack for most of the day but later on he clawed his way back into contention and ended the day in seventh place with 613,000.

The money bubble burst before the end of the first level of the day, and with 468 places paid it fell to Stanley Statkiewicz to be the unfortunate player to be the last to leave with nothing to show for his valiant efforts. After the bubble burst, the dam broke and a flood of players soon began pouring towards the payout desk holding their tickets for an initial min-cash of $1,752. "Payout!" was the constant background soundtrack as dealers called out the fallen players.

A few notables managed to hang on for a bit longer, but Sammy Farha and Barny Boatman couldn’t convert their chips into a big payday. Farha ran hot at the end of Day 1 and returned as one of the top-five stacks, but after doubling up a couple of opponents he was down to below average and eventually went out when he flopped top pair only to finish second best to his opponent’s bottom set. Boatman went out when he called a shove with the {a-Diamonds}{j-Hearts} and was up against the {k-Spades}{q-Spades}. The final board of {6-Spades}{j-Spades}{8-Hearts}{k-Diamonds}{6-Hearts} saw an end to his tournament.

After six levels of play, the field was reduced to 95 and the last four levels after the dinner break quickly saw the returning bunch reduced to 32 before bagging up chips for the night.

The players return Sunday at 11 a.m. when they will play down to a winner.

The PokerNews Live Reporting team will bring you all the eliminations and up-to-date chip counts as well as hand-for-hand coverage of the final table of nine as the seniors battle it out for a WSOP bracelet and a top prize of $627,462.

Tags: Kevin Detienne