Elior Sion won the ,000 Poker Players Championship to win his first WSOP bracelet Thursday (WSOP photo)

All eyes were on the final table of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship on Thursday at the 2017 World Series of Poker. But while the likes of Daniel Negreanu and Isaac Haxton were battling it out in that, two more events played down to the last few tables, including the $25K PLO.

Sion Wins Prestigious PPC Title for Almost $1.4 million

Outside of the Main Event, it’s arguably the most coveted and prestigious poker tournament of the entire calendar year. The $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship consists of an eight-game rotation, meaning only the most well-rounded players succeed.

It was no surprise to see the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton and Paul ‘paulgees81’ Volpe at the final table then. But unless you follow this event closely each year, you might not be so familiar with Elior ‘Crazy Elior’ Sion. The high stakes online player from the UK final tabled this event last year, finishing in ninth place. Twelve months later, he’s the latest player to have his name etched on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, taking it down for $1,395,676.

Volpe was the first to exit, busting to Sion in a 2-7 hand. He was followed by Negreanu, who came into the finale as chip leader but didn’t have much luck. In his final hand (PLO), his pair and flush draw couldn’t survive against Ivo Donev’s overpair and bigger flush draw.

Donev was next to fall however, when he got brutally unlucky against Haxton on NLH. He was all in with pocket kings against Haxton’s pocket fives, and a miracle five on the river gave Haxton a set, the knockout, and a big chip lead.

Things wouldn’t go so smoothly for Haxton though, and a little while later he was our third place finisher, dropping to Sion in a Stud hand. That left Sion heads up with Johannes Becker, another name you might be familiar with. He had an almost 3:1 chip deficit when heads up began, but managed to put up a long, hard battle, evening the counts and eventually taking a 2:1 chip lead.

It all came to an end in an Omaha Hi-Lo hand. Becker had flopped a flush and low draw, while Sion flopped a full house, which would scoop the lot.

“It feels amazing,” Sion said after the five-hour heads-up match. “It’s like a long journey. You take it a step at a time. There were a few blips along the way, but as long as you still have chips, anything can happen.

“At the final table, the cards fell my way and I was fortunate enough to win. I got very lucky. In tournaments, anything can happen. You just have to believe, and sometimes, things can fall your way. Just goes to show you.”

Final table payouts:

  1. Elior Sion – $1,395,767
  2. Johannes Becker – $862,649
  3. Isaac Haxton – $595,812
  4. Ivo Donev – $419,337
  5. Daniel Negreanu – $300,852
  6. Paul Volpe – $220,111

Kenny Hallaert Leads Final 23 in $1,500 NLHE

It’s been quite a few months for Kenny ‘SpaceyFCB’ Hallaert, having won a Spring Championship of Online Poker title in May, then finishing third in the $5K NLH earlier in the WSOP for $238K.

The former November Niner still seeks his first bracelet though, and Hallaert has a good shot in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, where he holds the overnight chip lead.

There are 23 players remaining, among them Chris Klodnicki, Darren Elias, Ben Zamani, Vojtech Ruzicka (320K), and Brian Hastings (201K).

This event attracted 1,956 runners, creating a prize pool of $2,640,600 and a first place prize worth $428,423. Action resumes on Friday.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Kenny Hallaert – 1,779,000
  2. Schuyler Thornton – 1,771,000
  3. Dylan Hortin – 1,571,000
  4. Chris Klodnicki – 1,442,000
  5. Aditya Sushant – 1,313,000
  6. Emile Schiff – 984,000
  7. Darren Elias – 619,000
  8. Thomas Blizniak – 540,000
  9. Tom Braband – 538,000
  10. Ben Zamani – 500,000

Parvizi Leads Once Again in $25K PLO

It’s not often the Day 1 chip leader still bags the most at the end of Day 2, but that’s exactly what happened in Event #67: $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller. Iraj Parvizi is once again the overnight chip leader with just 20 players remaining.

He bagged up 3.75 million, and joining him tomorrow include other big stacks James Calderaro (3 million) and Dario Sammartino (2.675 million).

