WSOP Recap: David Chiu Wins His Fifth WSOP Bracelet and Close But No Cigar For Noah Schwartz

WSOP Recap: David Chiu Wins His Fifth WSOP Bracelet and Close But No Cigar For Noah SchwartzWith field sizes so large it’s not often you get a shot at a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet…well unless your name is Dan Kelly that is. This is why the $172.931 that Noah Schwartz will be adding the Bank of America, this morning, will be scant consolation to a man who came so close to winning his first gold bracelet.

Schwartz was the chip leader as Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) reached its dramatic conclusion. By the time 1,021 players boiled down to a preserved quantity of nine not only did Schwartz have the chips, but also he had the skill and experience to back it up.

But despite getting heads-up with Josh Pollock, and holding a 3:1 chip lead, Schwartz just couldn’t get the job done. It wasn’t from the want of trying with Pollock coming back from the dead on several occasions before the final hand saw Pollock and Schwartz both hitting straights on a [4d] [3h] [2h] flop. Schwartz held the wheel, but Pollock held [5c] [6d] for the six-high straight, and two cards later he was our latest champion taking home $279,431 and a WSOP gold bracelet.

David Chiu has made it through some stern competition to capture his fifth WSOP bracelet in Event #23: $2,500 Seven Card Stud for $145,520. Mixed game specialist Matthew Ashton, 2010 WSOP Player of the Year (POY) Frank Kassela and WSOP bracelet winners Gary Benson and Michael Mizrachi all found their way to the final table. But it was the trio of Freddie Ellis, Scott Seiver and the eventual winner, Chiu, who lasted the longest. The story of Ellis was a truly wonderful one as the 78-year old former $10,000 WSOP Seven Card Stud Champion once again found himself vying for the gold. Unfortunately, his ride came to a halt at the hands of Chiu leaving young, and not so young, battling it out for the title. It’s been another fantastic year for Seiver but try as he might he could not add a WSOP bracelet to the PCA High Roller that he won at the start of the year. Chiu dedicated his victory to the late, great Dr. Jerry Buss who was honored at the start of this competition by the WSOP officials and L.A Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

Event #24: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) has squeezed and squashed itself down to 17-players and Salvatore Dicarlo has the chip lead after doubling through Arshin Gamini QQ v AK in the final hand of the night. Once again a small select band of the very best players in the game have managed to find their way to the cream with Mohsin Charania and Zimnan Ziyard still in with a shout of winning their first WSOP gold bracelet.

Robert Mizrachi tops the final 27-player field in Event #25: $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better. Shawn Buchanan, Brian Hastings, George Danzer, Jonathan Duhamel,  Alex Kostritsyn, Mike Matusow, Jeff Lisandro, Maria Ho, Huck Seed and Dan Kelly all determined to make it a tough fight.

The Seniors NLHE Championship always draws one of the largest fields of the WSOP and this year was no different. 4,407 players grabbed their walking sticks, hobbled into the Rio and took their seat, and after two days of action Alexander Kunichoff has the chip lead with 491-players remaining.

Finally, Event #27: $3,000 NLHE (Mixed Max) has placed Day One into the record books with Calvin Anderson, Dominik Nitsche and John Hennigan leading the final 234-players from a started field of 593.