The fallout from the previous day continued on Tuesday, as many poker fans and players complained about Phil Hellmuth’s viral rant from his last final table. While some defended his behavior, others demanded that the World Series of Poker do something. As I mentioned in yesterday’s op-ed, Hellmuth’s tirade broke several key rules at the WSOP that were set in place to create a civil playing environment. Hellmuth finally took to his Twitter account late in the afternoon, first to defend his actions and blame everyone who pushes him to be the “poker brat.” He ultimately did tweet an apology but also kept retweeting people supporting him.
While those debates and discussions continued on Tuesday, the 2021 WSOP did as well. Dylen Linde captured his first gold bracelet, and several other tournaments played on.
Let’s focus on that today.
Event 17: $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker
Big payouts wait at the end of this tournament, with more than $500K for second place and a cool $1M for the winner. Day 2 started with 170 contenders but thinned that number down with eliminations of such players as Craig Varnell and Faraz Jaka.
On the way to the final table, Stephen Song busted in 11th place for $66,480, and the Day 3 chipleader, Philip Verel, exited in tenth place for the same amount. Play moved forward until Kevin Palmer departed in sixth place for $172,455. That left the final five to play for the win on Wednesday. And notably, Belgian Michael Gathy is at his second final table of this series and still aiming for his fifth bracelet.
Event 17: Day 4 of 5
$1,500 buy-in
NLHE Millionaire Maker (1RE/flight)
Total entries:
5,326
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$6,990,060
Players paid:
799
Minimum payout:
$2,400
Winner payout:
$1,000,000
Chip leader:
Daniel Lazrus
Daniel Lazrus = 60.2M chips
Players remaining:
5
Ignacio Moron = 30.6M chips
Day 1B start:
4pm Wednesday
Michael Gathy = 21.9M chips
Jeffrey Gencarelli = 13.5M chips
Darryl Ronconi = 7.4M chips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlenKisKAbw
Event 21: $1,500 Mixed Omaha
One of the players often placed on the “best players without a bracelet” list is now off that list. While he racked up 85 cashes in World Series of Poker tournaments and even wrote a book on mixed games, he hadn’t achieved the pinnacle until now. Upon winning, he spoke to PokerNews:
“It feels fantastic. Finally winning a bracelet feels good but doing it in mixed games is great. … A lot of the studying I’ve done in No Limit helped me a lot with the way that I played with respect to ICM. I used pot control with certain opponents that had me covered and tried to play pots with opponents that I could pressure. … I’m an addict of tournaments for life. They’ve got me forever, and I’ll just try to win more.”
Day 2 started with 170 players but fairly quickly worked its way toward the money bubble. Players like Natalie Hof and Lika Gerasimova didn’t make it. The day’s chip leader, Lily Kiletto, actually busted on the bubble, after which payouts included Angela Rich, Ebony Kenney, Ashley Sleeth, Xuan Liu, and Sofia Lovgren busted.
When play stopped, MIkiyo Aoki sat atop the leaderboard with longtime pro JJ Liu not far behind. Many poker fans may also recognize Marle Cordeiro and Amanda Baker at the final two tables. But every one of the 17 finalists will be playing for her first piece of WSOP gold.
Event 22: Day 2 of 3
$1K buy-in
NLHE Ladies Championship (1RE)
Total entries:
644
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$582,180
Players paid:
97
Minimum payout:
$1,633
Winner payout:
$115,694
Chip leader:
Mikiyo Aoki
Players remaining:
17
Restart:
12pm Wednesday
Event 23: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed
It was a rather quick day for some of the 144 players who started Day 2 of this event, but only about half of them cashed, and only 10 remain holding chips. Daniel Zack will play for his second bracelet, but Ryan Leng and Brett Shaffer will each play for their third. Connor Drinan just won his second during this series and is on a roll, but chip leader Ryan Hughes wants his third as well.
The group of remaining players is stacked with mixed-game talent, so this will be one to watch today.
Event 23: Day 2 of 3
$1,500 buy-in
Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed (1RE)
Total entries:
484
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$646,140
Players paid:
73
Minimum payout:
$2,415
Winner payout:
$137,969
Chip leader:
Ryan Hughes
Ryan Hughes = 2,534,000 chips
Players remaining:
10
Connor Drinan = 1,990,000 chips
Restart:
2pm Wednesday
Schuyler Thornton = 1,505,000 chips
Tyler Willse = 1,165,000 chips
Hunter Mclelland = 1,110,000 chips
George Alexander = 936K chips
Brandon Bergin = 934K chips
Brett Shaffer = 800K chips
Ryan Leng = 770K chips
Daniel Zack = 384K chips
Event 24: $600 PLO Deepstack
A solid group of more than 1,500 players turned up for some Omaha action on Tuesday, but fewer than 70 made it through. Some of the late bustouts on Tuesday included Greg Raymer and David Williams. Of the crew that made the second day of action, Andrew Neeme will play for his first bracelet, and Joao Simao will play for his second. But many others will be driven to claim their first, too.
Event 24: Day 1 of 2
$600 buy-in
PLO Deepstack (1RE)
Total entries:
1,572
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$801,720
Players paid:
236
Minimum payout:
$963
Winner payout:
$127,428
Chip leader:
Shen Liang
Players remaining:
69
Restart:
12pm Wednesday
Event 25: $5K NLHE 6-Handed
There’s still time to get in on this one. Registration remains open until the start of Day 2, and anyone with $5,000 and a dream can join the likes of Erik Seidel, David Benyamine, Jason Somerville, Chance Kornuth, and Daniel Negreanu for some No Limit Hold’em fun.
Event 25: Day 1 of 3
$5K buy-in
NLHE 6-Handed (1RE)
Total entries:
578 (not final)
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Chip leader:
Scott Drobes
Players remaining:
192
Restart:
2pm Wednesday
Highlight of the Day
Prior to the WSOP Ladies Championship that started on Monday, the World Series hosted a Ladies Warmup tournament at the Rio, a $150 buy-in event to get the players ready. There were 136 entries, and longtime poker reporter (and player) Haley Hintze won it for $3,168 and a beautiful set of jewelry.
(Props to Maureen Bloechlinger for posting the results in her Globetrotting Poker Ladies Facebook group.)
https://twitter.com/Haley_Hintze/status/1448063713865461761?s=20
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