WSOP: Adam Friedman Goes Back-to-Back with $10K Dealers Choice Win
Monday was a historic day at the 2019 World Series of Poker as Adam Friedman defended his title in the $10,000 Dealers Choice event to become the first player in four years to successfully defend their title in a WSOP event. Friedman’s win was one of two bracelets awarded on Monday as there were seven events in play, including the start of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud championship.
Adam Friedman Wins $10,000 Dealers Choice … Again
Adam Friedman should no longer be known as ‘that guy who cried on ESPN’. The 37-year-old defeated Shaun Deeb heads-up to win the $10,000 Dealers Choice event for the second consecutive year.
Friedman, who entered into heads up play with a slight chip lead over Deeb, needed just two hours to defeat Deeb. Towards the end of play, Deeb was picking almost exclusively No Limit Hold’em, while Friedman was moving between Big O, Badacey, and Stud Hi-Lo.
‘I still think the $10K HORSE is the crown jewel of the $10K’s at the World Series, just because it’s the one people play in the most,” Friedman said. “(But) this is unquestionably the most difficult of the $10K events. You’ve got to be able to play all 20 games and the ones that you’re not experienced in, you have to have basic card (sense).”
Friedman’s other bracelet came in a $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event in 2012.
Deeb meanwhile picked up $193,090 and 508.6 WSOP Player of the Year points for his runner-up finish. This moved him into eighth place in this year’s race.
Final Table Payouts
- Adam Friedman – $312,417
- Shaun Deeb – $103,000
- Matt Glantz – $130,126
- David Moskowitz – $100,440
- Michael McKenna – $72,653
- Nick Schulman – $52,656
David Lambard Wins $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
The final table of the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event featured a number of players who regularly sit in the High Roller and Super High Roller tournaments, but in the end, it was 44-year-old David Lambard who emerged with the bracelet and $207,103 payday.
Lambard, whose only previous WSOP result was a 194th place finish in the 2017 Marathon event, beat a final table that included Justin Bonomo, Martin Zamani, and Andrew Lichtenberger to pick up his first gold bracelet.
Johan Guilbert finished runner-up to Lambard, earning $128,042.
Lichtenberger finished fourth for his fourth cash of this year’s WSOP. He was runner-up to Ben Heath in the $50,000 High Roller event and then picked up two baby cashes in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em and $1,000 Double Stack events.
Final Table Payouts
- David Lambard – $207,103
- Johan Guilbert – $128,042
- Weiyi Zhang – $92,625
- Andrew Lichtenberger – $67,706
- Jan Lakota – $50,016
- Ben Farrell – $37,342
- Alexandru Papazian – $28,182
- Adrien Delmas – $21,501
- Martin Zamani – $16,586
- Justin Bonomo – $12,937
$1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Event #34)
China’s Zinan Xu finished Day 3 of the $1,000 Double Stack No Limit Hold’em event with 16,775,000 and the chip lead over the other 39 players.
Ido Ashkenazi sits second with 13,700,000 and Matthew Wantman, just a few weeks removed from his World Poker Tour ARIA Summer Poker Championship win, bagged up the third largest stack with 13,075,000.
Joseph Cheong sits sixth with 11,175,000 while former #1-ranked PocketFiver Tim West ended up as one of the shorter stacks, bagging 3,450,000.
Jake Schwartz, Bob Bounahra, Freddy Deeb, Felipe Ramos, Faraz Jaka, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Marvin Rettenmaier, Eric Baldwin, Dylan Linde, Jessica Dawley, and two other former #1s, Steven van Zadelhoff and Ari Engel were among the 319 players who started the day with chips but didn’t finish with chips.
Action resumes at Noon PT and will play until just six players remain.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Zinan Xu – 16,775,000
- Ido Ashkenazi – 13,700,000
- Matthew Wantman – 13,075,000
- Ryan Jaconetti – 12,475,000
- Donald Landwirth – 12,000,000
- Joseph Cheong – 11,175,000
- Noah Bronstein – 10,450,000
- Arianna Son – 10,200,000
- David Dibernardi – 9,550,000
- Roger Taieb – 8,850,000
$800 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack Down to 26
Hamid Feiz started Day 2 of the $800 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack event just outside of the top 10. Through 12 levels of play he moved up 10 spots and now sits on top with 12,000,000. No other player has entered eight-figure territory.
Nick Jivkov has the second best stack with 9,625,000 while Joshua Boulton bagged up 8,000,000 for the third best.
Just 26 players remain from the 671 that started Day 2 on Monday. Phil Ivey was the most high-profile bustout on the day. The 10-time bracelet winner finished 64th for his first cash of the 2019 WSOP. Other notables who busted in the money on Monday included Elio Fox, Shawn Buchanan, Ismael Bojang, Kenny Hallaert, and Phil Hellmuth.
