Friday 23rd June = yet another busy at the 2017 World Series of Poker. Another Giant starting flight brought thousands into the Rio, but the big news was the two new bracelet winners crowned last night. There’s a lot to go over, so let’s get down to it.

Yurasov claims a bracelet in $10K 6-Handed

There are certain tournaments that poker players put at the top of the prestige list at the WSOP. The Main Event is obviously one, but then there’s the $50K Poker Player’s Championship, the One Drop, the $10K 2-7 and the like.

The $10,000 Six Max No Limit Hold’em Championship is certainly on that list too. Last night saw Dmitry Yurasov as the last man standing, taking down his first gold bracelet, and winning a career-best score of $775,293.

This win takes the Russian over $2 million in live earnings, and he had to work for every dime on Friday. Even after start-of-day chip leaderCharlie Carrel was eliminated (15th – $30,922), followed by Eric Wasserson (11th – $39,284),Connor Drinan (9th – $51,494),Dario Sammartino (8th – $69,578), and Grayson Ramage (7th – $69,578), there was still a tough final table to get through.

Two-time bracelet winnerKristen Bicknellfell in sixth ($96,823), immediately followed by Albert Daher($138,644) who lost a cooler pot to Yurasov, flush against full house. Artem Metalidi then busted not long after ($204,128) and it was proving to be a very quick final table.

It took just 12 hands of three-handed play before Jacob Powers was eliminated ($479,561), leaving Yurasov heads up with Tommy Chen. That went quickly too, eventually ending when Chen shoved on a queen-high flop holding a queen, but trailed Yurasov’s pocket aces.

After his victory, Yurasov said “winning this bracelet is a special achievement”, and that it felt like an “easy game” because he was running so well. He busted four of his five opponents!

Final table payouts

1. Dmitry Yurasov – $775,923
2. Tommy Chen – $479,561
3. Jacob Powers – $308,783
4. Artem Metalidi – $204,128
5. Albert Daher – $138,644
6. Kristen Bicknell – $96,823

Loren Klein wins second bracelet in $1,500 PLO

Joining Yurasov in Friday’s winner’s circle is Loren Klein, who took down the $1,500 PLO for $231,483. It’s Klein’s second bracelet, having won a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em / PLO mix event last year.

“I’ve been playing for 10 years,” Klein said after his win. “I grew up in Michigan and have been slowly moving west. I live in Reno now. Just to be close to the Mountains and Nevada.”

Coming into the final day, there were two six-time bracelet winners still in contention. Poker Hall of FamerTJ Cloutier eventually exited in 10th, while Jeff Lisandro busted in 16th.

In the latter stages of the final table, Klein dominated. He eliminatedDanny Wong in third when his bottom two pair held up against Wong’s top pair and flush draw; and he made quick work heads up, busting Chun Law holding the nuts.

“I had to run good in the last few all-ins for sure but before that I picked up a lot of chips when I could,” Klein said. “TJ’s [Cloutier] results are super intimidating. It was tough to be at a table with one of the greats but I tried to keep it together.”

Final table payouts:

1. Loren Klein – $231,483
2. Chun Law – $143,017
3. Danny Wong – $100,360
4. Jeff Williams – $71,423
5. Jordan Spurlin – $51,559
6. Oskar Silow – $37,762
7. Timothy Batow – $28,066
8. Sergej Barbarez – $21,172
9. Benjamin Juhasz – $16,215

Final two tables in $1,500 Shootout

Just 12 players of the 1,025 who started now remain in Event #43, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout. To get to this point, that meant lots of big names couldn’t win their tables, and some of those who tried and failed today include Vojtech Ruzicka, Martin Staszko, Tom Middleton, Kevin MacPhee and recent bracelet winner Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman.

Jonathan Little is arguably the biggest name in the remaining field. The final two tables will kick off at 12pm Saturday, when they’ll be playing for the $257,764 first place prize.

