2014 World Series of Poker

Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1
Event Info

2014 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k9
Prize
$622,998
Event Info
Buy-in
$5,000
Prize Pool
$2,542,700
Entries
541
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000

Big Huni Leads After Day 1

Level 10 : 400/800, 100 ante
Chris Hunichen
Chris Hunichen

Day 1 of Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em is in the books, and leading the 129 survivors is Chris Hunichen with 177,200. Hunichen steadily built his stack throughout the day, and is coming off of another deep run at the World Series of Poker. The man known as “Big Huni” finished sixth in Event #9, earning $53,951. In 2013, he finished 13th in a $1,500 buy-in event for $20,504 and sixth in the Millionaire Maker for $229,575.

Joining Hunichen atop the counts are Bryn Kenney and Bjorn Li. Kenney was crippled all the way down to 600 chips at one point after doubling up John Hennigan, but came storming back. Kenney busted Bryan Colin in the final level of the evening with aces against tens — Dario Sammartino nearly joined the action with queens — and Kenney bagged 166,200 chips. Bjorn Li took a big pot off of Tuan Le and then later eliminated the 2014 bracelet winner, bagging 152,900.

Other players to survive the day include 2012 Main Event champion Greg Merson, 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada, Scott Seiver, Nick Schulman, and the defending champion in this event, Erick Lindgren.

Nearly 80% of the field busted on Tuesday, including notables Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Chris Klodnicki, Ryan Riess, Mukul Pahuja, and Phil Hellmuth. Selbst ran into Dylan Hortin’s straight flush in Level 2 — Hortin also busted later on — Riess was delivered a bad beat from Eli Elezra, and Pahuja ran into pocket aces.

Hellmuth three-bet shoved for around 15 big blinds or so with ace-jack of hearts, and Andrea Dato busted him with pocket kings.

Event #24 attracted a total of 541 players — a 25-player increase from 2013. The top 60 players will earn a minimum of $8,746, each member of the six-handed final table will pocket at least $77,145, and the winner will walk away with $622,998 plus the coveted gold bracelet.

Day 2 begins at 1 p.m. PT on Wednesday in the Amazon Room, and PokerNews will be on hand to provide live updates straight from the tournament floor. Until then, enjoy the following Ivey Stories video, and good night from Las Vegas!

Tags: Chris Hunichen

Tilly Wins a Strange One

Level 7 : 200/400, 50 ante
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly

Jennifer Tilly put in a raise on the button and the player in the big blind three-bet to 2,800. Tilly four-bet to 7,000 and the player five-bet to 12,500. Tilly called.

The flop fell {q-Clubs}{q-Hearts}{2-Spades}, the player led out for 2,800 and Tilly raised to 10,000. The player called.

The pair both checked on the turn ({k-Diamonds}), and the {7-Hearts} completed the board. The player moved all in for 21,200, Tilly called and the player showed {9-Spades}{7-Diamonds} for queens and sevens. Tilly revealed {k-Spades}{j-Clubs} for kings and queens, and is now up to 89,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Jennifer Tilly us
Jennifer Tilly
WSOP 1X Winner
89,000 43,200

Tags: Jennifer Tilly

Bonomo Out to Early Lead in 2014 WSOP POY Race

Level 6 : 150/300, 25 ante
Justin Bonomo
Justin Bonomo

According to PokerNews' latest WSOP Player of the Year update, Justin Bonomo is out to an early lead in the 2014 World Series of Poker Player of the Year standings. Bonomo reached his eighth career final WSOP final table last week and finally claimed his first WSOP bracelet, removing his name from the list of the best players without poker's most prestigious piece of hardware.

Bonomo is followed closely in the standings by Brandon Shack-Harris, a cash game player who virtually came out of nowhere to win a bracelet of his own. Shack-Harris won the largest pot-limit Omaha event in Event #3, and followed that up with a runner-up finish in the $10,000 Razz Championship event.

Sitting third in the POY standings through 20 events is George Danzer, who defeated Shack-Harris heads-up in the Razz Championship on Sunday. It was also the first bracelet for Danzer, wideley considered one of the top mixed-games minds in the game.

Rounding out the top five through the first two weeks of the series are Brock Parker and Jonathan Dimmig. Parker picked up his third career bracelet in Event #10, and Dimmig collected the first seven-figure score of the 2014 WSOP with his victory in the Millionaire Maker.

WSOP PLAYER OF THE YEAR TOP 10 (through 20 events)

PlacePlayerPoints
1Justin Bonomo399.00
2Brandon Shack-Harris389.00
3George Danzer372.60
4John Brock Parker349.50
5Jonathan Dimmig300.00
5Vanessa Selbst300.00
7Paul Volpe272.25
8Tuan Le270.00
9Kyle Cartwright251.50
10Jeffrey Smith230.00

With more than 40 events still to come at the WSOP in Las Vegas, plus several events taking place later this year in Australia, the Player of the Year race is still wide open.

Bigger and Better

Level 6 : 150/300, 25 ante

There are already 521 players registered for Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em - registration is open until the start of Level 7 - making this event larger than last year's tournament.

Erick Lindgren was the winner, raking in $606,317 from the $2,425,200 prize pool, and each member of the six-handed official final table walked away with at least $74,768.

In 2009, this event attracted 928 players(!), and Matthew Hawrilenko earned just over $1 million for first place.

Tags: Erick LindgrenMatt Hawrilenko

Smith and Cassavetes Bust Before Break

Level 5 : 100/200, 25 ante
Nick Cassavetes (Event 2) busts
Nick Cassavetes (Event 2) busts

After a series of bets and raises, Dan Smith was all in and at risk with {j-Diamonds}{j-Clubs} against Robert Tepper's {a-Clubs}{q-Clubs}. The board rolled out {a-Spades}{7-Hearts}{5-Spades}{4-Clubs}{7-Diamonds}, and Smith was eliminated.

