Former #1-ranked Yuri Dzivielevski picked up the first WSOP bracelet of his career on Sunday. (WSOP Photo)

One of Brazil’s top poker players went from online legend to World Series of Poker bracelet winner on Monday night while Korea’s Ji young Kim became the first woman from her country to win a bracelet.

Yuri Dzivielevski Ships $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo

Yuri Dzivielevski, who once held down the #1 spot on the PocketFives Rankings for five weeks, added another accomplishment to his resume on Sunday night, beating Michael Thompson heads-up to win the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event for $213,750 and his first WSOP bracelet.

Dzivielevski leaned on his years of experience playing tournaments to close out the final table.

“I have a lot of experience in No Limit Hold’em tournaments, and I have a lot of experience with [statistical models], so I knew that the chips I could lose weren’t worth the same as the chips when I win,” Dzivielevski said. “That was my strategy – attack very specific spots, but play tight.”

Prior to Sunday, Dzivielevski’s previous best WSOP performance came in 2016 when he narrowly missed out on the final table of the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship, finishing 11th for $44,911.

Thompson took home $132,113 for finishing second.

Dan Zack finished fifth for $43,950 but also picked up 370.2 WSOP Player of the Year points, which pushes him past Upeshka De Silvan and back into the lead through 51 events.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Yuri Dzivielevski – $213,750
  2. Michael Thompson – $132,113
  3. Denis Strebkob – $89,744
  4. Andrey Zaichenko – $62,176
  5. Daniel Zack – $43,950
  6. Philip Long – $31,710
  7. Alex Livingston – $23,362
  8. Daniel Ratigan – $17,584

Jason ‘TheBigGift’ Gooch Wins $1,000 Online NLHE Double Stack

Two weeks ago, Jason Gooch was heads-up for a bracelet on WSOP.com only to finish second to Josh ‘Loofa’ Pollock. On Sunday night he erased the bad taste that result left in his mouth and did one better, beating Brian ‘pure__reason’ Wood heads-up to win the $1,000 Online NLHE Deepstack event for $241.492.94.

Wood, the #19-ranked New Jersey online poker player, earned $148,542.85 as the runner-up.

Gianluca Speranza, the two-time defending PokerStars SCOOP Main Event champ, finished seventh.

The final table also included Italian poker players Dario Sammartino and Max Pescatori.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Jason ‘TheBigGift’ Gooch – $241,492.94
  2. Brian ‘pure__reason’ Wood – $148,542.85
  3. Anthony ‘scrotile’ Augustino – $104,980.41
  4. Dario ‘Sirio87’ Sammartino – $75,094.55
  5. Tim ‘Stucksoomuch’ Wong – $54,543.05
  6. Ran ‘margarete’ Koller – $40,143.29
  7. Gianluca ‘InMyHouse’ Speranza- $29,885.86
  8. Justin ‘KingFortune’ Liberto – $22,541.03
  9. Max ‘MaxSparrow’ Pescatori – $17,348.99

Ji young Kim Wins Ladies Event

Normally, you’ll find Ji young Kim managing her coffee shop back in her hometown of Seoul, Korea. For the last four days, however, Kim was busy working her way through the 968-player field in the WSOP Ladies Event. On Sunday night, she wrapped up the victory by beating Nancy Matson heads-up.

The win gives Kim her first WSOP bracelet and $167,308. Matson, from Santa Monica, CA, went home with $103,350 for her runner-up result. It’s only her second WSOP cash. She previously finished 406th in the $800 NLHE Deepstack in the lead up to the Ladies Event.

Lexy Gavin finished sixth for $27,643.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Ji young Kim – $167,308
  2. Nancy Matson – $103,350
  3. Sandrine Phan – $72,821
  4. Stephanie Dao – $52,007
  5. Lyly Vo – $37,654
  6. Lexy Gavin – $27,643
  7. Raylene Celaya – $20,582
  8. Stephanie Hubbard – $15,544
  9. Barbara Blechinger – $11,911

Kainalu McCue-Unciano Leads Monster Stack After Day 2

Nearly 3,000 players crammed into 10-handed tables on Sunday for Day 2 of the $1,500 Monster Stack and by the time 10 levels were in the books, just 457 players remained. Kainalu McCue-Unciano leads the way with 2,187,000 and the only other player who put more than 2,000,000 in the bag was Andrew Moreno, with 2,034,000.

