WSOP: Anthony Zinno, Phil Hui Each Win Second Career Bracelet
Friday’s action at the 2019 World Series of Poker included a dramatic conclusion to one of the most prestigious events on the calendar that ended up with a former WSOP Circuit grinder picking up his second career bracelet and his first seven-figure score. That was one of three bracelets won on Friday.
Joe Foresman Takes Down $600 Deepstack Championship
Joe Foresman took one look across the table at his heads-up opponent in the $600 Deepstack Championship and decided that second place was an acceptable outcome.
“Honest to God after playing three hands with Will (Givens), I was terrified to play him heads up. I couldn’t even fathom this. I would have been happy with second, I would have been happy with third, this is unreal,” Foresman said.
The 49-year-old Las Vegas musician shook that off though and eventually disposed of Givens to win the bracelet, the $397,903 first place prize money and $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat that came with it. It made this everyman’s poker dream come true.
“We all sit there and dream about it. We all sit there and say, yeah if I can just get some hands and make a deep run in an event. You never think it’s going to be a reality,” Foresman said.
Givens, who won a bracelet in 2014, finished second for $245,606. Steffen Logen rounded out the podium finishers with a third-place result for $181,953.
Final Table Payouts
- Joe Foresman – $397,903
- Will Givens – $245,606
- Steffen Logen – $181,953
- Jeff Hakim – $135,783
- Hlib Kovtunov – $102,077
- Mrityunjay Jha – $77,308
- David Goodman – $58,988
- Jean Alexandre – $45,348
- Linda Huard – $35,128
- Benjamin Teng – $27,419
Anthony Zinno Wins Second Bracelet in $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo
Anthony Zinno had no problem with the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event needing an extra day to finish. The 37-year-old returned for the unscheduled fourth day of play sitting fourth in chips and outlasted the other eight players to win his second career bracelet.
“This one, I’m super-proud because I’ve been practising a lot of Omaha Hi-Lo for the past two years, specifically. I was actually really excited to play this specific event and the $10K. It’s pretty cool when you work on one game particularly hard, and then it works,” Zinno said.
Zinno beat Rodney Burt heads-up for the win. Burt, who started the day second in chips, banked $172,932. Thomas Schropfer finished third for $122,555.
Burt eliminated Seidel in ninth, Connor Drinan in seventh, Jordan Spurlin in sixth and Scott Abrams in fifth before Zinno took over and eliminated Jon Turner, Schropfer, and Burt in successive order.
Zinno’s first bracelet came in the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller event in 2015.
Final Table Payouts
- Anthony Zinno – $279,920
- Rodney Burt – $172,932
- Thomas Schropfer – $122,555
- Jon Turner – $87,967
- Scott Abrams – $63,961
- Jordan Spurlin – $47,118
- Connor Drinan – $35,173
- Kyle Miaso – $26,611
- Erik Seidel – $20,410
Phil Hui Wins $50,000 Poker Players Championship
An epic heads-up battle between Phil Hui and Josh Arieh ended with Hui taking home the $1,099,311 first place prize money, bracelet, and Chip Reese Memorial trophy.
READ: Dream Come True: Phil Hui Wins WSOP $50K Poker Players Championship
Final Table Payouts
- Phil Hui – $1,099,311
- Josh Arieh – $679,246
- John Esposito – $466,407
- Bryce Yockey – $325,989
- Shaun Deeb – $232,058
- Dan Cates – $168,305
William Davila Leads Colossus With Just 107 Left
From a starting field of 13,109, just 107 players are still standing in the $400 Colossus with Chicago-native William Davila standing tallest with 17,900,000. His closest challenger, Neil Ho, sits nearly 4,000,000 chips behind.
The Day 2 restart began with 1,948 players still chasing the bracelet and $451,272 first place prize. Ian Steinman, Joe Kuether, Tom McEvoy, Jeremy Ausmus, and Nancy Birnbaum all managed to work their way into Day 2.
Amir Lehavot, Jon Friedberg, Tim West, Maurice Hawkins, Richard Seymour, David ‘Bakes’ Baker, and Joseph Galazzo were just a handful of the notables who busted on Friday.
PocketFives Senior Writer Jeff Walsh finished 401st for $1,719.
