WPT Champ Alan Sternberg grabbed his first WSOP gold bracelet on Monday.

While the world was watching the final five players compete at the 2019 WSOP Main Event final table there were five more post-lim tournaments still in action.

This included the start of the final $5,000 tournament which had plenty of pros show up to the Rio to attempt to squeeze out one last show at summertime success. Two more bracelets were awarded as well as another top-flight pro took home his first and India’s Abhinav Iyer became The Closer of 2019.

Abhinav Iyer Takes Down The Closer For $565K

India’s Abhinav Iyer ended his summer on a high note after surviving the 2,800 entry field of The Closer ($1,500 No-Limit Hold’em) for a $565,346 payday and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

Iyer had a star-studded field to fade on Day 2 as 196 players reconvened after three starting flights to play down to a winner. Plenty of big names were battling after the money bubble burst including Phil Hellmuth (193rd, $3,500), defending champion Joe Cada (147th, $3,840), Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (106th, $3,840), Kristen Bicknell (70th, $7,030), Ari Engel (55th, $8,379), Jeff Gross (32nd, $15,018), and JC Tran (10th, $37,215).

Former #1-ranked PocketFiver Shaun Deeb continued his push for the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year by reaching the final table. However, his run ended in seventh place, cashing for $80,766.

Final Table Payouts

1. Abhinav Iyer – $565,346
2. Sammy Lafluer – $349,417
3. Sergio Martiaguliar – $256,298
4. Carlos Chang – $189,584
5. Patrick Eskandar – $144,860
6. Adam Johnson – $106,418
7. Shaun Deeb – $80,766
8. Steve Yea – $61,834
9. Jason Reels

Alan Sternberg Wins $3,000 Pot Limi Omaha 6-Handed

World Poker Tour Champions Club member Alan Sternberg has added a World Series of Poker gold bracelet to his poker trophy case after closing out Event #85 ($3,000 Pot Limit Omaha 6-Handed) for $448,392.

“Coming into today, my goal was to at least make top four and then I got hit with the deck of cards,” Sternberg said after this win. “I made the best hand a lot so that makes it pretty easy.”

It is Sternberg’s first gold bracelet and in order to win it, he had to survive a tough final table. The final six included final table chip leader Millard Hale, bracelet winner Joseph Cheong and eventual runner-up, Greece’s Evangelos Kokkalis.

“This by far feels the best, not even close. I’ve won a WPT title which is kind of similar but this feels way better right now.”

Final Table Payouts

1. Alan Sternberg – $448,392
2. Evangelos Kokkalis – $227,087
3. John Richards – $187,670
4. Millard Hale – $129.313
5. Ka Kwan Lau – $90,674
6. Joseph Cheong – $64,722

Gal Yifrach Leads $10K Six Max Final Table

Gal Yifrach will be looking for his second career 6-handed World Series of Poker bracelet when he takes his seat at the final table of Event #86 ($10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Championship) on Tuesday.

Monday saw Yifrach rocket to the top of the chip counts in a short day of play as the 16 returning players paired down to the final six in roughly four hours of play.

The final table will be broadcast on PokerGO/CBS All Access beginning at 2 pm local time (PT).

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Gal Yifrach – 5,385,000
2. Anuj Agarwal – 4,350,000
3. Dong Chen – 2,540,000
4. Kahle Burns – 1,855,000
5. Leonard Maue – 1,495,000
6. Ben Heath – 710,000

14 Remain In $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

Only 14 of the 301 players that started Day 2 in Event #89 ($3,000 H.O.R.S.E.) with Russia’s Konstantin Puchkov emerging as the overnight chip leader.

A number of notable names still remain in the field including two former #1-ranked PocketFivers in Paul Volpe and Patrick Leonard, Andrey Zaichenko, Denis ‘aDrENalin710’ Strebkov, and defending champion of this event, Brian Hastings.

Of the remaining 14 players, six are bracelet winners including the chip leader, Puchkov. Play will resume at 2 pm local time and play down to a winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Konstantin Puchkov – 938,000
2. Paul Tedeschi – 822,000
3. Brain Hastings – 620,000
4. Jim Collopy – 528,000
5. Andrey Zaichenko – 505,000
6. Harold Klien – 487,000
7. Nick Guagenti – 386,000
8. Albert Shim – 377,000
9. Nicolas Milgrom – 315,000
10. Patrick Leonard – 293,000

Big Names Take One Last Shot In $5,000 NLHE Turbo

The argument as to whether post-lims would continue to be popular has long since been put to rest with massive fields showing up for tournaments at the Rio at the same time as the Pavillion is being cleared out for the next convention up.

608 players jumped into the final WSOP gold bracelet event of the summer, Event #89 ($5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo) including some of the biggest names in the game – all looking for that one last chance to wrap their wrist in a piece of summer gold.

Of the starting field, only 44 remain, including overnight chip leader Liran Twito who is the only player to climb to over 1M in chips. Joining him in moving on to Day 2 are a number of notable pros including Kristen Bicknell, Tony Dunst, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Anatoly Filatov, Jonathan Little, Joe Cada, Pat Lyons, Brock Parker, Mike Matusow, and Phil Hellmuth who has secured his 12th cash of the summer.

The field reached the money before the end of the night with David Peters (92nd, $7,396), Danny Tang (77th, $7,798), Stephen Chidwick (69th, $8,401), Bryan Piccioli (59th, $9,243) and Loni Harwood (47th, $10,382) being among the players that turned a profit but did not survive the day.

Players return for one final day at the Rio at noon to award the $606,562 first-place prize and gold bracelet.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Liran Twito – 1,452,000
2. Lars Kamphues – 960,000
3. Kristen Bicknell – 882,000
4. Jordan Cristos – 748,000
5. Tony Dunst – 747,000
6. Shankar Pillai – 729,000
7. Will Berry – 714,000
8. Luke Graham – 706,000
9. Carl Shaw – 699,000
10. DID NOT REPORT – 681,000