Another exciting weekend of WSOP action has passed by and five more champions have been crowned.
The first weekend winner was 29-year-old American Josh Pollock. The bracelet came in event 22, a PLO tournament with a $1,500 buy-in. 1,022 players took part and after three days of action the only man left standing between Pollock and the $280k first prize was WSOP regular Noah Schwartz. After a 62-hand-long heads-up battle Schwartz was left still seeking that elusive first bracelet. Brit, James Park took third place for just over $100k.
The $2,500 seven card stud event drew in a host of the games top talent and the final table was the perfect exhibition of that, featuring the likes of Frank Kassela, Michael Mizrachi and Scott Seiver. But in the end it was American David Chiu who proved his worth and showed why he has won all those WSOP titles in the past. Delivering an excellent performance from start to finish, Chiu claimed his 5th career bracelet in style along with the $145k first prize.
Event 24 was one of the more familiar $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments with the bigger fields. After only three days 1,731 players were whittled down to one and that man was Corey Harrison. The American was delighted with his first ever bracelet and a winner’s cheque worth $432k, but a special mention has to go out to the British contingent who put on a great show capturing 2nd, 7th and 8th spots.
The higher buy-in $5k Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event again attracted many of the games best players but when the dust had settled Danny Fuhs yet another American was the man who raised his arms in triumph after winning his first bracelet along with $277k. Other players at the final table included Robert Mizrachi, Brian “Stinger” Hastings and Jeff Lisandro. While the likes of Jonathan Duhamel, Mike Matusow and the unstoppable Dan Kelly narrowly missed out.
The final bracelet of the weekend period went to Kenneth Lind who claimed the $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship. 4,407 players, the largest field of the WSOP so far turned out to play in the prestigious event and after three very long days of poker, Lind defeated fellow American Dana Ott heads-up to win the bracelet plus $634,809 in prize money.
Four more tournaments are currently underway with event 27, the $3,000 Mixed Max – No Limit Hold’em affair down to the final 3. Event 28 another $1,500 NLHE tournament has 16 players remaining with poker legend TJ Cloutier still in the mix. The $5k H.O.R.S.E event is down to the final 28, with the likes of Tom Scheider, Gus Hansen, Todd Brunson, Greg Mueller and David Benyamine all vying for the lead. While event 30, which virtually marks the halfway stage of this year’s WSOP, is another $1k NLHE tournament and with 218 of the original 2,108 entrants left, play has finished for the day only two spots of the money bubble.
