Benny Glaser became the third player to win a second 2016 WSOP bracelet on Wednesday (WSOP photo)

While Jason Mercier continues to be the top story of the 2016 World Series of Poker, Benny Glaser is doing his best to grab some of the headlines as well. On Wednesday the British poker pro won his second bracelet of the summer in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship, taking it down just days after winning the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event.

Glaser joins Mercier and and Ian Johns as 2016 double-bracelet winners. Meanwhile Russian poker pro Andrey Zaichenko won the first bracelet of his career on Wednesday and Mercier made yet another Day 3.

Event #32: Benny Glaser Goes Back-to-Back, Wins $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship

Only three players returned for Day 4 of the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship and Benny Glaser, who had taken the chip lead late on Day 3, beat out Doug ‘Skippy’ Lorgeree and Matt Glantz to capture his second WSOP bracelet of the summer.

“It’s surprising that I would win two gold bracelets, at all,” Glaser said. “But if I was going to win, it would have been in this game since this is my best game and the one I have played the most online.”

Glaser’s win earned him $407,194 and pushed his 2016 WSOP earnings past the $700,000 mark. The 27 year old cherishes both of the bracelets he has won this summer but admitted the second one, the third of his career, might feel a little bit more special.

“This win was more satisfying for multiple reasons. First, this final table was streamed and watched live whereas the other one wasn’t. The money was much bigger. And, going back to back just makes it feel more crazy and amazing.
Jason Mercier finished eighth in this event for $39,269, his fifth cash of the summer. He now leads Glaser by almost 350 points in the race for WSOP Player of the Year.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Benny Glaser $407,194
  2. Doug Lorgeree $251,665
  3. Matt Glantz $175,754
  4. Grzegorz Trelski $125,125
  5. Robert Campbell $90,846
  6. Per Hildebrand $67,291
  7. Todd Brunson $50,872
  8. Jason Mercier $39,269
  9. Felipe Ramos $30,965

Event #33: Adrian Mateos Leads $1,500 Summer Solstice into Day 4

Adrian Mateos sits atop the final 17 players in the $1,500 buy-in Summer Solstice event after Day 3. Mateos, who won the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event and 2015 European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event, bagged 1,763,000, which puts him over 450,000 ahead of any other player.

Jon ‘PearlJammer’ Turner sits seventh with 904,000 while all-time online tournament earnings leader Chris Moorman is 15th after finishing Day 3 with 269,000.

Among the 74 players who busted on Wednesday were Matt Giannetti (76th – $4,434), former #1-ranked player on PocketFives Aaron ‘ ‘ Gustavson (73rd – $4,434), James Akenhead (64th – $5,135) and Bruno Politano ($7,139).

Action resumes Thursday at Noon PT.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Adrian Mateos – 1,763,000
  2. Alexey Blyakher – 1,307,000
  3. Ronald McGinnity – 1,200,000
  4. Ralph Wong – 1,117,000
  5. Alessandro Borsa – 1,024,000
  6. David Tovar – 1,000,000
  7. Jon Turner – 904,000
  8. Martin Kozlov – 864,000
  9. Koray Aldemir – 852,000
  10. Jack Bridges – 804,000

Event #34: Andrey Zaichenko Wins First Bracelet in $1,500 Triple Draw

Andrey Zaichenko won his first bracelet and the second for Russia in 2016 on Wednesday (WSOP photo)

Andrey Zaichenko beat out Jameson Painter heads-up to win the $1,500 Triple Draw event on Wednesday, giving the Russian poker community their second bracelet of 2016.

“The bracelet is the goal which I wanted. This is so emotional for me. I cannot express what this means,” Zaichenko said. “In Russia, we have so many good players. I am just so glad to have my name now up there along with them.”
Viatcheslav Ortynskiy won the first bracelet for Russia on Monday in the $3,000 Six Max Pot Limit Omaha event. Zaichenko credits a change in the games played in his native country for his success.
“The last three years, I have been playing a lot more Limit poker. At first it was No- Limit, but now we play lots of Limit cash games in Russia. The result of these games in Russia is making us better here now (at the WSOP).”
Jameson Painter finished runner-up and banked $72,878 in the process.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Andrey Zaichenko – $117,947
  2. Jameson Painter – $72,878
  3. Guy Hareuveni – $46,992
  4. Alexsandr Vinskii – $31,099
  5. Adam Spiegelberg – $21,139
  6. Andrii Nadieliaiev – $14,769
  7. Andrew Kelsall – $10,614

Event #35: Thiago Nishijima Leads $5,000 Six Max No-Limit Hold’em

Thiago Nishijima leads the final 21 players in what is arguably one of the most stacked No Limit Hold’em tournaments of the summer, the $5,000 Six Max NLHE event. Nishijima and Jason Koon are the only two players to finish with over 1,000,000 chips.

Nishijima finished with 1,222,000 and Koon is right behind him with 1,142,000. WSOP bracelet winner Michael Gathy sits eighth with 724,000.

