Joe Cada, WSOP 2018
Joe Cada seeks bracelet no.3

Day 3 at the 2018 World Series of Poker was the busiest yet, with four events playing in unison within the walls of the Rio in Las Vegas. While two tournaments played through their Day 2s, we saw two new events kick off, including one of the largest buy-ins of the summer.

Here’s all you need to know about Friday’s action (June 1).

Joe Cada, Joe McKeehen Make SHOOTOUT Final Table

After the first round of Event #3: the $3,000 NLHE SHOOTOUT on Thursday, 50 of the 363 entrants returned for round two today. When play came to an end on all ten tables, we had ten winners who’ll return on Saturday and play down to a winner.

Two-time bracelet winner and 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada, and 2015 Main Event champ Joe McKeehen headline the final table of ten, which also includes young British pro Harry Lodge, Ihar Soika, Anthony Reategui, Taylor Wilson, Sam Phillips, Jack Maskill, Jeffrey Trudeau, and Joshua Turner.

Cada is seeking his third bracelet, and put in a good showing today to overcome a table draw which included Arne Ruge, Bryce Yockey, Alexander Lynskey, and Chad Wassmuth. It was Soika who arguably had the most watchable table though, as he had to battle through the likes of Phil Hellmuth and Eli Elezra to proceed.

Other notables who were lost throughout the course of Day 2 action include Jan-Eric Schwippert, Matt Stout, Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman, Ismael Bojang, Tim Reilly, Taylor Paur, and Adam ‘Adamyid’ Owen. All of them cashed for $6,302.

Here’s a look at the seat draw for tomorrow’s finale, with chip counts:

  1. Jeffrey Trudeau – 534,000
  2. Sam Phillips – 547,000
  3. Ihar Soika – 534,000 
  4. Harry Lodge – 521,000
  5. Anthony Reategui – 548,000
  6. Joe McKeehen – 522,000
  7. Joshua Turner – 534,000
  8. Taylor Wilson – 547,000
  9. Jack Maskill – 546,000
  10. Joe Cada – 549,000

And a reminder of what they’re playing for:

  1. $226,218
  2. $139,804
  3. $101,766
  4. $74,782
  5. $55,480
  6. $41,559
  7. $31,435
  8. $24,013
  9. $18,526
  10. $14,437

Day 3 kicks off at 12 p.m. on Saturday, June 2, and the blind levels will be 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante.

Multiple Bracelet Winners Reach Day 3 of $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better

As Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better moves into Day 3, its 296 Day 2 hopefuls (of 911 total entries) have been whittled down to just 36.

There are some big names and bracelet winners still in contention, but its Brandon Ageloff who bagged the chip lead with 555,000. Ageloff’s made a WSOP final table last year in a $1,500 NLHE event, good for a $161,844 score – the best of his career to date.

Mike Leah, WSOP 2018
Mike Leah

There are two players still in contention who are seeking their third bracelets:  Chris Bjorin (488,000) and Mike Wattel (262,000). Moreover, there are two players in the hunt for their second WSOP wins: Mike Leah (99,000) and Jason Lester (95,000).

Former November Niner Jeff Schulman is also still in the mix with 291,000, joined by the likes of Chad Eveslage (364,000), Daniel Buzgon (173,000), Kate Hoang (167,000), Julien Martini (140,000), James Chen (110,000), Danny Wong (76,000) and 2016 WSOP Main Event 8th place finisher Jerry “HumLun” Wong (48,000).

The top 10 counts at the end of Day 2 look like this:

  1. Brandon Ageloff 555,000
  2. Matt Woodward 505,000
  3. Chris Bjorin 488,000
  4. Rafael Concepcion 435,000
  5. Chad Eveslage 364,000
  6. Brian Haack 308,000
  7. John Jenkins 299,000
  8. James Pursley 295,000
  9. Jeff Shulman 291,000
  10. Mike Wattel 262,000

There were many notable eliminations throughout the day, and some of those who failed to cash include Layne Flack, Matt Waxman, Jeff Madsen, Sebastian Langrock, Frank Kassela, Ashton Griffin, Jeremy Ausmus, Justin Liberto, Mike Matusow, Christopher Vitch, Chris Klodnicki and Scott Clements.

Meanwhile, big names who reached the money include three-time bracelet winners Benny Glaser and John Monette, four-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi, two-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb, and other bracelet winners Ryan Laplante, John Racener, Perry Friedman, Peter Eichhardt, Chris Tryba, as well as Day 1 chip leader Dao Bac.

All of the returning 36 are guaranteed a $5,605 payday, but its the $239,771 first-place prize they’ll have their eyes on. Action resumes at 2pm Saturday with blinds at 5K/10K.

