Friday was an exciting day at the Rio in Las Vegas. The Main Event welcomed players its second of six starting flights. That may have been the main attraction for many players and fans, but there were also three important tournaments playing down to a winner.
Dan Cates won the coveted Chip Reese Memorial Trophy and his first WSOP gold bracelet for taking down the Poker Players Championship. Georgios Sotiropoulos grabbed his second career gold and put Greece on the bracelet map for this series by winning the Mini Main Event. And longtime pro Josh Arieh earned his fourth career bracelet but the second of this series, becoming the third player to win two events in this series alone.
With that, the only tournament running this weekend is the Main Event. Days C and D will begin this weekend, trying to fill out the field that is currently running behind the numbers from 2019.
Let’s look at the bracelet winners first and then check out the Main Event action.
Event 60: $50K Poker Players Championship
When play started on Friday, there were only five players left. Josh Arieh had busted in sixth place two days prior, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. (See Event 66.) Meanwhile, five heavy hitters were ready to battle for one of the most prestigious titles in poker. Eli Elezra tarted with the chip lead, followed by Paul Volpe, Chris Brewer, Dan Cates, and Ryan Leng.
Over the course of 13-14, everything changed. Cates climbed into the lead as Elezra became the short stack, but that was before Leng took the lead. Elezra and Brewer had to double when possible to stay alive, but several hours later, Brewer busted in fifth place. Many hours later, Elezra ran out of double-ups and busted in fourth. Cates became the new chipleader, though Leng doubled back into that spot an hour later. Volpe put up a strong fight and even climbed into the chip lead at one point, but as Cates climbed back to the top, he left Volpe out in third.
Cates took a dominating 16M chips into heads-up action against the 2.9M of Leng, but the latter quickly doubled up and climbed. Leng never relaxed, doubled when necessary, but Cates and his aggression finally busted Leng in second place. Cates captured his first WSOP gold and told PokerNews:
“I said I was gonna win, so I win. But it was pretty important because now I have more money to help the world and to continue a career outside of poker. … Oh yea, this bracelet thing, it is actually pretty cool, and I am glad to have won one. I think I have one of each now – the Alpha8, the WPT, and I have a Triton (victory). I think that gives me the trifecta.”
Five players returned for the final day of the Mini Main, with George Sotiropoulos holding a massive lead over his competitors. But it was Wataru Miyashita who handled the first three eliminations of the day, and the two heads-up players started with exactly the same stacks. Miyashita started strong, but Sotiropoulos took over and forced his opponent to risk it all. Sotiropoulos emerged the winner for his third career WSOP gold. He spoke to PokerNews:
“It feels amazing. So many players in the tournament – 3,000 or so. So many hours played. And in the end, the result was what I wanted. … I really love the World Series of Poker, Las Vegas, the tournaments, the people here. Everything excites me. Makes me come again and again, playing more and winning more. Feeling grateful.”
A dozen players started this day. The original goal had been to play down to five, but they chose to play it out completely. Previous bracelet winners Alan Sternberg and John Esposito exited in tenth and ninth places, respectively, and PartyPoker pro Jeff Gross made it all the way to fifth place.
As play moved forward and to three-handed, Josh Arieh was the shortest stack. And Danny Chang the overwhelming chip leader until Anatolii Zyrin doubled through him and nearly evened their stacks. Arieh then began his double-ups, one of which was through Zyrin for the chip lead. Zyrin then busted in third, just shy of winning his second bracelet in a week (give or take a few days). Arieh took the lead into heads-up play and took it down quickly to capture his fourth career bracelet and the second of this series. He spoke to PokerNews:
“Having Rachel (his wife) here was amazing. She wasn’t able to be here for the first one, and we really wanted to get a winner’s photo together. … I’m at a better place; my personal life is as good as it’s ever been. I’m willing to accept whatever happens, and I just feel good.”
The second of the six starting days of the Main Event delivered 845 players, quite a few more than the 523 of the previous day. More than 600 players bagged chips at the end of the day, and while Steve Foutty led the day, he wasn’t near Mustapha Kanit’s leading stack of the previous day.
Here’s where everything stands so far:
Event 67: Day 1B
$10K buy-in
NLHE World Championship (Main Event)
Starting stack: 60K
Levels: 120 minutes
Total entries (so far):
1,368
(523 + 845)
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Overall chip leader:
Mustapha Kanit (Italy)
Total players remaining:
959
(348 + 611)
Day 1A&B restart:
11am Tuesday (Nov 9)
Top ten 1B chip counts:
Day 1C start:
11am Saturday
Steve Foutty (USA) 287,000
Matthew Taylor (USA) 279,500
Maxime Canevet (USA) 277,000
Justin Garcia (USA) 243,500
Kayvon Shahbaz (USA) 238,500
Keegan Westover (USA) 230,700
Kevin Rasor (USA) 230,700
Aaron Earthman (USA) 226,800
Jonathan William (USA) 225,100
Jean Guillette (Canada) 223,200
Day 1B Main Event Highlights
On the first flight, one ten-time bracelet winner – Doyle Brunson – played and finished the day with chips. Yesterday, another of the three ten-time bracelet holders – Johnny Chan – played the Main. He did not bag any chips, though.
https://twitter.com/Q8_suited/status/1456686972068532226?s=20
https://twitter.com/Q8_suited/status/1456742277691236352?s=20
One new player to the WSOP Main Event was NBA star and retired San Antonio Spurs player Tony Parker. He did the “shuffle up and deal” honors and sat at a featured table. He seemed to be having fun…until he busted from the tournament.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNSke1YrgIw
Yesterday, we reported that there had been an incident at the Rio. However, a lot of speculation included everything from a car chase to a suspicious package to a mass tackle of a suspect wearing a WSOP media badge. As it turns out, some of that was true.
Haley Hintze did some digging on the issue and got the scoop. A 40-year-old Las Vegas man named Jeremy Francom had been wanted by the police for some time for a slew of crimes, mostly centering around robbery and burglary. Evidently, he had been hired (temporarily) by PokerGO to help identify players in the tournament fields. The authorities traced him there, waited for him to go on a break, and arrested him. Upon searching his car, they spotted a suspicious device, though that was fairly quickly rendered as fake. Francom is now in the Clark County Detention Center on 20 charges and an immense amount of bond.
https://twitter.com/Kevmath/status/1456833670577229832?s=20
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