Tepper is up to around 45,000 chips.

Nick Cassavetes was crippled with {a-Spades}{a-Diamonds} against an opponent's {q-Spades}{q-Diamonds} - the flop, turn, and river came {9-Spades}{j-Diamonds}{q-Hearts}{j-Spades}{9-Diamonds} - and he was eliminated shortly thereafter.

Player Chips Progress
Robert Tepper us
Robert Tepper
45,000 26,000
Nick Cassavetes
Nick Cassavetes
Busted
Dan Smith us
Dan Smith
WSOP 1X Winner
Busted

Tags: Dan SmithNick Cassavetes

Mercier Mashed; Riess Run Out

Level 4 : 100/200, 0 ante
Ryan Riess busts
Ryan Riess busts

Jason Mercier raised to 1,750 out of the small blind, his neighbor reraised to 3,500, and Mercier called. The flop fell {7-Spades}{6-Clubs}{4-Clubs}, Mercier checked, and the player fired out 3,000. Mercier moved all in for 13,200, and the player quickly called.

Mercier: {4-Spades}{3-Spades}
Opponent: {q-Spades}{q-Diamonds}

The turn and river bricked {2-Diamonds}, {8-Clubs} respectively, and Mercier was off to the showers.

Across the room, Ryan Riess was eliminated by Eli Elezra on a flop of {a-}{7-}{2-}. Riess was in a commanding lead with {a-}{k-} against Elezra's {a-}{10-}, but the turn was a {10-}. The river was no help to the 2013 champ, and he hit the rail.

After the hand, Zo Karim said he too had {a-}{10-}.

Player Chips Progress
Ryan Riess us
Ryan Riess
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 1X Winner
Busted
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
WSOP 6X Winner
Busted

Tags: Jason MercierRyan Riess

PokerNews Podcast Episode #223: Game Time feat. Greg Merson

Level 3 : 75/150, 0 ante
Greg Merson
Greg Merson

Week three is underway at the 2014 World Series of Poker, and the crew is back to talk about the Venetian and Sheldon Adelson, some of the new bracelet winners, and more. The 2012 Main Event champion, Greg Merson, then joins the program to talk about his series thus far and play a game of Multiple Bracelet Winner vs. World Cup Footballer against Jason Somerville.

You can subscribe to the entire iBus Media Network on iTunes here, or you can access the RSS feed here. The PokerNews family of podcasts is now available on Stitcher.

Tags: Greg MersonJason SomervillePokerNews Podcast

World Cup or World Series?

Level 2 : 50/100, 0 ante
Andre Akkari
Andre Akkari

The FIFA World Cup is soccer's greatest stage, pitting the top countries in the world against each other in a global competition every four years. This year, 2014, the World Cup will be in Brazil, and it all begins on Thursday, June 12.

The kickoff match will take place between the host country of Brazil and Croatia, beginning at 1 p.m. PT. The competition will last one month and culminate with the final to be held on Sunday, July 13 at 12 p.m. PT.

With so many players representing all different countries from all over the globe, the World Cup is a hot topic just two days away from the competition. One table, Table 5 in the Blue Section of the Brasilia room, saw some chatter spark between Nick Yunis and Andre Akkari. Yunis is Chilean and Akkari is Brazilian, and while the two national sides aren't in the same group to start, they could face off against one another in the second stage.

"You better hope we don't win our group," said Yunis to Akkari with a smile.

"You may win your group, but you’re not going to make it out of the second round," responded the Brazilian.

The two talked back and forth for a little bit longer, and then Akkari added, "You guys have the best team in history — Chilean history that is." The two, and the table, got a good laugh out of this.

With Brazil seeded in Group A and Chile in Group B, the two could meet up in the second stage because the winner of Group A plays the second-place finisher of Group B, and vice-versa.

Ludovic Lacay, who is seated across the table from Yunis and next to Akkari, was questioned a little bit about the French squad, and he seemed cautiously optimistic.

All things considered, if you think the atmosphere has been electric throughout the WSOP thus far, just wait until this massive international affair gets the added jolt that comes from the start of the World Cup. It all begins Thursday afternoon.

Tags: Andre AkkariLudovic LacayNick Yunis

Selbst Cannot Beat a Straight Flush

Level 2 : 50/100, 0 ante
Vanessa Selbst can't beat a straight flush
Vanessa Selbst can't beat a straight flush

There was already 4,800 in the middle and the board was completed {8-Hearts}{6-Clubs}{7-Hearts}{6-Hearts}{j-Clubs} when we reached the table. Dylan Hortin checked, another player checked behind, and Vanessa Selbst fired out 2,800. Hortin moved all in for 9,950, the third player folded, and Selbst called all in for exactly 9,950.

Hortin revealed {5-Hearts}{4-Hearts} for a straight flush, and Selbst stared at the board in amazement for a beat or two before exiting.

Player Chips Progress
Dylan Hortin us
Dylan Hortin
26,200 11,200
Vanessa Selbst us
Vanessa Selbst
WSOP 3X Winner
Busted

Tags: Vanessa SelbstDylan Hortin

MyStack App Available for 2014 World Series of Poker!

Level 2 : 50/100, 0 ante
MyStack App
MyStack App

The PokerNews MyStack App is available for players here in the 2014 World Series of Poker, allowing players to directly update their chip count on the PokerNews Live Reporting page for their friends and family to see.

You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.

Be forewarned, however, any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.