Connor Drinan captured his second career WSOP gold bracelet on Sunday.

Connor Drinan won his second WSOP bracelet in Event #5, the $1,500-entry Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event as he triumphed against a talented final table of mixed game players. It took just two hours for 15 to become 10 as play raced to the final table. Drinan began as he meant to go on, eliminating Yehuda Buchalter in 19th place, but over a rollercoaster final table, no single player dominated the action.

Connor Drinan Adds Another Accolade

Drinan’s biggest threat to the title was arguably in the form of Robert Mizrachi, the only other bracelet winner of the players who returned for the final day. Mizrachi started the final table well, taking the chip lead after a pot against Drinan. The three-time WSOP event winner would eventually see the tables turned as Drinan busted Mizrachi when the latter was short-stacked, scooping the pot to go into heads-up with a massive lead.

Despite the disparity in chips, Drinan didn’t have it all his own way as Travis Pearson proved a tricky final opponent. With just 4 million chips to Drinan’s 11 million, Pearson managed to get a double early in the contest and even took the lead 30 minutes into the final duel.

Drinan won a crucial pot with a full house on the river to move ahead with a lead of 2:1. Thereafter, Drinan used all his experience to pile the pressure on and a few minutes later had the victory his tournament deserved when a set of sixes from the flop bettered Pearson’s top pair kings to take the title and $163,252 along with his second career WSOP bracelet.

Event #5 $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table Results:

  1. Connor Drinan – $163,252
  2. Travis Pearson – $100,901
  3. Robert Mizrachi – $71,602
  4. Sandy Sanchez – $51,590
  5. Micah Brooks – $37,750
  6. Carl Lijewski – $28,059
  7. Kris Kwiatokowski – $21,192
  8. Curtis Phelps – $16,266
  9. Michael Moed – $12,693
  10. Yehuda Buchalter – $10,072

$25K High Roller Final Five

Tyler Cornell leads the final five into tomorrow’s bracelet showdown in Event #6, the $25,000-entry NLHE High Roller. In what is the biggest World Series so far in terms of a top prize, Day 2 saw 54 players reduced to just five as the final table was reached across a day of drama at the felt. There were surprises along the way too, as players such as the overnight chip leader Jake Daniels fell away and players who went into play with fewer chips rose through the ranks.

The Day 2 action saw many players bust before the bubble burst, as players such as Joao Vieira, Joe McKeehen, and Shaun Deeb all busted without making a profit.

At a stacked table just a few feet away, Jonathan Jaffe won a series of vital hands to chip up to become leader, a stack that would see him through to the final day, but not with the lead.

The money bubble was going to be a painful moment in the event for one player and that turned out to be popular former WSOP event winner Chance Kornuth. The two-time bracelet winner was ousted by three-time winner Adrian Mateos who held kings to bust Kornuth in 22nd place despite his ace-queen finding a queen on the flop and gutshot straight draw on the turn.

Once Kornuth had made his way to the rail, players joined him with regularity. Players such as Sam Grafton (21st for $41,493), Dylan Linde (18th for $41,493), Galen Hall (16th for $45,382), and Sergi Reixach (15th for $45,382) all lost their tournament lives as the final table approached.

When overnight chip leader Jake Daniels left in 14th place for $45,382, the race was on to make the final chip counts of the night, with Jared Jaffe (11th for $63,976) and Jason Koon (9th for $79,834) both busting before the official eight-handed final table. Koon was particularly unfortunate, with his pocket aces eclipsed by Michael Liang’s pocket queens to send GGPoker’s newest ambassador home without the bracelet that still, somehow, eludes him.

Once the final table began, it was Adam Hendrix who left the party first for $100,773, his king-nine no good on a board showing two nines as Tyler Cornell’s rivered flush won a big pot to send him to the top of the leaderboard.

