The fifth day of the 2017 World Series of Poker saw no bracelets awarded, but did see plenty of action as big-name pros began leaving their mark on this year’s WSOP.
Phil Hellmuth Bubbles $111,111 Final Table
Without a doubt, Sunday’s biggest story was the $111,111 One Drop High Roller reaching the final table.
Day 3 of the largest WSOP buy-in event of the summer saw the final 23 players of a 130-entry field return to action. With only 20 spots getting paid, Moritz Dietrich, Phil Galfond, and bubble boy Dan Shak were the three players to leave empty handed.
Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were recent bracelet winner Igor Kurganov (18th for $166,666), 2014 Big One for One Drop champ Dan Colman (16th for $187,772), SCOOP Main Event winner Charlie Carrel (15th for $187,772), inaugural One Drop champ Antonio Esfandiari (11th for $257,072), and 14-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (10th for $312,006).
Hellmuth’s demise came at a five-handed table after Dario Sammartino opened for 360,000 under the gun and the “Poker Brat” three-bet all in for 785,000 one spot over. 2014 WSOP Main Event champ Martin Jacobson then four-bet min-raised to 1.21 million from the button, which cleared out the blinds and Sammartino.
Jacobson tabled the A♣K♥, which had the A♥4♠ of Hellmuth crushed. The board ran out A♦6♠J♠8♥7♥ and Hellmuth had to settle for tenth place. It marked his third One Drop cash after finishing fourth in 2012 for $2,645,333 and sixth in 2015 for $696,821.
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier began the day as chip leader, and he never relinquished it bagging 16,825 million at the end of the night, nearly twice as much as his next closest competitor. Others still in contention for the bracelet are 2016 Super High Roller Bowl victor Rainer Kempe and online pro Doug Polk.
The remaining nine players are guaranteed a $312,006 payday, and four will cash for more than $1 million. But everyone has their eyes on the $3,686,865 top prize.
Final Table Lineup
1 Dario Sammartino 7,975,000
2 Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 16,825,000
3 Rainer Kempe 5,760,000
4 Andrew Robl 6,670,000
5 Doug Polk 6,090,000
6 Haralabos Voulgaris 2,865,000
7 Michael Kamran 3,470,000
8 Chris Moore 7,600,000
9 Martin Jacobson 8,890,000
Colossus Field Size Stops Growing
The third largest live poker tournament in history was smaller than expected, with a disappointing drop in field size for the third running of this tournament designed for the poker everyman with a job to get to on Monday.
After six starting flights held over the weekend, registration for the WSOP’s Colossus III closed after Sunday’s action got started. Sunday’s Flights E and F did draw the most entries, with 3,966 and 3,923, respectively. Saturday saw only 3,102 in Flight C and 2,324 in Flight D, while Flights A and B on Friday combined for 4,738 entries.
In the end, the total field swelled to 18,053 entries. That’s significantly smaller than the 21,613 and 22,374 in the Colossus II and original Colossus, respectively.
Bagging the chip lead among the 143 Flight E survivors was Niel Mittelman with 444,000. He was joined by Ismael Bojang (355,000), Mike Leah (255,000), and Chris Moorman (229,000).
Meanwhile in Flight F, which also saw 143 players advance, ArdavanYazdi bagged the lead with 588,000. Matt Affleck (297,000), Cate Hall (138,000), and Brandon Cantu (78,000) were among the notables to move on.
Also in action on Saturday were Team CardsChat members Jeff Weismann, Emily Olmstead, Stephen Castro, and bracelet winner Ryan Laplante. Of those, only Laplante bagged (155,000 in Flight F).
Joining Laplante representing Team CC is Seth Foster, who will carry 276,000 chips from Flight D into the combined field, with big hopes of scoring the tournament’s guaranteed million-dollar first prize.
Day 2 will begin at 2 pm PT on Monday with the plan of playing 10 levels.
Mixed TD Lowball Reaches Final Table
Day 2 of WSOP Event #7: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, a tournament that originally began with 225 players, saw 57 return to action, and by the end of the night, play down to a final table of seven.
Best positioned to make a run for the bracelet, and $130,948 in first-prize money, was Terry “Doc” Jennings, who bagged up the chip lead with 618,000. Others still alive include Jesse Martin (545,000), Chris Bjorin (449,000), and Jared Bleznick (198,000).
Among players to finish in the money were David “ODB” Baker (32nd for $3,775), start-of-the-day chip leader Sampo Ryynanen (27th for $4,234), 2002 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Lyle Berman (20th for $4,925), and Barry Greentein (9th for $9,502), who joined the Hall of Fame in 2011.
Players return at 2 pm PT on Monday to play down to a winner.
Final Table Lineup
1 Terry “Doc” Jennings 618,000
2 Brant Hale 315,000
3 Jesse Martin 545,000
4 Daniel Hirleman 408,000
5 Chris Bjorin 449,000
6 Jared Bleznick 198,000
7 James Obst 279,000
Gorodinsky Leads O8 Championship
The only new event playing on Sunday was WSOP Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 of Better Championship, which drew 155 runners. Among those to play and fall on Day 1 were Todd Brunson, Erik Seidel, and Jason Mercier.
On the flip side, Mike Gorodinsky bagged up the chip lead among the advancing 64 players. Others who punched their ticket to Day 2 were Daniel Negreanu (224,500), Mike “The Mouth” Matusow (148,000), and Tony Hartmann (98,000).
The winner of Event #9 will receive $391,313.
New Events Adding to WSOP Mix
Two new events will kick off on Monday. The first is Event #10: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em at 11 am PT, which will be the smaller buy-in version of the Tag Team Championship event won ceremoniously by Liv Boeree and Kurganov.
The other new WSOP tournament ready to get underway is Event #11: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice 6-Handed at 3 pm PT. This short-handed Dealer’s Choice event promises gives players the chance to call one of 20 games, including exotic poker variants such as Badeucy and Big O.