The tournament resumes at Noon PT and will play down to a winner on Tuesday.
Top Chip Counts
- Hamid Feiz – 12,000,000
- Nick Jivkov – 9,625,000
- Joshua Boulton – 8,000,000
- Axel Hallay – 7,425,000
- Benjamin Underwood – 6,175,000
- Francois Evard – 5,800,000
- Kevin Song – 5,550,000
- Alberto Ortiz – 4,975,000
- Marco Bognanni – 4,950,000
- Zachary Mullennix – 4,650,000
Super-Sized Super Seniors Field Sets New Record
A record-breaking 2,650 Super Seniors – those that are at least 60 years -old – packed the Rio on Monday for Day 1 of the $1,000 Super Seniors event. The previous high came last summer when 2,191 players entered. In the five-year history of the event, the field has grown from the 1,533 in 2015.
Charles Bailey ended Day 1 with the chip lead. He’s followed by Ken Gurley, Dennis Owen, Hector Sotelo, and Lorna Cerjance to round out the top five stacks.
Barry Shulman, Tom McEvoy, Allyn Shulman, Don Zewin, Curt Kohlberg, Humberto Brenes Tom McCormick, TJ Cloutier, Chris Bjorin, Barry Greenstein, and Sam Grizzle all managed to make it through Day 1 with chips.
There were but a few notables that busted on Day 1, including former Main Event champion Dan Harrington, Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton, Dan Shak, Bill Klein, and Stan Jablonski.
Play resumes at 11 AM PT.
Top Chip Counts
- Charles Bailey – 330,000
- Ken Gurley – 265,800
- Dennis Owen – 247,000
- Hector Sotelo – 235,000
- Lorna Cerjance – 234,200
- Mary Haught – 234,000
- Pierce Webster – 232,000
- James Hernandez – 226,800
- Julie Thomas – 204,400
- Jerome Middendorf – 200,000
Shahar Levi Tops Day 1 of Massive $1,500 PLO
The 2019 WSOP is breaking all kinds of records in terms of attendance. The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event drew 1,216 players – that’s up 52% over the 799 that played last summer.
Shahar Levi worked his way up to the top of the 200 players who survived Day 1. Sajal Gupta sits second with 512,500 and Keith Lehr is third with 464,000.
Robin ‘inhoo’ Ylitalo bagged up the fourth biggest stack while Matt Glantz went straight from busting the $10,000 Dealers Choice event in third place to finishing with the eighth best stack in this event. Erik Seidel sits tenth.
Other notables who moved on to Day 2 include Dylan Linde, Jordan Cristos, Loren Klein, Matt Giannetti, Mike Matusow, Barny Boatman, Ben Zamani, and Tom Marchese.
Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Phil Kessel also finished with chips, ending the night with 79,500.
The 200 remaining players are back in action beginning at Noon and are scheduled to play down to six players.
Top Chip Counts
- Shahar Levi – 519,000
- Sajal Gupta – 512,500
- Keith Lehr – 464,000
- Robin Ylitalo – 435,500
- Dimitri Holdeew – 414,500
- Mark Liedtke – 412,000
- James Little – 404,500
- Matt Glantz – 380,000
- Johannes Tobbe – 372,000
- Erik Seidel – 368,000
Scott Seiver Leads Packed $10K Seven Card Stud Field
The top 10 Day 1 chip counts from the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship includes seven previous WSOP bracelet winners with two-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver leading the way. Seiver finished with 329,500, just ahead of Scott Clements and $10,000 HORSE champion Greg Mueller.
Michael McKenna, who finished 13th in this event last year and has made two $10,000 Championship event final tables this year, sits fourth while Michael Mizrachi is fifth.
As expected, the remaining field is full of well-known including Frank Kassela, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, Paul Volpe, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Calvin Anderson, and James Obst.
Yaniv Birman, who won this event last year, was unable to survive Day 1. Other notables who busted Monday include Nick Schulman, Shaun Deeb, Adam Owen, Brandon Shack-Harris and John Monnette.
There was no sign on Day 1 of Phil Ivey, but he is eligible to enter up until the start of play on Tuesday. Action resumes at 2 PM.
Top Chip Counts
- Scott Seiver – 329,500
- Scott Clements – 290,000
- Greg Mueller – 263,000
- Michael McKenna – 245,500
- Michael Mizrachi – 234,000
- Tom Koral – 222,500
- Bryce Yockey – 204,000
- Andrew Kelsall – 202,000
- Max Pescatori – 195,500
- Paul Mangine – 190,000
Tuesday’s WSOP Schedule
