Anyone who thought the battle to become the World Series of Poker’s (WSOP) Most Valuable Pensioner was an all male affair was put in their place today. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman won the Seniors NLHE Championsip and a tidy $603,713 after overcoming three of her male peers. No one gave Shulman a chance at the start of Event #29’s final day as she trailed the other three players by some margin. This didn’t dampen her spirit and if anything spurred her on to play even harder with her first bracelet arrived after around three hours play – and if you win your first bracelet in this event it’s definitely been worth the wait. Shulman added that on Father’s Day she felt a “warm presence” come over her and that her deceased father’s presence spurred her on. To add further gloss to the win was the fact this was the largest ever field (4.128) to take part in the WSOP’s very own Senior Bowl.
When we went to press Carter Phillips and Joe Cada were still battling it out in Event #31: $1,500 NLHE. Phillips is the chip leader with 7,585,000 with Cada a little way back on 5,025,000. Check back later to find out who prevailed.
Event #32 was another of those events that was supposedly meant to adorn the wrist of a guy called Phil or John. David Bakes Baker tore up the Ivey/Hellmuth/Monnette script in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. by finishing off Monnette in a heads-up to take the $451,779 prize and his second bracelet back to Michigan. Ivey was the first to go before Hellmuth shortly after as both of the veterans continue to search for their next bracelet. Monnette, meanwhile, will have to wait for his second bracelet of 2012 after the old adage that bracelets are like London buses didn’t ring true.
The final day of Event #33 will start tomorrow with an unfamiliar Russian topping the 14 players that advance. Vitaly Meshcheriakov leads the latest $1,000 NLHE event with a stack of 946,000 meaning he has a very good chance of taking the $440,238 top prize. He is closely pursued by Dylan Hortin (939,000) and Joseph Marzicola (875,000) and will need to bring his best game to the table on the final day.
Event #34 was one of those to get underway on Tuesday with David Benyamine returning at the top of a field of 72 who remain in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha – Six Handed event. 88 players return in Event #35: $2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit) with Andre Akkari leading the field heading into day two. This is Ivey’s latest attempt to capture a bracelet and he’ll be hoping to be in the final reckoning come the end of the final day.