Final two tables:

Phachara Wongwichit – 637,000
Thomas Boivin – 621,000
Joe Cook – 627,000
Tim West – 641,000
Alex Rocha – 622,000
Matas Dilpsas – 617,000

Robert Kuhn – 636,000
Paul Michaelis – 621,000
Ben Maya – 622,000
Ross Ward – 619,000
Steve Foutty – 627,000
Jonathan Little – 628,000

$3K HORSE down to 18

Another day of mixed games is in the books, taking the 156 who remained in the $3,000 HORSEdown to 18.

Tom Koralbagged up the chip lead with 770K, but it’s four-time bracelet winner Mike Matusow that headlines. Matusow sits near the bottom of the counts with 212K, while two-time bracelet winner Ryan Hughes ended with 288K.

Some of the notable names we lost during Friday’s action include Stephen Chidwick, Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier, Scotty Nguyen and Shaun Deeb.

There’s $256,226 up top in this one, with action resuming at 2pm.

Top 10 chip counts:

1. Tom Koral – 770,000
2. Phil Hui – 516,000
3. Marcus Mizzi – 485,000
4. Gabe Paul – 484,000
5. David Steicke – 441,000
6. Matthew Schreiber – 388,000
7. Richard Bai – 371,000
8. Dmitry Chop – 346,000
9. Brendan Taylor – 312,000
10. Ryan Hughes – 288,000

$5K Turbo and $1,500 PLO 8 kick off

Two new tournaments got going on Friday: Event #45 – the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (30 minute levels), and Event #46 – the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.

The former attracted 505 runners, of which 49 survived the Day 1. Diego Sanchez holds the overnight chip lead, with Max Silver,Conor ‘1_conor_b_1’ Beresford, Chris ‘NigDawg’ Brammer, Frank Kassela, Aditya Agarwal, Yevgeniy ‘Jovial Gent’ Timoshenko, and Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman still in the mix.

They’re all in the money, looking towards the $527,555 first place prize. Felipe Ramos, Doc Sands, Tony Dunst, Davidi Kitai, Dan O’Brien, and Jonathan Duhamel all busted with a cash. Sadly for Faraz Jaka, Justin Bonomo, Mike Leah, Maurice Hawkins, Ryan Laplante, Martin Jacobson, Joe McKeehen, JC Tran, Matt Waxman, Jordan Young, Joe Cada, and Ryan Riess, they failed to get past the bubble.

Top 10 chip counts:

1. Diego Sanchez – 660,000
2. Dennis Blieden – 561,000
3. Jake Bazeley – 509,000
4. Max Silver – 504,000
5. Conor Beresford – 504,000
6. David Ormsby – 477,000
7. Christopher Brammer – 464,000
8. Frank Kassela – 444,000
9. Aditya Agarwal – 416,000
10. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 385,000

Meanwhile the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better brought out 830 players. Day 1 whittled the field down to 151, with Marcos Fernandez bagging a huge chip lead with 251K. To put that in perspective,Miguel Use is second with 160K.

Joining those guys tomorrow will be David “ODB” Baker(18,200), Calvin Anderson(79,000), Barny Boatman(54,000), David Bach (18,400), Ben Yu(46,300), Barry Greenstein (24,100),John Monnette (47,400), Jeff Gross (6,000), Ray Henson(61,000) and Fabrice Soulier(45,000).

Only 125 make the money, so the bubble will be approaching early on Day 2. There’s $223,339 for the eventual champ, and play resumes at 2pm.

Top 10 chip counts:

1. Marcos Fernandez – 251,000
2. Miguel Use – 160,500
3. John O’shea – 127,000
4. James Chen – 84,000
5. James Alexander – 83,700
6. Calvin Anderson – 79,000
7. Yueqi Zhu – 65,000
8. Boris Kotleba – 55,000
9. Barny Boatman – 54,000
10. Marco Johnson – 50,000