Action resumes Saturday at 11 AM PT and will 15 40-minute levels.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- William Davila – 17,900,000
- Neil Ho – 14,030,000
- Alex Miles – 13,750,000
- Zachary Ackley – 12,625,000
- Robert Sherwood – 11,875,000
- Gregory Sanchez – 11,000,000
- Robert Hover – 10,875,000
- Cindy Kerslake – 10,675,000
- Antonios Onoufriou – 10,275,000
- Raymond Ross – 10,150,000
$10,000 Razz Needs Day 4 for Heads-Up Duel
Scott Seiver and Andrey Zhigalov bagged up their respective chip stacks early Saturday morning and will return on Saturday afternoon to finish off the $10,000 Razz Championship.
Seiver holds the lead with 3,950,000 to Zhigalov’s 2,490,000.
Day 3 started with 12 players and moved to a final table after Cary Katz, Mike Gorodinsky, defending champion Calvin Anderson, and Marco Johnson were eliminated.
Daniel Negreanu made the final table and held the chip lead with five players were left only to bust out in fifth place. WSOP Player of the Year leader Dan Zack added to his POY total with a fourth-place finish and Chris Ferguson was eliminated in third place.
Action resumes at 2 PM PT.
Heads-Up Chip Counts
- Scott Seiver – 3,950,000
- Andrey Zhigalov – 2,490,000
Blake Schwartzbach Leads $1,500 Omaha Mix
Blake Schwartzbach leads the final 38 players still alive in the $1,500 Omaha Mix event after a Day 2 that saw 190 eliminations, including the bursting of the money bubble.
Schwartzbach ended the Day 2 with 475,000 to edge out Joe Tehan, Sean Yu, and John Evans for the lead. Phil Laak, Ryan Riess, Patrick Leonard, Rich Zhu, and Barry Greenstein are all still alive.
Jeff Lisandro, Tom Schneider, Jake Schwartz, Yuval Bronshtein, Zachary Gruneberg, Loren Klein, and Ian O’Hara were some of the notables who picked up a cash on Friday, but did not advance to Day 3.
Action resumes at 2 PM PT.
Top Chip Counts
- Blake Schwartzbach – 475,000
- Joe Tehan – 458,000
- Sean Yu – 445,000
- John Evans – 440,000
- Iori Yogo – 379,000
- James Van Alstyne – 364,000
- Aron Dermer – 353,000
- Ivo Donev – 343,000
- Keith Ferrera – 340,000
- Aaron Henderson – 333,000
$888 Crazy Eights Starts With 2,861 Runners
Two starting flights in the $888 Crazy Eights events helped lead to another busy day at the Rio. Day 1A brought in 1,674 entries while Day 1B, which started at 5 PM, added 1,187 more to the mix.
Russia’s Arsenii Karmatckii, the #3-ranked online poker player in Russia, bagged up the biggest stack at the end of Day 1A with 1,323,000. Right behind him is Aleksa Pavicevic with 1,036,000.
Day 1B starter Michael Kane finished with the biggest overall stack after bagging up 1,360,000.
The 329 combined survivors will now wait until Monday to return to action. Day 1C starts Saturday at 10 AM PT and 1D goes Sunday at the same time.
Top 5 Day 1A Chip Counts
- Arsenii Karmatckii – 1,323,000
- Aleksa Pavicevic – 1,036,000
- Dennis Brand – 999,000
- Jacob Steede – 980,000
- Alexander Clark – 960,000
Top 5 Day 1B Chip Counts
- Michael Kane – 1,360,000
- Dara Taherpour – 1,030,000
- Emile Schiff – 994,000
- William Pengelly – 921,000
- Jerry Odeen – 913,000
Michael McKenna Leads $10K Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
Michael McKenna, who finished runner-up to Phil Galfond in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event in 2018, seems hell-bent on redemption after finishing Day 1 of this year’s event with the chip lead. McKenna bagged up 355,600 to put himself 51,500 ahead of Randy Ohel.
Kate Hoang rounded out the top three stacks with 291,800.
Denis Strebkov ended with 201,100 for the eighth-best stack while Alex Foxen cracked the top 10 with 170,600. Other notables moving on to Day 2 include Scott Clements, Michael Mizrachi, Joao Vieira, Jake Schwartz, Jason Mercier, Cliff Josephy, James Obst, and Shaun Deeb.
Just 115 of the 175 Day 1 runners managed to move on to Day 2. They will be joined by players taking advantage of the Day 2 registration at 2 PM PT to play another six levels.
Top Chip Counts
- Michael McKenna – 355,600
- Randy Ohel – 304,100
- Kate Hoang – 291,800
- Stephen Johnson – 228,200
- Robert Cowen – 215,700
- Connor Drinan – 214,600
- Nathan Gamble – 203,800
- Denis Strebkov – 201,100
- Ryan Miller – 183,000
- Alex Foxen – 170,600
