Vladimir Shchemelev added a second bracelet to his collection on Sunday (WSOP photo)

Sunday was a relatively busy day at the 2017 World Series of Poker, but only one bracelet was awarded and that came from an event that was supposed to have finished on Saturday. The $10,000 Triple Draw Deuce to Seven event played down to a final table and some of the best No Limit players in the world made their into the $5,000 Six Max event.

Gaurav Raina Works Overtime to Win $2,500 No Limit Hold’em

Guarav Raina won his first WSOP bracelet on Sunday after having to play an unscheduled fourth day (WSOP photo)

It took an extra day for Guarav Raina and James Calvo to decide the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em event, but just two hours of play on Sunday, Raina eliminated Calvo and found himself $456,822 richer.

Normally a cash game grinder, Raina recently made the decision to give tournaments in try, partially due to the opportunity for a big score.

“I’ve always been a cash player and I’ve done well at that,” said Raina. “I was never really into tournaments and the more I saw my friends succeed at it and the more I talked strategy and what not to try and learn more myself, the more I realized that there is so much more potential to win like silly amounts of money in just a few days of playing.”

“I decided I would try and do everything that I could, while kind of taking a break from cash,” he said. “Kind of just relaxing and studying tournament poker until coming here for the WSOP events. Hopefully, it’s going to continue to pay off.”

Calvo ended up with $282,276 for his runner-up result.

The extra day was needed after Raina and Calvo were unable to finish each other off, despite having played 70 hands of heads-up play. When the pair returned on Sunday afternoon, Calvo had a slightly better-than 2-1 lead over Raina. After almost exactly two hours though, Raina flipped the script and eventually began pressuring Calvo.

“I was very fortunate to get all the hands and win all the flips,” said Raina. “To make it heads-up when I was severely chip disadvantaged almost the whole final table, when the bracelet plopped in between us, I was like ‘Oh man. I can’t even look at this thing. If I look at it, the worse it’s going to be for me when I don’t get it.’ So, I just decided to just not even give it any attention at all and just play the game as best I can.”

Final Table Payouts

  1. Gaurav Raina – $456,822
  2. James Calvo – $282,276
  3. Asi Moshe – $199,718
  4. Eddy Sabat – $143,148
  5. Eric Cloutier – $103,957
  6. Griffin Abel – $76,506
  7. Henric Stenholm – $57,068
  8. Giuseppe Pantaleo – $43,154
  9. Scott Margereson – $33,087

Dan Heimiller Looking for Second Seniors Championship Title

Three years ago Dan Heimiller topped a 4,425-player field to win the Seniors Championship event and the second WSOP bracelet of his career. On Sunday night he took strides towards doing that for a second time.

Heimiller is in the middle of the pack as the Seniors Championship heads toward Monday’s final table. He bagged up 2,970,000 to finish with the fourth biggest stack. The overnight chipleader is Mark Lilge, who finished with 5,300,000. Frank Maggio is right behind him with 4,910,000 and William Murray rounds out the top three with 4,000,000.

Action resumes at Noon PT and will be streamed live on PokerGO.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Mark Lillge – 5,300,000
  2. Frank Maggio – 4,910,000
  3. William Murray – 4,000,000
  4. Dan Heimiller – 2,970,000
  5. Anthony Licastro – 2,800,000
  6. Lewis LeClair – 2,530,000
  7. Dieter Dechant – 2,375,000
  8. Paul Spitzberg – 1,320,000
  9. Gina Bacon – 960,000

Vladimir Shchemelev wins $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Mix

Another day passes at the WSOP with yet another previous bracelet winner adding to their career totals. Russia’s Vladimir Shchemelev beat out Howard Smith to win the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Mix for $193,484.

Smith had to settle for $119,524.

The tournament saw players playing a mix of three different games: Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better and Big O). A total of 688 players entered the event, pushing the total prizepool to $928,800.