Jake Schindler, Jonathan Little, Pratyush Buddiga, Felix Stephensen and Martin Finger all sit outside the top ten.

While there were 197 players at the start of Day 3, only the top 82 earned any money. Included in the group of 61 players who busted but managed to cash were Jason Les (82nd – $7,466), Fabian Quoss ($7466), Dutch Boyd (68th – $7,595), Dietrich Fast (64th – $7,960), Cate Hall (62nd – $7,960), Ismael Bojang (53rd – $8,585) and Joe Hachem ($44th – $9,523).

Ryan LaPlante, who won the $565 Pot Limit Omaha event in the opening week of the 2016 WSOP, finished 56th for his ninth cash this summer.

There are nine different countries represented in the final 21 including Brazil, Spain, Austria, Poland, Norway, France, Australia, Belgium and the United States.

Action resumes at Noon PT on Thursday.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Thiago Nishijima – 1,222,000
  2. Jason Koon – 1,142,000
  3. Saavedra Nunez – 994,000
  4. Artur Koren – 808,000
  5. Benjamin Reinhart – 796,000
  6. Matthew Parry – 738,000
  7. Alexander Lynskey – 728,000
  8. Michael Gathy – 724,000
  9. Samuel Bernabeu – 718,000
  10. Thomas Boivin – 710,000

Event #36: Gleb Kovtunov Leads $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo into Day 3

Gleb Kovtunov might be the name at the top of the chip counts with just 13 players left in the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event but it’s almost impossible to ignore the guy sitting 11th. Jason Mercier has made yet another Day 3 in his quest for a third 2016 WSOP bracelet.

Kovtunov bagged up 673,000 to finish just ahead of Timothy Burt (647,000), Per Hildebrand (597,000) and Fabrice Soulier (593,000).

Mercier has just 96,000 – just a touch over three big bets – but seems confident he can find more magic in his bottle.

Among the 47 players who didn’t survive Day 2 but did cash on Wednesday were Eli Elezra (60th – $3,763), James Obst (47th – $4,171), Mike Matusow (45th – $4,171), Marco Johnson (41st – $4,171), Robert Mizrachi (34th – $4,573) and Matt Savage (23rd – $5,942).

The final 13 players get back at it starting at 2 PM PT.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Gleb Kovtunov – 673,000
  2. Timothy Burt – 647,000
  3. Per Hildebrand – 597,000
  4. Fabrice Soulier – 593,000
  5. Hani Awad – 521,000
  6. Aditya Prasetyo – 452,000
  7. Benjamin Yogel – 384,000
  8. Esther Taylor-Brady – 358,000
  9. Michael Chow – 275,000
  10. Denny Axel – 194,000

Event #37: Dieyar Kakel Leads $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha After Day 1

After ten levels of play Dieyar Kakel sits atop the chip counts for the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event with another 127 players staring up at him. Kakel finished Day 1 with 151,800 to barely edge out Joe Serock for the lead. In fact, just 1,600 chips separate the top three players. Richard Austin ended the day with 149,200.

Daniel Negreanu, who was excited to learn that Las Vegas had officially been granted an NHL expansion team on Wednesday, finished with 98,000, the 12th biggest stack. Other notables still the field include Dylan Linde, Toby Lewis, Juha Helppi, Matt Stout, Leif Force and Leo Wolpert.

The event drew 776 players for a $1,047,600 prize pool with the eventual champion winning not only the bracelet, but $212,128. The top 117 will finish in the money with a min-cash worth $2,247.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Dieyar Kakel – 151,800
  2. Joe Serock – 150,800
  3. Richard Austin – 149,200
  4. Tommy Le – 141,000
  5. Andrewphilip Peplinski – 137,500
  6. Jan Collado – 134,000
  7. Steve Merrifield – 126,000
  8. Adam Johnson – 123,900
  9. Patrick Salo – 119,700
  10. Henri Koivisto – 107,300

Event #38: Warwick Mirzikinian On Top of $3,000 Six Max Limit Hold’em

Just 64 players survived Day 1 of the $3,000 Six Max Limit Hold’em event with Australia’s Warwick Mirzikinian sitting on top. He finished with 136,400, just ahead of the 131,900 that Rep Porter put in the bag. And while Benny Glaser won his second bracelet on Wednesday, Ian Johns put himself in contention for his third by building a stack of 109,000 – the third highest.

Other notables still in the field include Alexey Makarov, Joe McKeehen, Jonathan Duhamel, Jesse Martin, Matt Matros, Terrence Chan, Jeffrey Lisandro, Jason Somerville, Chris Klodnicki and Brock Parker.

The final 64 players will play another ten levels beginning at 2 PM PT.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Warwick Mirzikinian – 136,400
  2. Rep Porter – 131,900
  3. Ian Johns – 109,000
  4. Brendan Taylor – 109,000
  5. Brian Tate – 100,200
  6. Alexey Makarov – 95,300
  7. Michael Moore – 94,700
  8. Joseph Skinner – 91,700
  9. Joshua Griffith – 86,600
  10. Joseph Melancon – 86,400