Event #53: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Day 1 | 2017 World Series of Poker

06-28-2017 02:06 UTC-7

Juha Helppi Bags Day 1 Chip Lead in Event #53: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Max

Brentharrington

Level 10 : 1,200/2,400, 0 ante

Juha Helppi (146,000) finished Day 1 on top of a stacked field in Event $53: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Max. The field started small, but exceeded last year's field with 256 entrants compared to the 245 from last year.

Several of the World Series of Poker Player of the Year leaders came through the field, with Daniel Negreanu and Mike Leah entering but missing the Day 2 cut.

James Obst (78,100) and John Racener (30,700) are in the thick of things starting Day 2 on Wednesday with only 73 players returning. Another duo that might be destined to meet on Day 2 is newly-crowned $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo Champion Christopher Vitch (47,000) and runner-up Benny Glaser (28,600). Vitch captured his second bracelet early on the morning of Day 1 and was in the field for the 3 p.m. start.

A flood of players joined later in the day, including Jason Mercier (36,000), Jack Duong (10,400), and Jeff Lisandro. Duong and Mercier bagged, but Lisandro was eliminated by Roland Israelashvili.

The players return Wednesday at 2 p.m. and take one step closer to the WSOP gold bracelet. Follow all the Day 2 action on PokerNews.com.

Room	Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
Brasilia	704	1	Ayaz Mahmood	United States	111,300	37
Brasilia	704	2	Jane Hitchcock	United States	28,100	9
Brasilia	704	4	Vincent Gironda	United States	18,400	6
Brasilia	704	5	Justin Thurlow	United States	122,000	41
Brasilia	704	6	Jack Duong	United States	10,400	3

Brasilia	705	1	Michael Baxter	United States	31,600	11
Brasilia	705	2	John Hoppmann	United States	85,400	28
Brasilia	705	3	Bryce Landier	United States	27,200	9
Brasilia	705	4	Scott Mayfield	United States	62,500	21
Brasilia	705	5	Steve Chanthabouasy	United States	110,000	37
Brasilia	705	6	Nicholas Seiken	United States	36,500	12

Brasilia	706	1	Jeremy Heartberg	United States	40,200	13
Brasilia	706	2	Carmen Fung	Canada	9,800	3
Brasilia	706	3	Peter Morris	United States	72,400	24
Brasilia	706	4	Joe McKeehen	United States	23,200	8
Brasilia	706	5	Kyle Ray	United States	85,200	28
Brasilia	706	6	Timothy Ferko	United States	62,100	21

Brasilia	707	1	Frank Kassela	United States	96,200	32
Brasilia	707	2	David Goldberg	United States	26,600	9
Brasilia	707	4	Todd Witteles	United States	31,500	11
Brasilia	707	5	Jason Papastavrou	United States	36,100	12
Brasilia	707	6	Max Silver	United Kingdom	69,800	23

Brasilia	708	1	Georgii Belianin	Russia	72,300	24
Brasilia	708	2	Andrew Kelsall	United States	18,400	6
Brasilia	708	3	Yudong Yang	United States	24,000	8
Brasilia	708	4	Mark Radoja	Canada	17,800	6
Brasilia	708	5	Philip Rhee	United States	28,100	9
Brasilia	708	6	David Bach	United States	67,500	23

Brasilia	709	1	Paul Schumer	United States	10,500	4
Brasilia	709	2	Benny Glaser	United Kingdom	28,600	10
Brasilia	709	3	Ronald Carmona	Ukraine	49,800	17
Brasilia	709	4	Mike Schneider (MN)	United States	26,600	9
Brasilia	709	5	Christopher Vitch	United States	47,000	16
Brasilia	709	6	Lena Wang	United States	51,700	17

Brasilia	710	1	Ayman Qutami	United States	89,900	30
Brasilia	710	2	James Obst	Australia	78,100	26
Brasilia	710	3	Joseph Couden	United States	72,000	24
Brasilia	710	4	Frank Yakubson	United States	54,600	18
Brasilia	710	5	Davin Anderson	United States	81,600	27
Brasilia	710	6	Stuart Rutter	United Kingdom	18,600	6

