In Friday’s action at the 2012 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, David ‘ODB’ Baker won Event #37, the $2,500 Eight-Game Mix. (For the record, this is not the David ‘Bakes’ Baker who won the $10k HORSE last weekend.) The four-day event attracted 477 entrants, including last year’s winner, Jerrod Ankenman, who had to settle for finishing 20th this time around. Nearly half of the final 27 players had bracelets sitting at home, but it was first-timer Baker who outlasted the lot, despite starting heads-up play against Greg Mueller with a 4:1 chip disadvantage. Baker earned $271k for the long-awaited victory (his 27th WSOP cash), while Mueller took $167k and third-place finisher Kevin Calenzo settled for $106k.
Dung ‘Gomer’ Nguyen won Event #38, the $1,500 NLHE, earning $607k for rising to the top of a 2,534-strong field over three days of play. It’s the first bracelet for Nguyen, who only agreed to take part in the event when his friend volunteered to take half his action. Nguyen started final table play with a sizable chip advantage and never relinquished control. Theo Tran earned $377k for being the last to fall at Nguyen’s hands, making this Tran’s second second-place finish at a WSOP event.
On Saturday night, Jan-Peter Jachtmann won Event #39, the $10k PLO, earning $661k for coming out on top of a 239-strong field over three days. At one of the 2012 series’ quicker final tables, the German veteran dispatched Andrew Brown to claim his first bracelet and deny Brown his second. Brown earned $408k, while Steven Silverman took third and $300k.
Ronnie Bardah won his first bracelet by taking Event #40, the $2,500 Limit Hold’em. Bardah started the third and final day dead last on the chip count, but the Massachusetts man battled his way to heads-up action against Marco Johnson, who began the day with the second-shortest stack. On the final hand, an ace on the river gave Bardah a full house, the victory and $182k. Johnson earned $112k, while Vincent Gironda took third and $73k.
In other Saturday action, Event #41, the $3k NLHE, closed out the second day of play with just 30 survivors from the original 1,394 entrants. Joseph Chaplin is narrowly ahead of Jackie Glazier by a margin of 1.085m to 1.077m chips, with JP Kelly well back with 742k. Day 2 of Event #42, the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-Or-Better, saw 22 of the original 393 entrants still in the hunt. Jeffrey Lisandro is chip champ with 355k, followed by Perry Friedman with 263k and broadcaster Norman Chad with 224k. The first day of Event #43, the $1,500 NLHE, saw 2,770 entrants take their seats, but only 320 will reconvene at the Rio on Sunday. Sam Barnhart leads with 169k, followed by Henry Lu (141k) and Andres Sanchez (115k).
Finally, don’t ever lose a prop bet with EPT San Remo 2010 champ Liv Boeree. Vanessa Rousso is used to turning heads, but she had an even easier time of it on Friday when she showed up to play dressed as a giant cockroach. Too bad they don’t do this in other sports tournaments. Can you imagine Tiger Woods playing the Masters dressed as Gumby?