Also through to the final Day 3 are Dan Smith (980K), Ben Tollerene(910K), recent bracelet winner Tommy Le (830K), Ashton Griffin (600K), and Martin Kozlov (355K).

There were 205 entries in this one, and there’s a massive $1,289,074 awaiting the eventual champ.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Iraj Parvizi – 3,750,000
  2. James Calderaro – 3,000,000
  3. Dario Sammartino – 2,675,000
  4. James Park – 2,045,000
  5. Alexey Rybin – 1,650,000
  6. Aaron Katz – 1,505,000
  7. Rifat Palevic – 1,300,000
  8. Artem Babakhanyan – 1,070,000
  9. Mike Krasienko – 1,045,000
  10. William Kakon – 995,000

Kornuth and Grapenthein Bag Day 1 Chip Leads

Two new events got started on Thursday: the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em (Event #68) and the $1,500 Razz (#69).

When all was said and done in the former, the 1,349 starting field had been chopped down to 348, and it was Chance Kornuthwho led the survivors with 192,600. He’ll be back tomorrow on the quest for his second bracelet.

There’s another very familiar face in the top 10 chip counts too: Charlie ‘Epiphany77’ Carrel finished with fourth biggest stack (159,200).

Joining them tomorrow will be Michael Delvecchio III*(153,100),*Matt Salsberg*(111,500),*Igor Kurganov*(101,000),*Dietrich Fast*(98,500),*Joe Serock*(97,300),*Valentin Vornicu*(74,200),*Ben Keeline(73,500),*Dylan Wilkerson*(64,500),*David Pham*(54,900),*Natasha Mercier*(54,000),*Matt Affleck*(52,300),*Norberto Korn*(46,100),*DJ MacKinnon (38,600),*Andy Frankenberger*(33,500),*Jonathan Little*(31,300),*Kevin Eyster*(29,700),*Everett Carlton*(28,500),*Daniel Strelitz*(25,500),*Gordon Vayo*(25,300),*Ray Romano*(22,700),*Marton Czuczor*(22,300),*John Racener*(21,200),*Ralph Perry*(21,000),*Jiachen Gong*(18,000),*Ryan Laplante (14,300), and*Alex Keating*(13,100).

There’s $645,922 for the winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Chance Kornuth – 192,600
  2. Anton Bertillson – 179,000
  3. Alan Schein – 177,800
  4. Charlie Carrel – 159,200
  5. Michael Delvecchio IIi – 153,100
  6. Antonio Storno – 152,400
  7. Tommy Chen – 147,000
  8. Sergi Reixach – 144,400
  9. Simon Appleby – 143,900
  10. Georgios Zisimopoulos – 140,900

Meanwhile in the $1,500 Razz, 419 became 138 at the end of Day 1. Bracelet winner Matt Grapenthein bagged the chip lead, but there are a bunch more bracelets in the top 10 counts. Three-time bracelet winner Benny Glaserbagged up the sixth biggest stack, while 14-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth bagged the ninth biggest.

It wasn’t such a good day forDaniel Negreanu, who hopped in this one having busted the $50K PPC in fifth place. He was eliminated in two levels, and was ultimately joined on the rail by the likes of Jameson Painter,*Jon Turner,*Frank Kassela,*Victor Ramdin,*Randy Ohel,*Max Pescatori,*David Bach,*Jeff Lisandro,*Greg Raymer, and*Calvin ‘cal42688’ Anderson.

The winner will receive $132,957, with action resuming Friday.

Top 10 Chip Counts:

  1. Matt Grapenthien – 83,700
  2. Grzegorz Wyraz – 79,800
  3. Yordan Petrov – 70,500
  4. Jim Schaaf – 67,900
  5. Tim Batow – 61,400
  6. Benny Glaser – 61,000
  7. Roland Israelashvili – 56,000
  8. Mike Ross – 48,600
  9. Phil Hellmuth – 45,900
  10. Andrew Kelsall – 43,800