The Rio in Las Vegas was buzzing on Sunday. Of course, the Monster Stack event was playing down to its final table and there were other big NLHE events playing out as well. But the primary buzz was around the Big One for One Drop, where a few dozen players plunked down $1 million each to play a poker tournament.
Some of the buy-ins went to the One Drop charity, but the ESPN cameras were focused on the poker pros and businessmen who were willing to compete for the highest stakes in the game of poker. Vanessa Selbst became the first woman to enter in the tournament’s two-year history, but she was also one of the early eliminations from the game. The action was a poker fan’s dream, and no one could seem to get enough of the biggest game in the world.
Stay tuned for a recap of today’s developments.
Event 51: $1,500 NLHE Monster Stack (Day 4 of 5)
This massive deepstack tournament began on Thursday with these numbers for what became a five-day event:
Entries: 7,862
Prize pool: $10,613,700
Places paid: 792
First place prize: $1,327,083
By the start of Day 4, only 62 players remained, and payouts started at $21,758. Some who headed to the cashier cage throughout the day included Jessica Meir, Chris Bolek, and Jason Duval. Late into the night, it was the tenth place elimination of Robert Gustafsson for $99,981 that set the final table.
The last day of the epic event will begin with these players and their chip stacks:
1. Hugo Pingray (22,700,000)
2. Sean Drake (20,975,000)
3. Thayer Rasmussen (15,475,000)
4. Joseph McKeehen (12,925,000)
5. Zachary Gruneberg (11,850,000)
6. Claas Segebrecht (8,900,000)
7. Joshua Hillock (8,625,000)
8. Bobby Byram (8,475,000)
9. Lynne Beaumont (7,925,000)
Event 53: $10K NLHE Ladies Championship (Day 2 of 3)
With a 90 percent discount for ladies, Event 53 had no male participants and final registration numbers as follows:
Entries: 793
Prize pool: $713,700
Place paid: 81
Day 2 thinned the field from 101 players to the final nine. They returned on Sunday to play for the win.
Action was fairly quick, and fan favorite Patty Landis, personal assistant to Daniel Negreanu, finished fifth. Mikiyo Aoki came into the day with the chip lead and made it to heads-up play against Haixia Zhang, but the latter ran away with it and captured victory.
1st place: Haixia Zhang ($142,470)
2nd place: Mikiyo Aoki ($94,800)
3rd place: Meikat Siu ($61,114)
4th place: Elizabeth Montizanti ($44,770)
5th place: Patty Landis ($33,279)
6th place: Persia Bonella ($25,072)
7th place: Kendra Wray ($19,120)
8th place: Stacey Sullivan ($14,752)
9th place: Patricia Cahill ($11,504)
Event 54: $3K PLO Hi/Low Split-8 (Day 3 of 3)
This well-attended event started with these numbers:
Entries: 474
Prize pool: $1,294,020
Place paid: 54
Day 2 brought the number of players from 152 down to 20. Day 3 saw the early exits of players like Lee Markholt and Eoghan O’Dea, as well as Fabrice Soulier, Paul Volpe, and Ted Lawson before the final table was set.
Tobias Hausen bubbled said final table, taking home $18,491 for tenth place. Action then played out late into the night, with former chip leader Jonathan Depa out in eighth, followed by Woody Deck and Antony Lellouche. Florian Langmann took the chip lead into heads-up against Zach Freeman and fairly quickly won the tournament.
1st place: Florian Langmann ($297,650)
2nd place: Zach Freeman ($184,216)
3rd place: Dylan Wilkerson ($122,427)
4th place: Doug Baughman ($90,853)
5th place: TJ Eisenman ($68,181)
6th place: Antony Lellouche ($51,670)
7th place: Woody Deck ($39,506)
8th place: Jonathan Depa ($30,448)
9th place: Shiva Dudani ($23,641)
Event 55: $1,500 NLHE (Day 2 of 3)
With many in town for the weekend, this $1,500 NLHE did quite well:
Entries: 2,396
Prize pool: $3,234,600
Place paid: 243
First place prize: $582,321
Day 2 brought 268 players back to the tables and fairly quickly burst through the money bubble. Among those who cashed in the latter part of the day were Angela Prada-Moed, Andrea Dato, Phillip Hui, Roland Israelashvili, Brandon Cantu, Barny Boatman, and Eddy Sabat. The 18th place elimination of Joel Tushnet for $20,733 ended play for the night.
Of the 17 remaining players, names like Tim West and Marc-Etienne McLaughlin were among them. But the top five on the leaderboard were:
1. David Jackson (1,487,000)
2. Michael Ferrer (1,146,000)
3. Aaron Massey (949,000)
4. James Dorrance (943,000)
5. Jonathan Andero (914,000)
Event 56: $1K NLHE (Day 1 of 3)
Another $1K NLHE tournament drew another big crowd as the end of the WSOP schedule came into view:
Entries: 2,525
Prize pool: $2,272,500
Place paid: 270
First place prize: $403,483
The noon tournament on Sunday started with big numbers but quickly thinned the field into the money, at which time players like Amit Makhija, Will Failla, Todd Brunson, and Tony Ma cashed out. The night ended with just 206 players remaining, and the unofficial chip counts showed these as the top five chip stacks:
1. Raymond Chen (130,400)
2. Neo Hoang (127,400)
3. Brian Altman (106,900)
4. Vinny Pahuja (99,500)
5. Matthew Wakeman (92,800)
Event 57: $1M Big One for One Drop (Day 1 of 3)
One of the most exciting tournaments of the 2014 WSOP was the Big One for One Drop. With ESPN cameras ready for filming and players having offered up their $1 million buy-ins, the featured area of the main tournament room filled with some high rollers. Ultimately, these were the final tournament numbers:
Entries: 42
Prize pool: $37,333,338
Place paid: 8
First place prize: $15,306,6682012 entries: 48
2012 prize pool: $42,666,672
Play got underway with just 37 players, but late registrations saw names like Rick Salomon and Erik Seidel join the fray. Before registration even closed, David Einhorn was eliminated from the tournament, as was Stanley Choi. Other exits later in the evening were Igor Kurganov and Vanessa Selbst, as well as Max Altergott, Brian Rast, Philipp Gruissem, Jason Mercier, Niklas Heinecker, Rono Lo, and Dan Smith.
Just 31 players remained at the end of the night, with some recognizable faces and the reigning champion in the top five alone. Those stacks were noted as follows:
1. Sam Trickett (13,400,000)
2. Tom Hall (9,125,000)
3. Phil Ivey (7,675,000)
4. Daniel Colman (6,875,000)
5. Antonio Esfandiari (6,725,000)
On Tap for June 30
Event 51 will play its final table.
Event 55 will play to and through its final table.
Events 56 and 57 will continue on their second days and try to set final tables.
Event 58 ($1,500 NLHE Mixed Max) will begin at noon, and Event 59 ($3K Omaha Hi/Low Split-8) will kick off at 4pm.
Editor’s Note: Cardschat.com reporter Jennifer Newell is on site in Las Vegas, and will be offering daily news recaps throughout World Series of Poker 2014. Check back here daily for a detailed accounting of events, exclusive interviews, and anything of interest regarding WSOP.
