The best part about the World Series of Poker is that if you come up short in one event there’s another around the corner. Phil Ivey is one that subscribes to this point of view and Event #24 could be where he rights the wrongs of earlier this week. Ivey sits atop the 28 remaining players in the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split-8 or Better that will conclude either later today or early tomorrow morning. After two final tables in the lead up to this one, the multiple bracelet winner will be hoping it’s third times lucky at the Rio.
Michael Gathy has given the home of waffles and Dr. Evil something to shout about at this year’s tournament after he took home his first WSOP bracelet in Event #21. The Belgian took the first $1,000 NLHE on the schedule by the scruff of the neck and by beating a hefty field of 2,799 earned a payday of $440,829. Jamie Armstrong ($273,776) and Noah Vaillancourt ($193,089) took the second and third place honors and were left to wonder what might have been.
It was back to America reigning supreme in Event #22 as Randy Ohel laid the smack down at the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball with one of the longest head-up in WSOP history. Play looked to be winding down when David Baker was eliminated in third place. Little did Ohel and Benjamin Lazer know it but they would be finishing up weary eyed just before 2 a.m. That’s not to say that it was at all boring. Far from it. The lead changed hands a helluva lot during the six and a half hour duel and both were probably thankful that it concluded – Ohel more so with the $145,247 prize.
Event #23 enters its final day with 18 of the 141 that started the day returning with a chance to take down the $3,000 NLHE/Six Handed. Ukrainian Artem Metalidi is out in front with a huge stack of 1,523,000 – only Luis Rodriguez Cruz (1,005,000) having a stack over the one million marker. The field is packed with dangerous players as Eugene Katchalov and Andrew Lictenberger join the Frenchman Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier in the final reckoning.
Another two gatherings were playing out with Event #25 and #26 completing their opening days. 50 of the 366 entrants move onto the second day of Event #25 $1,500 Limit Hold-em Shootout with Jonathan Spinks leading narrowly. Event #26 is all about $3,000’s worth of Pot-Limit Omaha with the lead belonging to Joseph Ressler. As a footnote, Ivey is still alive in this here event. His chip count…700.