Brasilia	711	1	David Olson	United States	57,700	19
Brasilia	711	2	Kenny Hsiung	United States	46,400	15
Brasilia	711	3	Jonathan Ulrich	United States	11,000	4
Brasilia	711	4	Georgios Kapalas	ATHENS, , GR	86,100	29
Brasilia	711	5	Alex Torry	United States	60,400	20
Brasilia	711	6	Amir Shayesteh	United States	44,300	15

Brasilia	712	1	Guowei Zhang	United States	44,700	15
Brasilia	712	2	Andrey Zhigalov	Russia	80,800	27
Brasilia	712	3	Andre Akkari	Brazil	42,200	14
Brasilia	712	5	Donald Fleming	United States	35,800	12
Brasilia	712	6	Juha Helppi	Finland	146,000	49

Brasilia	713	1	Matthew Greenwald	United States	22,700	8
Brasilia	713	2	Michael Kuo	United States	57,800	19
Brasilia	713	3	Jason Fan	United States	87,400	29
Brasilia	713	4	Cathleen Tran	United States	83,100	28
Brasilia	713	5	John Racener	United States	30,700	10
Brasilia	713	6	Yegor Tsurikov	United States	22,600	8

Brasilia	714	1	Russell Hammontree	United States	56,900	19
Brasilia	714	2	William Romaine	United States	78,000	26
Brasilia	714	3	Mickey Craft	United States	42,500	14
Brasilia	714	4	Jameson Painter	United States	84,800	28
Brasilia	714	5	Jesse Martin	United States	98,200	33
Brasilia	714	6	Derek Whatley	United States	21,400	7

Brasilia	715	1	Yury Ivanou	United States	22,300	7
Brasilia	715	2	Marwan Abdelal	United States	2,100	1
Brasilia	715	3	Jason Mercier	United States	36,000	12
Brasilia	715	4	Jimmy Fricke	United States	84,000	28
Brasilia	715	5	Alex Keating	United States	1	0

Brasilia	716	1	Joseph Risi	United States	84,800	28
Brasilia	716	2	Min Ku	United States	65,000	22
Brasilia	716	3	Diego Cordovez	United States	84,000	28
Brasilia	716	4	Paul Roy	United States	20,200	7
Brasilia	716	6	Konstantin Maslak	Russia	48,900	16

Tags: Benny Glaser Christopher Vitch Daniel Negreanu Jack Duong James Obst Jason Mercier Jeffrey Lisandro John Racener Juha Helppi Mike Leah Roland Israelashvili

06-28-2017 00:49 UTC-7

Anthony Zinno Busts Mike Leah

Shirley Ang

Level 9 : 1,000/2,000, 0 ante

Hand #1:

Mike Leah was all-in from the hijack and was called by the player in the cutoff.

Mike Leah:
Cutoff:

The board ran out to give Leah a straight to survive the tournament.

Hand #2:

Leah raised from the under-the-gun position, the player in the cutoff three-bet. Anthony Zinno called, Leah four-bet, the other player and Zinno both called.

The flop came , Zinno checked, Leah bet, the other player called, Zinno raised, Leah called (effectively putting him all-in) and so did the other player.

The turn was the , Zinno bet and the other player folded. Zinno showed for a set, Leah showed and he was drawing dead. The on the river completed the board and Leah was eliminated.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anthony Zinno	36,000	14,600
Mike Leah	Busted

Tags: Anthony Zinno Mike Leah

06-27-2017 22:46 UTC-7

Daniel Negreanu Eliminated by Yu Dong

Shirley Ang

Level 7 : 600/1,200, 0 ante

Daniel Negreanu as seen in an earlier event

Hand #1:

Daniel Negreanu raised from the under-the-gun position, and action folded to the player in the small blind, who called. The flop came , and the player in the small blind check-called a bet from Negreanu. The turn was the on which they both checked. The on the river completed the board. Now, his opponent bet and Negreanu took some time to think.

