Friday showed off two big final tables and brought lots of players into action with the Monster Stack. Day 16 of the 2021 World Series of Poker delivered action in several poker variants.
To top it all off, Anthony Zinno catapulted into a serious lead on the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard. He earned his second bracelet in less than a week and soared above the top competition in the POY race. He now sits with 2,127 points, whereas Dylan Linde is in second place with 1,676 and Jason Koon in third with 1,666 points. Ari Engel and Connor Drinan round out the top five.
Not a bad way to welcome in the weekend, which will move forward today with more Monster Stack players and some HORSE lovers.
Event 25: $5K NLHE 6-Handed
Many final tables at the World Series of Poker are tough ones. This HORSE final was one of them. Of the six players remaining on the 6-Handed NLHE, names like John Racener, Jonathan Jaffe, and Galen Hall were in the mix. That’s why it took several hours just to whittle the table down to two. Hall went into heads-up play with the chip lead, but the two played for more than an hour before Scott Ball took it down. Ball was emotional in his post-game chat with PokerNews:
“I can’t explain it, man. I had a tough year last year, a lot of stuff and a lot of desire to prove to myself that I can play this game and play it well. And these big six-max tournaments are the hardest tournaments in the series, minus like the 50K and 100K and stuff. I play a lot of six-max online, and I study a lot really hard, like really hard. So, to come in here and show…and not suck and do well…kinda means the world to me.”
The day started with Anthony Zinno leading the final 18 players. This was the same Zinno who just won his third WSOP bracelet several days prior by winning the $10K Seven-Card Stud Championship. He took that lead into the final table and all the way to victory. Call it momentum, timing, or simply sheer talent, Zinno called it his fourth bracelet. He chatted with PokerNews after the win:
“The feeling is indescribable. Poker is my passion and to be so fortunate and run so well…what can I say? … I want to thank my mother and sister for their endless support for the past 14 years since becoming a poker professional. I also want to thank my sweetheart Alicia and give a special shoutout to Ed Lewis for being a good friend.”
The second day of this Omaha-fest whittled the field down from 59 players to just five. The group has a bit of an international flair, with Austria and Israel represented, but Dylan Weisman is the far-and-away chip leader at the start of Day 3. All will be pursuing their maiden bracelets.
Event 28: Day 2 of 3
$1K buy-in
PLO 8-Handed (1RE)
Total entries:
422
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$951,410
Players paid:
161
Minimum payout:
$1,603
Winner payout:
$166,461
Chip leader:
Dylan Weisman
Dylan Weisman = 9.435M chips
Players remaining:
5
Alexander Yen = 5.53M chips
Restart:
12pm Saturday
Tim Vanloo = 4.545M chips
Ran Niv = 1M chips
Craig Chait = 880K chips
Event 29: $10K Short Deck NLHE
It was a small field overall, comprised of just 66 entries. The few dozen players interested in a large buy-in Short Deck tournament needed to survive a while to make it to the money, as only the top ten received payment. Ye Shen was the first to cash, followed by Rene van Krevelen and Stephen Chidwick. Young Ko was the last of the players to exit before they stopped play with six in the running. Chance Kornuth will try for his third bracelet on Day 3, as Joao Vieira will go for his second.
Event 29: Day 2 of 3
$10K buy-in
Short Deck NLHE (1RE)
Total entries:
66
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$615,450
Players paid:
10
Minimum payout:
$17,311
Winner payout:
$194,670
Chip leader:
Chance Kornuth
Chance Kornuth = 1.266M chips
Players remaining:
6
Chad Campbell = 1.073M chips
Restart:
4pm Saturday
Moshe Gabay = 663K chips
Dan Shak = 425K chips
Joao Vieira = 300K chips
Thomas Kysar = 234K chips
Event 30: $1,500 Monster Stack NLHE
This is traditionally a popular tournament at the WSOP, and the first of two weekend starting days did deliver more than 2,300 players. The 2019 event brought in 6,035 entries, though, so Saturday will need to attract a massive crowd to meet that number. More than 500 players did survive to play another day, but they’ll need to wait for Day 1B to play out on Saturday first.
Event 30: Day 1A of 5
$1,500 buy-in
NLHE Monster Stack Freezeout
Total entries:
2,356
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Chip leader:
James Romero
Players remaining:
517
Day 1B start:
10am Saturday
Event 31: $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw
Hundreds of players turned up for some weekend draw poker, and 84 players played more than ten levels to bag their remaining chips. They will need to survive for awhile to make the money on Day 2, but half of the field will make it.
Event 31: Day 1 of 3
$1,500 buy-in
No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw (1RE)
Total entries:
272
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$363,120
Players paid:
41
Minimum payout:
$2,445
Winner payout:
$84,851
Chip leader:
Ali Imsirovic
Players remaining:
84
Restart:
2pm Saturday
Highlight of the Day
Outside of the Rio, a live poker scene thrives around Las Vegas. Competing tournament series tempt players away from the WSOP with a wide range of options. The Wynn Fall Classic is a popular one, and its Mystery Bounty event drew big crowds. This one brought in 2,333 entries for the $2,200 buy-in tournament. Players making the money then drew a random bounty from a basket.
Donald Nimneh, a 43-year-old truck driver, plays poker when time permits but decided to play this tournament because plans fell through with his son. And his decision paid off. PokerNews reported on the tournament and spoke to Nimneh:
“It was unbelievable. I mean, it still hasn’t sunk in yet. I thought it was $25,000 at first because I saw the two-five, but then, the more I kept looking, I kept seeing zeros. When I opened it, I just went crazy, man.”
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