Konstantin Puchkov, Pierre Neuville, Alex Lynskey, Ali Imsirovic, Ryan Hohner, Matt Salsberg, and Dan Sindelar all found a bag at the end of Day 2.

The bubble burst mid-way through play Sunday with 447 players busting in the money. Some of the notables who picked up a cash on Day 2 include Taylor Paur, Jake Schwartz, PokerStars Players Championship winner Ramon Colillas, and Barry Greenstein.

Action resumes at 11 AM PT and will play another 10 levels.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Kainalu McCue-Unciano – 2,187,000
  2. Andrew Moreno – 2,034,000
  3. Brady Bullard – 1,971,000
  4. Justin Kindred – 1,900,000
  5. Benjamin Ector – 1,869,000
  6. Jeff Siegal – 1,840,000
  7. Gergely Kulcsar – 1,839,000
  8. Roman Korenev – 1,804,000
  9. Duytue Duong – 1,800,000
  10. Sean Yu – 1,682,000

Daniel Alaei Leads $10K Pot Limit Omaha Championship

Daniel Alaei, recently named the 26th best player in WSOP history, spent Sunday building his case and his chip stack, in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship event. The five-time bracelet winner finished Day 2 with 1,985,000. He’ll have to work his way through a formidable group of challengers on Monday if he hopes to get anywhere close to bracelet #6.

The next biggest stacks belong to players who registered at the start of Day 2. Luke Schwartz sits second with 1,700,000 while Shaun Deeb bagged the third biggest stack with 1,586,000.

A total of 26 players took advantage of the Day 2 registration opportunity including Phil Ivey, Matthew Gonzales, Phil Kessel, and Stephen Chidwick.

The 26 late-entries pushed the total field size to a record-setting 518 players. Just 50 of them survived to see Day 3 and will be in action beginning at 2 PM PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Daniel Alaei – 1,985,000
  2. Luke Schwartz – 1,700,000
  3. Shaun Deeb – 1,586,000
  4. Adam Hendrix – 1,219,000
  5. Dash Dudley – 1,199,000
  6. Joel Feldman – 1,196,000
  7. Will Jaffe – 1,179,000
  8. James Park – 1,173,000
  9. Andjelko Andrejevic – 1,116,000
  10. Patrick Mahoney – US 1,024,000

$800 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack

The opening day of the $800 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack event drew 3,759 players and through 20 30-minute levels, just 440 made it through. Kenneth Johnson ended up on top of the Day 1 chip counts with 1,400,000. Every player in the top 10 turned their starting stack of 40,000 into at least 1,000,000. This includes Alex Foxen who finished with 1,104,000 and the seventh-best stack.

Joseph Cheong, Dutch Boyd, Joao Simao, Greg Raymer, Phil Hellmuth, Matt Affleck, Daniel Strelitz, Chris Ferguson, and Tim West were just some of the more recognizable faces that advanced to Da y2.

Comedians Brad Garrett and Norm MacDonald also finished Day 1 with chips.

Day 2 begins at 1 PM PT and is scheduled to play to a champion.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Kenneth Johnson – 1,400,000
  2. Shmuel Hada – 1,340,000
  3. Amir Lehavot – 1,330,000
  4. Jordan Meltzer – 1,188,000
  5. John Rice – 1,138,000
  6. Michael Dichiaro – 1,110,000
  7. Alex Foxen – 1,104,000
  8. Sharavan Chhabria – 980,000
  9. Loc Nguyen – 976,000
  10. Piet Pape – 956,000

Eric Rodawig Tops Day 1 of $1,500 Razz

Day 1 of the $1,500 Razz event saw 363 players enter with bracelet-winner Eric Rodawig finish the day with the lead after being the only player to break through the 100,000 chip mark. Rodawig finished with 118,7000 while his closest competitor, Stephen Burns, ended with 92,700.

Adam Owen, Scott Clements, Jennifer Tilly, Matt Waxman, Don Zewin, and Steve Billirakis were part of the 127 players who advanced to Day 2.

Action resumes at 2 PM PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Eric Rodawig – 118,700
  2. Stephen Burns – 92,700
  3. Doug Lorgeree – 90,400
  4. Charles Lorentz – 85,000
  5. Jaime Lezama – 83,700
  6. Shane Littlefield – 83,400
  7. Adam Owen – 82,800
  8. Peter Brownstein – 81,000
  9. Christopher Kusha – 77,700
  10. Michael Ross – 76,600