"What do you have? What did you do?" Negreanu asked. "Check-called on the flop, checked the turn, bet the river? The ten of hearts doesn't connect to anything on the flop. You must be bluffing. I'm too curious; I call."

His opponent showed for the rivered pair of tens. Negreanu showed , and his opponent took the pot.

Hand #2:

The player in the under-the-gun position raised, and Negreanu called in the big blind. The flop came . Negreanu checked, his opponent bet, and Negreanu raised. His opponent re-raised, actually putting Negreanu all in, and Negreanu called.

"I have quads," Negreanu said. He opened his hand and showed . "Oh, I thought that was a five," he joked.

His opponent showed , and Negreanu needed some help to stay alive.

The turn brought the blank , but the river gave Negreanu the and one of the outs he needed to stay in the tournament.

Hand #3:

Yu Dong, in the hijack, raised. Negreanu three-bet in the small blind, and Dong called.

The flop came . Negreanu bet, Dong raised, Negreanu three-bet, Dong four-bet, Negreanu five-bet, and Dong called.

Negreanu only had 200 chips left, and bet it before the was even dealt on the turn. Dong called. Negreanu showed for a flush draw, and Dong showed for a pair of tens.

The river was a blank, and Dong knocked Negreanu out of the tournament.

Dong got up and asked Negreanu if he could take a photo with him. Negreanu agreed, and they took a selfie. Negreanu then took his own phone out of his pocket and started filming for his own vlog. He described who knocked him out and which hands lead him there, then filmed some more of the scenery of the Amazon Room while walking out.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yu Dong	68,000	68,000
Daniel Negreanu	Busted

Tags: Daniel Negreanu Yu Dong

06-27-2017 15:38 UTC-7

WSOP: Special Obst

Brentharrington

Level 1 : 150/300, 0 ante

James Obst is in the field early having just busted the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Eight or Better.

He is currently sitting in fourth place on the World Series of Poker Player of the Year leaderboard. Ray Henson is currently in first and is still in Day 2 of the $10,000 PLO 8. Obst has four top-10 finishes this year, including a win in the $10,000 Razz Championship for his first WSOP bracelet.

There are likely to be more POY contenders joining the field after they bust from either the $10,000 PLO 8 or the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event that also began earlier today. Below is the current top five of the WSOP POY race.

Player	Points
Ray Henson	531.22
Ryan Hughes	530.13
John Racener	527.75
James Obst	509.01
Mike Leah	508.24

Player	Chips	Progress
James Obst	15,000	15,000

Tags: James Obst John Racener Mike Leah Ray Henson Ryan Hughes

06-27-2017 15:12 UTC-7

Christopher Vitch Back at It

Brentharrington

Level 1 : 150/300, 0 ante

After a long heads-up battle with Benny Glaser in which he captured his second WSOP gold bracelet, Christopher Vitch is back at it again today in Event #53: $3,000 6-Max Limit Hold'em.

Some of the tables are playing with only three players and currently Vitch is seated next to Tyler Bonkowski. Bonkowski already has one WSOP gold bracelet in a Limit Hold'em event .

Player	Chips	Progress
Christopher Vitch	15,000	15,000
Tyler Bonkowski	15,000	15,000

Tags: Benny Glaser Christopher Vitch Tyler Bonkowski

06-27-2017 12:47 UTC-7

Event #53: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Starts at 3 p.m. Today

Shirley Ang

Today at 3 p.m. Event #53: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-handed is set to begin. Last year 245 players played this event, with Rafael Lebron the one to best the rest to win his first bracelet along with a $169,337 cash prize. Lebron has already cashed three times in the series, and will surely be looking forward to trying to defend his title in this one.

Players who enter the event will receive 15,000 in tournament chips. Levels will be 60 minutes long with 15-minute breaks every two levels. Ten levels of play are scheduled for today with registration open through the break after Level 8 till approximately midnight.

PokerNews has activated the My Stack App for this event, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting blog using your iPhone or Android phone.

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.

Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.

Don't miss all the limit hold'em action today right here at PokerNews!

Tags: Rafael Lebron