Scott Seiver recovers from a near-death poker experience to win his third bracelet in the $10,000 Razz Championship, and Anatoliy Dykalis Zryin takes down the $1,500 Omaha Mixed with minimal expertise in most of the formats.
Scott Seiver has taken down his third World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet. Seiver doesn’t play much these days (he hasn’t cashed outside of Las Vegas since 2016), but he’s now won two bracelets in successive years in the grandest tournament series of them all.
The American conquered the 116-entrant field in the $10,000 Razz Championship to bank the $301,421 first prize, a year after winning the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship for $296,222, and more than a decade since winning the 2008 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $755,891.
Seiver returned for Day 3, fifth in chips, and Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson hunting for his seventh bracelet at the front of the pack. By the time the action had condensed to the 8-handed final, only George Alexander had never won a bracelet, with 20 wins amongst the other seven.
Ferguson wasn’t alone in his hunt for a seventh bracelet; Daniel Negreanu was also in the house, as was the WSOP Player of the Year leader, Dan Zack.
By the end of the day, only two remained in Seiver and the 2018 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E Champion, Andrey Zhigalov. Seiver’s inclusion in the End Game was miraculous after finding himself with only two big bets when three-handed, only to fight back, eliminate Ferguson, and force the event into an unscheduled fourth day.
Zhigalov was a stubborn foe, falling as low as five big bets during heads-up play, but Seiver couldn’t put him away for the longest time until the Russian eventually succumbed to Seiver’s intense pressure.
The win is Seiver’s 13th of his career, and he’s now earned $23.8m in live tournament earnings.
Thrilled to win my third bracelet today, overcoming a 20:1 chip deficit then having a 20:1 chip advantage before it coming back to only 2:1 before winning. Had to beat the best to get here, and that makes it all the sweeter. Thank you to everyone.
— Scott Seiver (@scott_seiver) June 29, 2019
Final table results
1. Scott Seiver – $301,421
2. Andrey Zhigalov – $186,293
3. Chris Ferguson – $131,194
4. Dan Zack – $94,305
5. Daniel Negreanu – $69,223
6. Andre Akkari – $51,911
7. David Bach – $39,788
8. George Alexander – $31,185
Three other skyscrapers tumbling late in this one included the defending champion, Calvin Anderson (10th), the former WSOP Player of the Year, Mike Gorodinsky (11th) and the Poker Central founder, Cary Katz (12th).
Zyrin wins the $1,500 Omaha Mix
Andrey Zhigalov was unable to bring the gold home to Russia, but Anatoliy Dykalis Zryin faired better in Event #63: $1,500 Omaha Mix by taking down the 717-entrant field, including last year’s Omaha Hi-Lo/Big O Mixed winner, Yueqi Zhu, heads-up, for the title.
It was a sweet moment for Zyrin after losing a 4:1 heads-up chip lead to Brett Apter in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event earlier in the series. It was also a remarkable moment as Zyrin had never played Limit Omaha in his life, and had only played Big O and Omaha Hi-Lo a few times.
“This is something unbelievable,” said Zyrin after the win.
Final table results
1. Anatolii Zyrin – $199,838
2. Yueqi Zhu- $123,466
3. James Van Alstyne – $84,106
4. Mesbah Guerfi – $58,289
5. Aron Dermer – $41,112
6. Iori Yogo – $29,518
7. Alan Sternberg – $21,582
Three other stars of the game who didn’t need the valet until late in the night were the former WPT500 winner, Sean Yu (10th), partypoker’s ambassador, Patrick Leonard (11th), and the former World Poker Tour (WPT) Champion, Joe Tehan (15th).
