Artur Rudziankov became the second WSOP bracelet from the Czech Republic on Monday (WSOP photo)

Tuesday was supposed to be one of the rare bracelet-free days on the 2017 World Series of Poker schedule, but that wasn’t the case thanks to an extended heads-up battle that required a fourth day for one of Monday’s final table. The $50,000 Poker Players Championship and $888 Crazy Eights event both plowed through another day.

Artur Rudziankov Finishes Off $1,500 NLHE Event

Artur Rudziankov and Mario Prats Garcia came back to the Rio on Monday to finish playing heads-up in the latest $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Rudziankov began the day with a 2-1 chip lead and needed just 32 hands to finish off Prats Garcia and become just the second Czech-born player to win a WSOP bracelet.

The first Czech player to win a bracelet was Thomas Junek, back in 2012. As coincidence would have it , Junek and Rudziankov are friends and this bracelet win may have created a bit of a friendly rivalry between the two.

“He’s one of our friends,” Rudziankov said. “He is not going to be very happy.”

Final Table Payouts

  1. Artur Rudziankov – $395,910
  2. Mario Prats Garcia – $244,611
  3. Timothy Miles – $176,455
  4. Arman Zolnoorian -$128,645
  5. Christian Rudolph – $94,799
  6. Lee Watkinson – $70,618
  7. John Esposito – $53,184
  8. Martin Kabrhel – $40,500
  9. Scott Lychwick – $31,187

Ian O’Hara Leading $888 Crazy Eights into Final Day

Ian O’Hara, considered by a number of players to bethe top American tournament player under the age of 25, might be on the verge of adding a WSOP bracelet to his list of accomplishments. The 23-year-old finished Day 2 of the $888 Crazy Eights NLHE event with the chip lead after bagging up 5,660,000.

There are just 28 players remaining in contention for the bracelet and the $888,888 first place prize. The second biggest stack belongs to Romanian Alexandru Papazian with 4,840,000. Other notables in the field include Michael Tureniec, Eric Baldwin and Vlad Darie.

The second shortest stack belongs to 2017 bracelet winner and WSOP Player of the Year contender, Ben Yu. He has the 27th largest stack with just 610,000 – just 7.5 big blinds. A fourth-place finish or better would move Yu into the POY lead heading into the the final week of the WSOP.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Ian O’Hara – 5,660,000
  2. Alexandru Papazian – 4,840,000
  3. Michael Tureniec – 4,640,000
  4. Eric Baldwin – 4,505,000
  5. Vlad Darie – 4,420,000
  6. Guillaume Diaz – 4,090,000
  7. Paul Berger – 3,000,000
  8. Jose Reyes – 2,635,000
  9. Randy Pfeifer – 2,595,000
  10. Toby Price – 2,575,000

Aaron Katz Leads $50K PPC into Day 3, ‘Grinder’ Lurking

In the history of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, Michael Mizrachi has won the event twice and made the final table one other time. On Monday he put himself in position for a fourth deep run, finishing Day 2 with the third biggest stack.

Mizrachi bagged up 1,087,000, putting him behind only overall leader Aaron Katz (1,642,000) and Talal Shakerchi (1,480,500). Other notables to make it to Day 3 include Anthony Zinno (863,500), David Bach (735,000) Phil Galfond (719,500), Daniel Negreanu (678,500) and Jason Mercier (592,000).

Some of the 43 players who were eliminated on Monday included John Monnette, Mike Gorodinsky, Mike Leah, Dzmitry Urbanovich and Nick Schulman.

Action resumes at 2 PM PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts
Aaron Katz – 1,642,000
Talal Shakerchi – 1,480,500
Michael Mizrachi – 1,087,000
Elior Sion – 1,033,500
Andrey Zaichenko – 962,000
Matthew Ashton – 910,500
Gary Benson – 882,000
Anthony Zinno – 863,500
David Bach – 735,000
Jake Abdalla – 731,500

Michael Telker Leads $1,000 NLHE After Day 1

Another $1,000 buy-in NLHE event kicked off on Monday with 1,750 players entering. Through 10 levels of play just 182 remain, including overnight chip leader Michael Telker.

Spain’s Marco Fernandez sits second with 187,000.

The top 10 chip counts includes players from six different nations including Spain, Honduras, China, Brazil, England and the United States.

Some of the notables stil alive in this event include Dimitar Danchev, Ankush Mandavia, Jackie Glazier, Eddy Sabat, Parker Talbot, John Monnette, Ismael Bojang, Conor Beresford and Cliff Josephy.

Day 2 begins at Noon PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Michael Telker – 195,200
  2. Marcos Fernandez – 187,000
  3. Koen Breed – 167,800
  4. Richard Tuhrim – 142,000
  5. Yunsheng Sun – 124,900
  6. Daniel Dealmeida – 117,900
  7. Viet Vo- 113,700
  8. Myron Oliva – 110,300
  9. Daniel Rudd – 107,300
  10. Gilsoo Kim – 107,100

Ryan Laplante, Chris Moorman TOp $1,500 NLHE/PLO Mix After Day 1

1,058 players signed up for the $1,500 NLHE/PLO Mix event but just 166 of them made it through the opening day. Leading the way is 2016 WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Laplante with 245,000.

The only other player to bag up more than 200,000 chips was former #1-ranked Chris Moorman. Just three weeks after winning his first WSOP bracelet, Moorman built up a stack of 200,500.

Other notables still in the field include Bryce Yockey, Juha Helppi, Steve Gross, Jay Farber and Matt Affleck.

Day 2 begins at 2 PM on Tuesday.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Ryan Laplante – 245,000
  2. Chris Moorman – 200,500
  3. David Schwind – 195,100
  4. Victor Choupeaux – 192,000
  5. Mario Diliberto – 175,000
  6. Khorchidian Nichan – 165,500
  7. Bryce Yockey – 162,000
  8. Demosthenes Kiriopoulos – 140,200
  9. Soheb Porbandarwala – 138,700
  10. Juha Helppi – 132,300