A round-up of live tournaments from the periphery of the World Series of Poker including wins for Jack Salter and Julien Sitbon at The Wynn, and Brian Altman and Brett Apter at The Venetian.
Occasionally, the dreamers that have come to Las Vegas to win gold bracelets leave their Rio-based colony, and when they do, two of their alternative anthills are The Wynn and The Venetian.
The Wynn Summer Classic takes in the loose shavings from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) lathe, and in the past week, two $1k events have been on the schedule.
Louis Salter conquered a field of 484-entrants, including beating the mighty Connor Drinan, heads-up, to win the first of two $1k events. The win was Salter’s third of his career, and the British pro has now earned more than $1.3m in live tournament earnings.
Drinan collected $64,295 for his runner-up finish, his best score of the year, and Michael Soyza made his eighth final table of 2019, finishing fourth.
Final table results
1. Louis Salter – $98,452
2. Connor Drinan – $64,295
3. Youngsoo Kim – $43,398
4. Michael Soyza – $30,623
5. Carlos Loving – $22,527
6. Blake Whittingham – $17,336
7. Lily Kiletto – $13,907
8. Bennet Berger – $11,525
Three little mice who avoided the traps for the longest time in this one were the European Poker Tour (EPT) Champ, Manig Loeser (11th), former 888Live London Champ, Tom Hall (31st) and WSOP bracelet winner, Ankush Mandavia (33rd).
The other $1k winner at the Wynn was Julien Sitbon. The Frenchman defeated a field of 545-entrants, including Scott Robbins in heads-up action, to bank the $62,000 first prize.
The Unibet Open winner has now won 12-live tournaments and earned more than $1.2m. It’s his second win of the year, after taking down an Aussie Millions side event in January.
The former PokerStars Championship winner, Raffaele Sorrentino, finished third, the man who finished runner-up in the Wynn Summer Classic Championship event, Homan Mohammadi finished fourth, and the ageless, Pierre Neuville finished sixth.
Final table results
1. Julien Sitbon – $62,000
2. Scott Robbins – $59,041
3. Raffaele Sorrentino – $58,631
4. Homan Mohammadi – $56,00
5. Meddi Ferrah – $53,200
6. Pierre Neuville – $19,331
7. David Thomas – $15,502
8. Christopher Haydt – $12,843
Three more pros with stiffer spines than most in this one included the former Nov Niner Bryan Piccioli (9th), bracelet winner Adrian Apmann (14th) and WPT Champ Alexander Kuzmin (20th)
The Wynn Summer Classic continues until July 16.
Venetian DeepStack Championship Poker Series
If you’re going to have a few bucks on a potential bracelet winner, then Julien Sitbon is a decent shout. The man we’ve just been waxing lyrical about also cashed in a $1k event at The Venetian. Brian Altman won the 518-entrant, $400k GTD event, the 13th win of his career, and his third of 2019 after winning two side events at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in April.
Final table results
1. Brian Altman – $90,905
2. Robert Kuhn – $84,3903. Chin Liang – $48,081
4. Ricky Guan – $36,364
5. Sean Dunwoodie – $27,273
6. Julien Sitbon – $20,707
7. Toby Boas – $16,162
8. William Firebaugh – $12,626
Three other stars who climbed close to the top of the cliff in this one includes WPT Champ Justin Young (11th), bracelet winner Joey Weissman (12th) and one of the best in the business, Joe Kuether (17th).
Finally, Brett Apter topped a 175-entrant field in the second $1k event at The Venetian after beating Joe Kuether, heads-up. Erick Lindgren finished third, and the former United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) winner Vladas Tamasauskas finished sixth. Apter then went on to win the 917-entrant $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout at the WSOP for $238,824.
Final table results
1. Brett Apter – $26,887
2. Joe Kuether – $26,887
3. Erick Lindgren – $14,700
4. Silvio Costa – $10,413
5. Francisco Romero – $7,963
6. Vladas Tamasauskas – $6,248
7. Justin Zaki – $4,778
8. Kevin Wang – $3,675
The UK’s Harry Lodge finished eleventh.
