Our review from the World Series of Poker brings you news of a second bracelet of the summer for Ian Johns, a record-breaking Seniors Event, and Jason Mercier leads the Player of the Year race.
Ian Johns is finding gold bracelets at the rate a Beaver finds wood. The 31-year old, who divides his time between Seattle and Las Vegas, has become the second man to win two bracelets this summer. Jason Mercier is the other magnet of gold.
Johns won his first bracelet in Event #8: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E, and he won his second by defeating 110 entrants in Event #28: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship. He has now won over $500,000 at this year’s festival – not bad for a man who rarely plays tournament poker. It was his 20th WSOP cash, 5th final table, and 3rd career bracelet (he also won a $3k Limit Hold’em event back in 2006).
When asked why he didn’t play No-Limit Hold’em events by WSOP reporters after his win, he answered with beautiful honesty when he said: “I used to play, but these guys passed me by aeons ago. I get in the game, and I don’t know what I am doing.”
Stick with what you know Ian; you aren’t doing too badly.
Final Table Results
1st Ian Johns – $190,635
2nd. Sean Berrios – $179,625
3rd. Alexander Balynskiy – $125,571
4th. David Chiu – $89,810
5th. Jeff Thompson – $65,752
6th. Bill Chen – $49,304
7th. Brock Parker – $37,888
8th. Brian Rast – $29,855
9th. Anh Van Nguyen – $24,140
Mark Radoja finished 11th; Georgios Sotiropoulos finished 13th, and Ronnie Bardah finished 17th.
Cesar Garcia has won Event #23: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em
A Spaniard living in the heart of Wales has outlasted a final table that contained four previous gold bracelet winners to come out on top of Event #23: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
Cesar Garcia, 27, originally from the Canary Islands, now living in Cardiff, defeated 1,419 entrants to earn the largest score of his career. It outstripped the $173,874 that he picked up for a sixth place finish in Season 8 of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event in Berlin the year Davidi Kitai completed the Triple Crown.
Garcia defeated former WSOP bracelet winners Adrian Buckley, Craig McCorkell, Thiago Nishijima, and Anthony Spinella to take the $447,739 first prize.
He now has $920,099 in career live earnings
Final Table Results
1st. Cesar Garcia – $447,739
2nd. Viliyan Petleshkov – $276,660
3rd. Yuriy Boyko – $198,185
4th. Adrian Buckley – $143,598
5th. Kamel Mohammad – $105,253
6th. Craig McCorkell – $78,053
7th. Craig Varnell – $58,569
8th. Thiago Nishijima – $44,478
9th. Anthony Spinella – $34,188
Samuel Chartier bubbled the final table in tenth spot, Andrey Pateychuk’s charge towards a Triple Crown ended in 15th place, and former November Niner John Dolan’s journey ended in 18th place.
Michael Gagliano Wins Event #25: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Michael Gagliano has done BorgataPoker.com proud by winning Event #25: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em under the auspices of their sponsored pro stewardship.
Gagliano, who plays under the pseudonym Gags30, topped a field of 1,045 entrants to take the $448,463 first prize. It is his first-ever live tournament victory. The closest he ever came to bagging a major title came in Season XI of the World Poker Tour (WPT) when a trip to Prague saw him finish fifth for $103,519.
The 31-year-old New Yorker was making his 10th WSOP cash, and second final table, finishing seventh in this event two years ago. The final table was also a landmark for Darryll Fish, who was making two final tables in a single series for the first time in his career. He finished eighth in both. Former EPT Champion Niall Farrell also made the final table finishing in the sixth spot.
Final Table Results
1st. Michael Gagliano – $448,463
2nd. Daniel Cooke – $277,128
3rd. Shankar Pillai – $196,119
4th. Remi Castaignon – $140,596
5th. Zu Zhou – $102,120
6th. Niall Farrell – $75,164
7th. Michael Laake – $56,073
8th. Darryll Fish – $42,405
9th. Gavin O’Rourke – $32,514
Also coming close to a significant cash were Taylor Paur (14th), Adrian Mateos (24th), and Rainer Kempe (26th).
Benny Glaser Wins Event #26: $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better
The UK has their first bracelet of the summer and it’s on the wrist of Southampton’s Benny Glaser. The 27-year old has a stunning WSOP win rate with five cashes, three final tables, and two gold bracelets. His first bracelet came last year when he won the $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event.
Glaser defeated 934 players on route to a payday of $244,103. He has cashed three times this series and was making his second final table appearance after finishing fifth in the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship.
The final table also housed former WSOP bracelet winners Phillip Hui, Brandon Shack-Harris, and the most successful Italian to ever play in a WSOP Max Pescatori.
Final Table Results
1st. Benny Glaser – $244,103
2nd. Benjamin Gold – $150,828
3rd. Motohiro Kondo – $106,070
4th. Phillip Hui – $75,627
5th. Brandon Shack-Harris – $54,680
6th. Zachary Milchman – $40,098
7th. Krupin Ilya – $29,830
8th. Max Pescatori – $22,517
9th. Scott Packer – $17,250
Other notables to cash were Thomas Meuhloecker (15th), Jussi Nevanlinna (21st), and Allen Kessler (23rd).
Johnnie Craig Wins Event #27: $1,000 Seniors Mo-Limit Hold’em Championship
The Seniors event once again proves that it is one of the fastest growing events of the festival after a record breaking 4,499 entrants created a total prizepool of $4,049,100, beating the previous record of 4,425 set two years ago.
The winner was Johnnie Craig, a former Afghan and Iraqi war veteran who owns a restaurant and a few snow cone stands. The 54-year old was cashing at a WSOP event for only the second time in his career.
Craig’s most experienced opponent at the final table was Roger Sippl. The entrepreneur came into the final table with over $3.5m in live tournaments including $1.3m earned when he finished runner-up to Steve O’Dwyer in the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller. Sippl finished third. Craig beat Jamshid Lofti in heads-up action to win the first prize of $538,204.
Final Table Results
1st. Johnnie Craig – $538,204
2nd. Jamshid Lofti – $332,413
3rd. Roger Sippl – $245,389
4th. Joseph Somerville – $182,536
5th. Wesley Chong – $126,829
6th. Paul Runge – $102,366
7th. Eugene Solomon – $78,699
8th. Mike Lisanti – $60,392
9th. Alan Cutler – $46,713
And all that means that Jason Mercier has quite a lead at the top of the WSOP Player of the Year (POY) Leaderboard. Mercier has cashed four times, made three final tables, and won two of them, finishing runner-up in between two victories.
Ryan Laplante is in the second spot with eight cashes and a gold bracelet. Ian Johns sits in third with three cashes and two bracelets. Bart Lybaert and John Monnette sit fourth and fifth with 12 cashes between them.
Current Player of the Year Standings
1. Jason Mercier – 1,195.98 pts
2. Ryan Laplante – 933.28 pts
3. Ian Johns – 912.59 pts
4. Bart Lybaert – 881.41 pts
5. John Monnette – 844.60 pts
