WSOP: Fedor Holz Wins One Drop HR, Main Event Draws 1,733 for 1B
Fedor Holzhas had himself quite the summer. The former PocketFives#1-ranked player had won a couple of Aria High Rollers, finished runner-up in the Poker Central Super High Roller Bowl and he capped it all off on Sunday by winning the One Drop High Roller for his first career bracelet.
Holz’s victory came while Day 1B of the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event played out around him and followed up Courtney Kennedy’s own bracelet win in the Ladies Event earlier in the day.
Event #65: Courtney Kennedy Wins Ladies Championship
Courtney Kennedy topped what some are considering the toughest final table in WSOP Ladies Event history to win $149,108 and her first career bracelet.
“I had to be careful about having the chip lead. I didn’t want to get carried away, especially with my rail cheering for me and all,” Kennedy said. “I just wanted to play my strong game and pick my spots.”
Kennedy is a 37-year-old poker dealer from Detroit.
“I’m all about spark. I like to make people laugh, even as a dealer. Some people might say I talk too much, but I keep talking even while I deal.”
Kennedy beat Amanda Baker heads up to claim the title. Baker has now cashed four times in this event in her career. She walked away with $92,121. Amanda Musumeci finished fifth for $32,889, her largest WSOP cash since 2012.
Team PokerStars pro Yaxi Zhu finished ninth.
Final Table Payouts
- Courtney Kennedy – $149,108
- Amanda Baker – $92,121
- Xiu Deng – $64,401
- Natalia Breviglieri – $45,683
- Amanda Musumeci – $32,889
- Shelly Johnson-Ochoa $24,037
- Wendy Freedman $17,837
- Nicole Schwartz – $13,443
- Yaxi Zhu – $10,290
Event #67: $111,111 One Drop High Roller: Fedor Holz Wins First Bracelet, $4.98M
Fedor Holz beat Dan Smith heads up to win the One Drop High Roller and walk away with $4,981,775 and the first gold bracelet of his career. Holz, 22, admitted afterward that this was easily the highlight of his young poker career.
“I just so feel overwhelmed.*I didn’t think it would be like this,” said Holz. “I’m really happy right now. I was very focused coming into this.*I told my friends even, that this was going to be a very important week.*I had such a great feeling about this tournament and felt really intense about it, which is why it means so much to me to win it.”
Smith, who has yet to win a WSOP bracelet in his career, finished runner-up just one day after finishing third in the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller. He’s now cashed for nearly $4,000,000 at the 2016 WSOP.
Reigning Main Event champion Joe McKeehen finished sixth for $829,792.
Final Table Payaouts
- Fedor Holz – $4,981,775
- Dan Smith – $3,078,974
- Koray Aldemir – $2,154,265
- Jack Salter – $1,536,666
- Brian Green – $1,117,923
- Joe McKeehen – $829,792
- Nick Petrangelo – $628,679
- Niall Farrell $486,383
WSOP Main Event Day 1B: Andrey Zaichenko Tops
Just like Day 1A of the 2016 WSOP Main Event, Day 1B saw a small uptick over the 2015 field size. A total of 1,733 players took their shot at the Main Event title on Sunday, up just 17 players over the 2015 field size.
Topping the 1,302 players who managed to make it through all five levels of play was Russian bracelet winner Andrey Zaichenko with 292,700. That puts him just barely behind Gary Sewell and Alvaro Lopez’s Day 1A stacks of 312,500 and 306,200 respectively.
Some of the other notables to make it through Day 1B include Maria Ho, Anthony Zinno, Vanessa Selbst, Antonio Esfandiari and Johnny Chan.
Main Event Day 1B Top 10 Chip Counts
- Andrey Zaichenko – 292,700
- Kenny Hallaert – 269,400
- Kevin Powell – 219,800
- Chang Luo – 203,800
- Eric Afriat – 200,500
- Thi Nguyen – 200,000
- Keith Lehr – 197,900
- Ronnie Pease – 197,000
- Zu Zhou – 191,200
- Kyle Knecht – 189,700
