The 2016 World Series of Poker crowned two new champions on Saturday, the Monster Stack Part Deux fielded a huge crowd and the $10,000 Seven Card Stud HiLo Championship was the late event.

Martin Kozlov Wins $10,000 Six Max Championship in 6th Final Table

Martin Kozlov played his way to the final table of one of the most prestigious events on the WSOP schedule, just came off a fifth place finish in last week’s Six Max event and won his first bracelet for a whopping $665,709.

Kozlov’s win came in of a Hollywoodesque hand where knocked out Davidi Kitai and Justin Bonomo holding the best hand and flopped a monster. “That was crazy, I picked up a hand, raised and two players move all in – then I hit quads,” Kozlov said moments after his win.

He opened on the button, Bonomo moved all in from the small blind and Kitai re-shoved from the big blind with pocket sixes. Kozlov called with pocket queens, covered both players and Bonomo tabled pocket nines. The flop came hit with two queens and Kozlov’s opponents were drawing dead.

“I was expecting it to play out longer with these two good players,” he added. “I feel blessed. I’m going to take some time off from come poker, but come back and play the Main (Event).”

Chris Ferguson made his first final table since 2009 and was greeted by boos from rail. He finished in fourth and the crowd sung, “Nanana, nanana, nanana, hey hey, goodbye,” when he was eliminated. Reportedly former Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar was on the rail to support Ferguson.

Final Table Payouts

1. Martin Kozlov – $665,709
2. Davidi Kitai – $411,441
3. Justin Bonomo – $271,856
4. Chris Ferguson – $183,989
5. Nick Petrangelo – $127,622
6. Jack Salter – $90,783

Christopher Vitch Wins 1st Bracelet in 2nd Final Table of 2016

The WSOP added a new event to the schedule in 2016; a mix of three popular Lowball variants – Deuce to Seven, Ace to Five and Badugi. The mix of games are generally favored by cash game players over tournament players and Christopher Vitch stepped away from the cash games to take down his first bracelet.

“I don’t play many tournaments… I used to come out and play the cash games,” Vitch said. “I’d rarely play the tournaments, but when I came out last year I got bitten by the bug. To me, it’s not about the money, I looked at the World Series and I wanted to win a bracelet.”

“I became one of the better players in Triple Draw before there was much information about the game,” he added. “I feel like I had lots of experience in the game compared to most people who were just picking it up.”

Vitch was a coach and co-owner of the training site DeucesCracked.

Final Table Payouts

1. Christopher Vitch – $136,854
2. Siegfried Stockinger – $84,572
3. David Gee – $55,511
4. Damjam Radanov – $37,375
5. Michael Schiffman – $25,830
6. Gary Benson – $18,336

Steven Harper Tops Monster Day 1B Field, 2001 Players to Day 2

The second of two starting flights drew 4,507 entrants – more than twice of Day 1A – for a total field of 6,927 total runners. The total Day 2 field has 2,001 survivors, 697 from Friday and 1,304 from Saturday. Steven Harper leads the Day 1B field with 279,700, well above Gregory Alexander’s stack of 253,300 of Day 1A.

Jake Schindler bagged up in the top ten but joining him with six-figure stacks at the top are Matt Gianetti, Christina Lindley, Gaelle Baumann and Brian Yoon.

The field built a $9,351,450 prize pool to payout 1,040 players. Five-figure payouts begin with 90th place, a trip to the final table guarantees $100,185 and the winner earns $1,120,196.

Day 1B Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Steven Harper – 279,700
2. Peter Braglia – 232,500
3. Patrick Muleta – 213,000
4. Bart Lybaert – 190,500
5. Joseph Wurtz – 188,600
6. David McLaughlin – 183,000
7. Jake Schindler – 182,600
8. Christopher Stammet – 178,600
9. Evan Jarvis – 171,400
10. Harry Lodge – 171,300

Event 42: $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout

The field drew 400 players, a rare sell out, and 40 players returned for Day 2. Instead of four ten-handed tables for a short-handed final table the WSOP opted for ten four-handed tables on Day 2. Sunday’s final table features ten players with effectively even stacks.

Maria Ho, Faraz Jaka and Stephen Chidwick look to be the favorites on paper but all three players look to win their first bracelet.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Faraz Jaka – 598,000
2. Jesse Yaginuma – 598,000
3. Christopher Kruk – 597,000
4. Maria Ho – 597,000
5. Marcos Antunes – 597,000
6. Andreas Freund – 597,000
7. Rhys Jones – 597,000
8. Kyle Montgomery – 596,000
9. Stephen Chidwick – 596,000
10. Phillip McAllister – 596,000

Event 43: $10,000 Seven Card Stud HiLo Championship

One of the four remaining $10,000 Championship buy-in events on the schedule kicked off at 3 pm with Seven Card Stud HiLo. The tournament drew 136 entrants, 51 players advance to Day 2 with Randy Ohel leading the field.

The field is loaded with notables and Dzmitry Urbanovich, Mike Gorodinsky, Brian Rast and Scott Clements bagged up just outside the top ten.

The field combined for a $1,278,400 prize pool for the top 21 finishers. A trip to the final table locks up $36,044 and the winner walks with $338,646 for three days of work.

Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Randy Ohel – 372,000
2. George Danzer – 338,000
3. Ali Abduljabbar – 252,000
4. Eli Elezra – 244,000
5. Ryan Miller – 225,000
6. Edouard Mignotbonnefous – 215,000
7. Adam Friedman – 214,000
8. David Benyamine – 212,500
9. Tom Koral – 210,000
10. Per Hildebrand – 201,500

Sunday Funday with Low Buy-ins

Two budget conscious events kick off on Sunday for the weekend crowd in for the Monster Stack event. The early event is a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event and action junkies will like the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha Mix at 3 pm.