Lee Davy brings you the news, and some of his views, on the 12th day of the 46th Annual World Series of Poker, including Phil Hellmuth’s march towards his 14th gold bracelet, Olivier Busquet leading a pro heavy field in the Millionaire Maker, and Daniel Negreanu makes it through to Day 2 of the Limit Hold’em Six-Max event.
Phil Hellmuth Jr. loves proving people wrong. There was a time when he walked around the Rio with the words ‘one trick pony’ sewn into the inside of his baseball cap. He’s going to have unstitch that label. The most successful player in 
World Series of Poker (WSOP) history, is becoming a two trick pony.
Razz is his new thing. In 2012, he won the $2,500 version of the event, last year he lost a dominating chip lead position to finish runner-up to Ted Forrest in the $1,500 version of the game, and this year the $10,000 Razz Championship is the event we start talking about his 14th gold bracelet attempt.
There are 12-players remaining from a starting field of 103 (a 9% drop in field size year-on-year). Hellmuth poised nicely in third spot. His skills aside, he is by far the most experienced player in the world when it comes to the deeper end of a WSOP event. He knows how to close these things out better than anyone.
The British pro Adam Owen leads the field, Shaun Deeb is hoping to become the first player to win two bracelets at this series, Brandon Shack-Harris and Stephen Chidwick are still in the hunt, and the in-form Erik Seidel is also in contention, although I am not sure how confident he is about sealing the deal.
In the money 10k Razz, 16 left. I have average chips & less than average Razz skills
— Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel) June 8, 2015
$271,105 awaits the winner.
Chip Counts
1st. Adam Owen – 591,000
2nd. Thomas Keller – 535,000
3rd. Phil Hellmuth – 307,000
4th. Erik Seidel – 284,000
5th. Mike Leah – 242,000
6th. Mike Gorodinsky – 239,000
7th. Stephen Chidwick – 235,000
8th. Jyri Merivirta – 225,000
9th. Shaun Deeb – 155,000
10th. Eric Wasserson – 141,000
11th. Brandon Shack-Harris – 58,000
12th. Trevor Jones – 39,000
Olivier Busquet Leads a Pro Heavy Field in Event #16: Millionaire Maker $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
I don’t know about you, but when I think of the Millionaire Maker I get this underdog vibe. It’s the tournament with a million guaranteed for first, and the opportunity for an amateur to change their life forever.
I’ve changed my mind.
The third iteration of this event has seen some of the best poker players in the business emerge as serious contenders as the event trundles forth into Day 4.
Leading the way is Olivier Busquet, but with the likes of Niall Farrell (930,000), Steve Gross (847,000), Bart Hanson (845,000), Blair Hinkle (837,000) and Mark Herm (789,000) in the field, it’s going to be difficult for poker’s Rocky to emerge from that lot.
That being said, there is a long way to go.
7,275 players have created a first prize of $1.2m (a 9% drop in field size year-on-year), and the final 105 players are guaranteed at least $8,151 for their efforts.
I, for one am surprised that the field diminished. I thought the dregs from the Colossus would have picked this one out as a ‘must play’ event. I guess I was wrong.
Top Five Chip Counts
1st. Olivier Busquet – 1,140,000
2nd. Aaron Leonard – 952,000
3rd. Niall Farrell – 930,000
4th. Wendy Freeman – 907,000
5th. Kelly Minkin – 858,000
Gregory Kolo Leads Event #18: $1,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em
Gregory Kolo is on course to win his second bracelet in successive years, after taking the lead with 29 remaining in the $1,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em event.
At the start of this series WSOP officials made changes to the structures to give players a bigger bang for their buck, but it seems the players would much prefer to get it over and done with.
The Hyper Hold’em event attracted 1,436 players, and the second Turbo event of the series has attracted 1,791. That’s a 22% increase on the field that Doug Polk waded through to pick up his first bracelet last year.
$298,290 waits up top and the likes of Stuart Rutter (368,000), Adam Bilzerian (302,000), and Joe Kuether (175,000) still in contention to win that pile of cash.
Here are the top five chips counts.
Top Five Chip Counts
1st. Gregory Kolo – 862,000
2nd. John Gale – 576,000
3rd. Nitesh Rawtani – 487,000
4th. Nicolas Long – 484,000
5th. Mark Darner – 480,000
Event #19: $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Handed
This is a new event, and 319 people were glad that it was on the schedule. A prize pool of $870,870 has been generated, there is $230,799 up top, with 36 players getting paid at least $5,129.
There were 160 left at the close of Day 1: David Benyamine (44,100), Carlos Mortensen (40,500), Daniel Negreanu (40,200) and Connor Drinan (38,400) star.
Here are the top five chip counts.
Top Five Chip Counts
1st. Joseph Thomas – 124,900
2nd. Aleksandr Denisov – 85,500
3rd. William Toh – 83,500
4th. Jorryt van Hoof – 75,300
5th. Daniel Idema – 65,000
