In this week’s Calling The Clock, Lee Davy reminds you that Mohsin Charania won a Triple Crown, Ryan Hughes could win the World Series of Poker Player of the Year award without winning a bracelet, and much more.
Soon the Galileo 4.5 inchers will be packed away as the star-filled spectacle that is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) will soon slip onto the Big Dipper and vanish into another cosmos for 12-months. But until that teary-eyed moment, we still have some stargazing to do.
Mohsin Charania is a missionary for the professionals who prefer the money over the titles, believing prestige is for people like Phil Hellmuth Jr. But this week, we can allow him a few minutes of sentimentality, as he gave the 1,580 players who entered Event #52: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) a good spanking on his way to a $364,438 windfall, and a place in the lusted after, Triple Crown Club.
The European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event, World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event, and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner wasn’t the only Chicago born player to win a bracelet this week after Tom Koral took down the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event.
Only five people have managed what Charania did (Ashton Griffin, Roland de Wolfe, ElkY, Jake Cody, and Davidi Kitai), and only two people have ever won a gold bracelet hailing from Argentina. The first was Ivan Luca (2015), and the second was Andres Korn who won the top prize of $618,215 for winning the $5,000 NLHE event.
Sticking with the numbers theme and the UK won their fourth bracelet of the summer when Max Silver switched from NLHE to Limit to win his first bracelet in the $3k 6-Handed event, and Shai Zurr won Israel’s second bracelet event of the summer when he took down the $1k NLHE Turbo.
Tommy Le called himself a tough fish on his way to one of the largest prizes of the year after bagging the $938,732 first prize in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship. Alexandru Papazian became the All Time Live MTT money earner in Romania after winning the record-breaking $888 Crazy Eights event, and Sebastian Langrock, a former winner of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, put that bankroll to good use after taking down the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Mix.
Thomas “FLOATZ” Cannuli won the largest buy-in online bracelet event in history when he won the $3,333 Online High Roller. Rulah Divine won a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event after qualifying online for $60. Jens Lakemeier won Germany’s first bracelet in the $2,500 Big Bet Mix, and Smith Sirisakorn won the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo or Better/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Mix.
Other catchy songs from the WSOP jukebox included the release of the ant-like details of ESPN’s and PokerGO’s coverage of the WSOP Main Event, and the decision of the WSOP to close down their WSOP Online UK operation.
And all of that means the fight for the WSOP Player of the Year looks a little something like this.
WSOP Player of the Year Leaderboard
1. Ryan Hughes – 758.74
2. John Racener – 729.92
3. John Monnette – 697.75
4. Chris Ferguson – 693.42
5. Ray Henson – 666.72
6. Ben Yu – 625.95
7. James Obst – 625.77
8. Alex Foxen – 623.87
9. Barry Greenstein – 596.06
10. Mike Leah – 579.74
Could this be the first year that the person first past the finishing post doesn’t have a gold bracelet on his wrist?
Online Poker News
It was a little quiet on the online poker front this week, but PokerStars were involved in a few bits and pieces. The largest online poker room this side of the little green men who hide in the sand dunes of Mars announced plans to roll out their new Stars Rewards program everywhere except New Jersey.
Stars associates Kevin Hart and Usain Bolt announced plans to compete in a series of challenges where the public vote for the winners via social media. Check out #Gameon if you want to be involved. The best sign that poker is about to evolve emerged when PokerStars moved PokerStars Power Up into Alpha testing status (check out your lobby for details). And Stars continued their deep dive into Discourse by offering members who use the chit-chat network a freeroll.
Onto PokerStars’s competitors and I sat down with a member of the 888Poker managerial team to understand the philosophy and drive behind Taking Back The Game. And I also found time to speak to the experienced Tournament Director, Christian Scalzi, about his new relationship with partypoker LIVE and the MILLIONS brand.
Bits and Bobs
I will end with a few snippets that I can’t logically fit anywhere else.
Ed Sheeran quit Twitter this week, and I wrote why I think it’s a good idea that a few professional poker players followed him.
Ignition declared their brave and brazen bid to offer online casino games and poker to Australian players. George Alexander won the Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour (GUKPT) London Main Event for £50k. And Doug Polk gave Fried Meulders a white coat and welcomed him into the Upswing Poker Lab.
Time ladies & gentlemen, someone has just called the clock.