Elio Fox Heater Continues with $100K High Roller Day 1 Lead

They say that momentum in poker is a thing, and that you should ride the rush when it arrives. Elio Fox certainly did that today, bagging up the Day 1 chip lead in Event #5: $100,000 NLHE High Roller two days after winning the first bracelet of the 2018 WSOP (his second overall).

Fox took down Event #2: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty in the early hours of Thursday morning for $393,693. He’s followed that win up with a great Day 1 performance in this shot-clock event, one that saw him end with 2,881,000 after nine 60-minute levels of play. Fox’s ascent to the lead came with a bit of help from lady luck though; he was all-in with top pair top kicker against an overpair belonging to Dario Sammartino, but the river gave Fox a winning two pair.

There were 97 total entries today, but only 49 will return tomorrow. The field was stacked as you’d expect from such a big buy-in, but some notables who ended the day near the top of the counts include Jan-Eric Schwippert (2,582,000), recent four-time WPT champ Darren Elias (2,038,000), Bryn Kenney (1,971,000), Sergio Aido (1,493,000), Byron Kaverman (1,282,000) and Stephen Chidwick (1,276,000) .

Justin Bonomo, WSOP 2018
The red-hot Justin Bonomo

Arguably the best NLHE tournament player in the world right now is Justin Bonomo, fresh off a $5 million win in the Super High Roller Bowl. Bonomo has cashed for around $15 million in 2018 alone, and he’ll be returning tomorrow with 1,046,000 hoping to add to that incredible amount.

But where there are survivors, there must be casualties. Some of those who were eliminated today include Daniel Negreanu, Alex Foxen, Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Duhamel, Dan Shak, Anthony Zinno, Erik Seidel, Chris Hunichen, and Nick Schulman.

When the players return on Saturday at 2pm, they’ll play ten 60-minute levels beginning at 8K/16K.

Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks:

  1. Elio Fox – 2,881,000
  2. Jan-Eric Schwippert – 2,582,000
  3. Darren Elias – 2,038,000
  4. Michael Kamran – 2,018,000
  5. Bryn Kenney – 1,971,000
  6. Andreas Eiler – 1,857,000
  7. Michael Rosenfeld – 1,716,000
  8. Matthias Eibinger – 1,560,000
  9. Sergio Aido – 1,493,000
  10. Johannes Becker – 1,471,000

The GIANT Kicks Off

Day 1A of Event #6: The GIANT saw an enormous 1,289 field take a $365 shot, and after 21 levels just 90 survived. They’ll have to wait a while before they return though, as this is just the first of five starting flights in the lowest buy-in WSOP event available.

The end-of-day chip leader was Danny Nguyen – the only player who ended with 1.1 million and was the only player to bag up seven figures. He’s most closely followed by Elvis Toomas (995,000), Josh Reichard (935,000), Adam Richardson (895,000) and Vincent Lee (810,000).

WSOP veteran Matt Affleck also made it through with a 210,000 stack. Each starting flight in this one will make the money during Day 1, and today 194 players reached the cash. Adam ‘Adamyid’ Owen fired multiple bullets (this event has unlimited re-entries) but busted before the money, as did Dzmitry Urbanovich, Tom Hall, Fernando Brito, Calvin Anderson, Ryan Laplante, Craig Varnell and Kathy Liebert.

You can expect to see all of them taking another shot in the GIANT though, with starting flights every Friday for the next four weeks. Day 2 takes place on Saturday June 30th.

Take a look at the top 10 Day 1A counts below:

  1. Danny Nguyen 1,100,000
  2. Elvis Toomas 1,000,000
  3. Josh Reichard 935,000
  4. Adam Richardson 895,000
  5. Vincent Lee 810,000
  6. Mario Saur 715,000
  7. Martin Zamani 650,000
  8. James Howden 630,000
  9. Brian Johnson 410,000
  10. Kristin Hutton 350,00

Tomorrow’s Action (June 2)

As well as the SHOOTOUT final table, Day 3 of the Omaha, and Day 2 of the $100K High Roller, there will be two events kicking off on Saturday June 2.

There are two starting flights for Event#7: $565 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold’em – 1A beginning at 10am, and 1B kicking off at 5pm.

The ever popular Event #8: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball also begins at 3pm.

News & Notes

  1. Alas, Jerwin Pasco failed to bink a seat in the $100K High Roller, having won his way into a $7,500 satellite following two satellite wins beginning at just $125.

2. If you’re planning on playing the COLOSSUS tomorrrow, take KevMath’s advice: