The big story of the day was the final table of the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop. All of the nine players who started the day were big names, and all had the ability to capture victory. But it all came down to two Daniels – the well-known fan favorite Negreanu, and the quiet high-roller Colman. Negreanu ended his run in second place and seemed happy enough with the finish, while Colman denied interview requests and simply won the biggest poker payout in the tournament world.
Mike Kachan also won a bracelet, though it didn’t happen in the spotlight or in front of cameras. It was clearly an important win for Kachan, though, and the 2014 WSOP gold bracelet was a prize he intended to share with his family.
Numerous events are still playing out at the Rio today, and the first of two starting days of the Little One for One Drop kicks off at noon.
Event 56: $1K NLHE (Day 3 of 3)
The weekend $1K NLHE tournament garnered this turnout:
Entries: 2,525
Prize pool: $2,272,500
Place paid: 270
Day 2 took the field from returned with 206 players through more pay levels down to 16 players. Day 3 brought them back with Ray Henson as the chip leader.
Michael Spegal exited first on the day for $14,407, and it was eventually Matt Salsberg who bubbled the final table, taking home $23,202 for the tenth place finish. Play moved on as Henson fell fast and took ninth place, while Mike Kachan stayed patient and moved upward. He took a bit of a chip lead into heads-up play with Jeff Blenkarn, finishing the tournament with a win in just a few hands.
1st place: Mike Kachan ($403,483)
2nd place: Jeff Blenkarn ($250,815)
3rd place: Eric Shanks ($177,527)
4th place: Andrew Egan ($128,032)
5th place: Viktor Skoldstedt ($93,490)
6th place: Neo Hoang ($69,084)
7th place: Steve Gross ($51,676)
8th place: Richard Milne ($39,109)
9th place: Ray Henson ($29,951)
Event 57: $1M Big One for One Drop (Day 3 of 3)
The $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop took three days to wrap but started with these numbers:
Entries: 42
Prize pool: $37,333,338
Place paid: 8
The second day of action had 31 players at the start but took it down to just nine finalists, one place from the money.
Day 3 started with Rick Salomon in the chip lead and Tom Hall as the first to leave, eliminated on the first hand of the day with no money to show for the effort. Play then continued with Negreanu rising to the top of the leaderboard. When Christoph Vogelsang exited in third place, Daniel Colman took a chip lead into heads-up play with Daniel Negreanu. The two battled back and forth, exchanging the lead several times, before Colman won.
1st place: Daniel Colman ($15,306,668)
2nd place: Daniel Negreanu ($8,288,001)
3rd place: Christoph Vogelsang ($4,480,001)
4th place: Rick Salomon ($2,800,000)
5th place: Tobias Reinkemeier ($2,053,334)
6th place: Scott Seiver ($1,680,000)
7th place: Paul Newey ($1,418,667)
8th place: Cary Katz ($1,306,607)
Event 58: $1,500 NLHE Mixed Max (Day 2 of 3)
The official registration numbers for the mixed max format of NLHE were:
Entries: 1,475
Prize pool: $1,991,250
Place paid: 162
First place prize: $405,428
Day 2 brought 181 players back to the felt for six-handed action and worked into the money for the top 162 fairly quickly. Players like Liv Boeree and Erick Lindgren cashed earlier in the day, and the night finally ended after Ferdinando Locascio departed in tenth place for $27,509.
The last 10 players standing were set for Wednesday with these chip counts:
1. Jared Jaffee (1,583,000)
2. Mark Herm (927,000)
3. Brandon Cantu (918,000)
4. Xiao Peng (654,000)
5. Joseph Alban (594,000)
6. Jeff Gross (550,000)
7. Gustavo Kamei (437,000)
8. Mike Watson (388,000)
9. Anton Smirnov (381,000)
10. Michael Coleman (200,000)
Event 59: $3K Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 (Day 2 of 3)
The $3K buy-in Omaha-8 event drew a substantial crowd:
Entries: 457
Prize pool: $1,247,610
Place paid: 54
First place prize: $286,976
Day 2 brought 180 players back and took quite some time to reach the money bubble. When it burst, Naoya Kihara was the first player to cash for $4,828, and others who followed included Dylan Linde, Stephen Chidwick, Brian Rast, Brandon Shack-Harris, Amnon Filippi, and Chino Rheem.
Play finally stopped with payouts at the $8,957 level and 20 players still in action. The top five on that list were:
1. David Williams (500,000)
2. Joe Mitchell (406,000)
3. Matt Glantz (396,000)
4. Sun Kwak (340,000)
5. Scott Abrams (254,000)
Event 60: $1,500 NLHE (Day 1 of 3)
The last $1,500 NLHE event of the 2014 WSOP offered these numbers:
Entries: 2,563
Prize pool: $3,460,050
Place paid: 270
First place prize: $614,248
Players took their last shot at this bracelet in big numbers, though only 293 of them made it through the day. They will return, and play will head directly into the money, with these five players starting at the top of the leaderboard:
1. Chris Kolla (130,300)
2. Yaron Zeev Malki (126,000)
3. Ty Reiman (125,400)
4. Takuya Suzuki (117,000)
5. Ronnie Wright (116,300)
Event 61: $10K Seven Card Stud (Day 1 of 3)
One of the many new events on the 2014 calendar was this straight Stud event, for which the turnout was fairly mediocre:
Entries: 102
Prize pool: $958,800
Place paid: 16
First place prize: $268,473No corresponding 2013 event.
The late-starting tournament on Tuesday brought many of the usual suspects to the tables, those with $10K in search of a championship bracelet. Only about 57 players made it through, and the unofficial chip counts showed these players as the top five:
1. Ben Yu (126,600)
2. James Obst (120,700)
3. Nikolai Losev (113,000)
4. Oxana Cummings (108,500)
5. Steven Landfish (104,100)
On Tap for July 2
Events 58 and 59 will continue to and through their final tables.
Events 60 and 61 will attempt to reach their final tables.
Event 62 Day 1A ($1,111 NLHE Little One for One Drop) will begin at noon, and Event 63 ($1,500 10-Game Mix Six-Handed) will get underway 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.