That’s where Cornell stayed as he busted Paul Newey for $128,654 with sixes holding against ace-three before doing the same to Mohammed Arani in sixth place for $166,102. Cornell’s ace-eight got there on the turn against pocket threes with all the chips going into the middle pre-flop to leave the chip leader on 7.4 million chips overnight.

Cornell is followed in the counts by Michael Liang (5.1m), Jonathan Jaffe (3.6m) and Mustapha Kanit (2.6m). Of the final five, only short-stacked Adrian Mateos (2.1m) has won a WSOP bracelet before, with the Spanish poker pro bagging three ahead of this World Series.

With a Series-high top prize of $833,289 on offer and the fabled WSOP bracelet up for grabs, it’s sure to be a brilliant battle to the finish.

Event #6 $25,000 NLHE High Roller Final Table Chip Counts:

  1. Tyler Cornell – 7,455,000
  2. Michael Liang – 5,140,000
  3. Jonathan Jaffe – 3,650,000
  4. Mustapha Kanit – 2,630,000
  5. Adrian Mateos – 2,180,000

Huge Field Attends The Reunion

The Reunion, otherwise known as Event #4 of this year’s WSOP saw an immense number of 5,871 entries on Day 1c of the mammoth event. Costing just $500 to enter and having a $5 million guarantee, a total of 12,975 entries has put a total of $5.4 million in the pot and Mike Takayama bagged up the most chips on the final Day 1 flight.

Takayama’s total of 4,575,000 may not have been as high as Robert Brobyn’s total from Day 1b, but it still represents a massive stack, and Takayama is not the only talented individual heading into Day 2 with genuine ambitions of taking the gold bracelet.

Former WSOP bracelet winners such as Adrian Buckley (2,600,000), Joseph Cheong (2,030,000) and Julien Martini (1,450,000) all made the cut, along with former WSOP Main Event runner-up Tony Miles (830,000), British professional Sam Razavi (450,000) and Rio legend Matt Affleck (330,000).

With 619 players remaining from that five-figure field, Day 2 is sure to be a decisive day at the felt when play resumes on Monday.

Event #4 $500 The Reunion Day 1C Top 10 Chipcounts:

  1. Mike Takayama – 4,575,000
  2. Anthony Cass – 2,990,000
  3. Javier Fernandez Alonso – 2,975,000
  4. Micheal Zonenashvili – 2,740,000
  5. Katsushi Yoshiba – 2,700,000
  6. Bin Liu – 2,685,000
  7. Ryan Vanderpoorten – 2,665,000
  8. Adrian Buckley – 2,600,000
  9. Satheesh Francis – 2,500,000
  10. Nathan Holman – 2,480,000

Nathan Gamble Tops Dealer’s Choice Day 1

Finally, Event #7 got underway on Sunday as the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice six-handed event began with 307 players reduced to just 88 hopefuls who will go into Day 2.

Of that number, some very famous faces made the next day at the felt, with the appropriately monikered Nathan Gamble heading the leaderboard on 234,500 chips. Elsewhere in the top 10, there are appearances from Ian O’Hara (201,000), Daniel Negreanu (115,000) and Matt Glantz (115,000), with Phil Hellmuth not too far back in the field on an above-average 88,500 and Brian Rast well placed too with 81,500.

Hellmuth in particular could have been even higher in the ranks, but doubled up Adam Owen late in the day to slip out of the top 10. Yesterday’s $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. runner-up, Benny Glaser, has 65,000 chips with which to battle for what would be a fourth WSOP bracelet.

$1,500 Dealer’s Choice Six-Handed Top 10 Chip Counts:

  1. Nathan Gamble – 234,500
  2. Andrew Donabedian – 224,000
  3. Ray Henson – 216,000
  4. Ian O’Hara – 201,000
  5. Chris Lindner – 180,000
  6. Kosei Ichinose – 168,500
  7. Tim Phillip – 124,000
  8. Daniel Negreanu – 115,000
  9. Matt Glantz – 115,000
  10. PJ Cha – 108,000