John Reading didn’t waste any time winning his first WSOP bracelet in the Hyper Hold’em event
1. Colossus getting smaller
22,374 has become 39 in The Colossus and although there’s been a lot of talk about the size of the first prize ($638,880 from an $11m prize pool), the remaining players won’t be too concerned about that now. The aim is to play down to the champion today, with action due to restart at 2pm.
Top of the pile is US player Ray Henson, no slouch in the live arena. He finished 12th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event and has cashes close to $2m. There’s a very good chance that The Colossus bracelet is going to stay in the States whoever wins though – 33 of the 39 players are from the US, with three Canadians, and one each from Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands rounding the pack off. Perhaps the most famous name is one of the Canadians though – bracelet winner Mike Leah.
All 39 players are now guaranteed $23,022 but after grinding for three solid days, they’ll be looking at a final table appearance which will be worth $67k rising to six figures for seventh. The final table will be live streamed with hole cards but we have no idea what time it will start. If you’re not in the US, get ready for a very late night/early morning.
2. John Reading goes Hyper
In comparison to The Colossus, the Hyper Hold’em event was over in a flash – it took just two short days for John Reading to win his first bracelet and $252,068. With 20-minute levels the field was whittled down from 1,436 on Day 1 to the final table. The final table itself took just one hour and 45 minutes to complete!
The runner-up was Marc MacDonnell from Dublin, Ireland, who is also the highest non-American finisher so far at this year’s series. He cashed for $155,876.
3. Tuan Le for the repeat?
The $10k 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Championship might have only attracted 109 runners, but it was the toughest field of the series so far. More kudos for Tuan Le then, who came out of Day 2 on top of the final seven with a monster chip lead. What’s more, he’s looking to defend his title after winning the same event last year.
In 2014 he won $355,324 and his first gold bracelet by beating out Justin Bonomo heads-up and surviving a final table that contained Eli Elezra, George Danzer and Phil Galfond. Le – who hasn’t cashed since – has an arguably easier ride on paper in 2015, but he’ll know that converting the chip lead into another bracelet is no forgone conclusion.
In his way are names like Rep Porter, Calvin Anderson and Phil Galfond (again). The action kicks off at 2pm today and the live stream will kick in (minus hole cards) as soon as they get down to the official final table of six.
4. Event 8: $1,500 PLO; Event 9: $1,500 Razz
639 players entered and after Day 1 just 108 survived, with Michael Rocco bagging up the chip lead with a stack of 123,300. Antonio Esfandiari was good for seventh place (94,600) with Jonathan Duhamel (78,900) in 12th. Chris Moorman (26,900) and Andrew Teng (40,100) are flying the flag for the UK.
Day 1 of the $1,500 Razz was also completed last night, with 192 of the 462 players set to come back today. Alex Kuzmin is the man to catch, but the field is still stacked with names such as Jimmy Fricke, Eugene Katchalov, Shaun Deeb, Daniel Negreanu, Todd Brunson and the man of the moment, James Woods.
5. Here comes a biggie!
One of the first major events of the 2015 WSOP is due to start today, the $10k Heads-Up No-Limit Championship. The three-day event, capped at 512 players, will draw all the big names and should deliver an awesome finale on Thursday, with the live stream set to start at 7pm.
Watch it!
The Colossus final table should play out tonight but the first on the live stream is the $10k 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball and it should be fascinating to watch with Tuan Le going for the repeat and Phil Galfond looking to stand in his way. Watch it here.
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