BOO.
The last day of October – or Halloween, if you prefer – was an unusual one at the Rio. Most years, the World Series of Poker takes place in Las Vegas in the summer months. The biggest concern then is dressing in layers for the cold air conditioning inside versus the desert heat outside. This fall WSOP gave players the chance to dress up for Halloween…and play for WSOP gold at the same time.
That didn’t mean there wasn’t some serious poker happening. The Colossus played down, players 60 and older gathered for the Super Seniors, duos came out for the Tag Team event, and those with $50K anted up for the Poker Players Championship. Other tournaments played down, two of which declared winners. Robert McMillan grabbed his first gold at the WSOP, and Ben Yu won his fourth.
With only a few days before the Main Event begins, let’s wrap up a busy Halloween Sunday with the bottom-line numbers.
Event 52: $1K Seniors NLHE Championship
Sunday brought two tables of senior players – 50 and up, which I prefer to simply call middle-aged – back to the tournament area to play for the win. When they reached a final table, players like Todd Hansen and Christopher Cummings bowed out, and it boiled down two Roberts. McMillan took a sizeable lead into heads-up play against Davis, but just when the latter nearly overcame that lead, McMillan busted him to take the title and his first bracelet. He told PokerNews:
“I’m so proud of making that last call. That’s what’s gonna stay with me because it’s for the whole thing. … I felt it yesterday especially. I dreamt this (win) was going to happen.”
More than 9K entries started the colossal tournament, and more than 1,100 of them made it to Day 2. But that day pushed most of them out, as many collected payouts for their work and 49 of them bagged chips again. Some of the shorter stacks include Carlos Chang and Barbara Enright, as well as former chip leader Frank Flowers. Most players, though, are eyeing their first bracelet and hoping to win it today.
Event 55: Day 2 of 3
$400 buy-in
Colossus NLHE (1RE/flight)
Total entries:
9,399
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$3,101,670
Players paid:
1391
Minimum payout:
$640
Winner payout:
$314,705
Chip leader:
Rafael Fernandes
Players remaining:
49
Restart:
10am Monday
Event 56: $10K NLHE 6-Handed Championship
Hundreds of players participated in this championship-level event. Nineteen of them made it to Day 3. Names like Nacho Barbero and Sam Grafton busted early, and JJ Liu exited in 13th place for $33,042. Matt Berkey busted in eighth place and the day’s original chipleader, Boris Kolev, followed in seventh – both missing the final table of six but each winning $62,505. Four-time bracelet winner Asi Moshe left in sixth place, but Ben Yu went from the shortest stack and didn’t take the lead until well into three-handed play, but he never looked back from there. Yu won his fourth bracelet, telling PokerNews:
“Every time you win one of these, it’s pretty special. This one, in particular, was a fairly tough event…and a fairly large field, too. I don’t think I’m able to process this yet.”
A few players bought in just before the start of Day 2 of this championship event, pushing the number of total entries to 90. But considering the bustouts on Day 1, little more than 40 players started Day 2, and only eight made it through. Danny Wong had the chip lead at the end of both days thus far, and his distance from the others may translate into WSOP gold.
Event 57: Day 2 of 3
$10K buy-in
Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship
Total entries:
90
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$746,000
Players paid:
14
Minimum payout:
$16,552
Winner payout:
$240,341
Chip leader:
Danny Wong
Danny Wong = 1,755,000 chips
Players remaining:
8
Brian Yoon = 1,170,000 chips
Restart:
2pm Monday
Wil Wilkinson = 945K chips
Don Nguyen = 565K chips
Jordan Siegel = 300K chips
Joao Vieira = 290K chips
Brandon Shack-Harris = 275K chips
Mike Thorpe = 110K chips
Event 58: $1K Super Seniors NLHE
Players aged 60 and over came to the Rio in droves on Sunday to play this event. It was so appealing that even Doyle Brunson made his first appearance at the Rio in several years. He took lots of photos and indulged a lot of fans, but he didn’t play much poker. He didn’t even play an hour and then pushed his last chips all-in blind to bust. In the end, fewer than 500 players bagged any chips. Farhad Davoudzadeh had the distinction of being the day’s chipleader.
This is always a fun event, as a lot of players bring their significant others to the tables, or event a parent or grandparent. What is normally a solitary game becomes a team sport, and it’s every team for itself. Hundreds of two-person teams bought in to play, and the madness stopped with just 127 teams moving forward. Many more will exit today, but take a look at the photos on the PokerNews event page for this tournament to see some of the pairs and Halloween costumes.
Event 59: Day 1 of 3
$1K buy-in/team
Tag Team NLHE (2-person teams)
Total entries:
641
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$285,245
Players paid:
unknown
Minimum payout:
unknown
Winner payout:
unknown
Chip leader:
Team Ruter
Players remaining:
127
Restart:
1pm Monday
Event 60: $50K Poker Players Championship
One of the most anticipated tournaments of the year, the Poker Players Championship awards a trophy that honors Chip Reese to go with the WSOP bracelet. It has a very slow structure to give players maximum play over the course of five days, should they make it that far.
Day 1 only got things going with 43 players, but several of them didn’t make it through the first evening: Matthew Ashton, Michael Noori, Jake Schwartz, and Albert Daher. Big names remain among the 39 with Bryce Yockey holding the lead and Dario Sammartino following behind. Final numbers and more of a playdown will happen today.
Event 60: Day 1 of 5
$50K buy-in
Poker Players Championship 6-Handed
Total entries:
43
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Chip leader:
Bryce Yockey
Players remaining:
39
Restart:
2pm Monday
Event OB6: $666 NLHE Online
This spooky online event played out online with no live reporting coverage. Since players need not use their real names, we don’t yet know who won this event.
Online OB Event 6
$666 buy-in
NLHE (2x RE)
Total entries:
720
Total prize pool:
$617,400
Players paid:
167
Minimum payout:
$926.10
Final table results:
1st place:
"Relevancy" (USA) $114,898.14
2nd place:
"Sucra71" (Canada) $71,001
3rd place:
"legend92782" (USA) $50,256.36
4th place:
"miguelfiesta" (USA) $36,056.16
5th place:
"livinmydream" (Austria) $26,177.76
6th place:
"Cushty" (USA) $19,262.88
7th place:
"Estakeking87" (USA) $14,385.42
8th place:
"SlaweelRyam" (USA) $10,866.24
9th place:
"NWPoker88" (USA) $8,334.90
Highlight of the Day
For many poker players, the highlight of the year was seeing Doyle Brunson back at the WSOP tables. While he has stayed away since 2018, choosing to focus on cash games, he made a quick appearance in the Super Seniors event. He didn’t appear too serious about being there or doing well in the tournament, but he made a lot of poker fans very happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEwD14FI3iw
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