Three of the top finishers were from Russia. Shchemelev was joined by Nikolai Yakovenko and Igor Sharaskin at the final table.

Shchemelev’s first bracelet came in a $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event in 2013.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Vladimir Shchemelev – $193,484
  2. Howard Smith – $119,524
  3. Nikolai Yakovenko – $81,232
  4. Igor Sharaskin – $56,187
  5. Usman Siddique – $39,565
  6. Yueqi Zhu – $28,375
  7. Erle Mankin – $20,730
  8. Jesse Simonelli $15,435

Ryan Leng Leads Final 22 in $1,500 No Limit Hold’em

Just 22 of the 274 players that started Day 2 of the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em advanced a third, and potentially final, day of play. Leading the way is Ryan Leng with 1,370,000.

Leng is one of just three players with seven-figure stacks. Ron Rosenberg finished with 1,162,000 while Christopher Frank ended the day with 1,103,000.

Valetin Vornicu, who began the day as chip leader, was unable to advance to Day 3 and busted in 88th place for $3,734. Other notables to cash include Niall Farrell (224th – $2,320), Garret Greer (210th – $2,320), David Pham (178th – $2,572), Jared Hamby (169th – $2,572) and Griffin Benger (162nd – $2,572).

Action resumes at Noon PT on Monday.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Ryan Leng – 1,370,000
  2. Ron Rosenberg – 1,162,000
  3. Christopher Frank – 1,103,000
  4. Michael Gagliano – 820,000
  5. Georgios Sotiropoulos – 802,000
  6. Pratyush Buddiga – 757,000
  7. Ronald Massetti – 755,000
  8. Tom Hall – 658,000
  9. Arkadiy Tsinis – 619,000
  10. Noah Vaillancourt – 568,000

Shaun Deeb Leads $10,000 Triple Draw Championship Final Table

Shaun Deeb has had more 2017 WSOP cashes (4) than any other former #1-ranked player so far and on Sunday he added another one to his total by making into the money and onto the final table of the $10,000 Triple Draw Deuce Championship.

Deeb ended Day 2 with 1,125,000 but if he wants to add another bracelet to his collection, he’s going to need to make his way through a talented group of players at the final table. Nick Schulman put the second biggest stack into the bag but there’s also Mike Watson, Ben Yu, Shawn Buchanan and Mike Matusow all standing in Deebs way.

Adam Owen started the day as chip leader but was unable to survive the day, finishing 12th for $15,584.

The final six players are back in action at 2 pm PT on Monday to chase down not only the bracelet but $232,738 first place prize money.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Shaun Deeb – 1,125,000
  2. Nick Schulman – 865,000
  3. Mike Watson – 750,000
  4. Ben Yu – 566,000
  5. Shawn Buchanan – 437,000
  6. Mike Matusow – 363,000

$1,000 Super Seniors Draws Record Crowd

While the Seniors Event, where players need to be 50 or older, was playing down to a final table on Sunday, the Super Seniors event broke a record for biggest field yet. With players needing to be at least 65 years old to play, the Super Seniors drew 1,720 – almost 250 more than 2016.

Through 10 levels of play on Day 1, John Landreth has built up a monster lead on the rest of the 258 survivors. Landreth finished with 262,800 while no other player has more than144,900.

Action resumes at Noon on Monday.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Johnny Landreth – 262,800
  2. Earl Hirakawa – 144,900
  3. Alan Wheeler – 144,200
  4. Jean-Luc Adam – 135,100
  5. Paul Foster – 117,400
  6. Clayton Taul – 116,300
  7. Joann Hall – 116,000
  8. Steve Hohn – 115,200
  9. Josef Monro – 98,500
  10. Khin Maung – 97,300

Faraz Jaka on top of $5,000 Six Max No Limit After Day 1

As a lead up to the $10,000 Six Max Championship later this week, the $5,000 version of the event kicked off Sunday with 574 players. Through 10 levels of play, Faraz Jaka is on top with 255,400 heading into Day 2.

The only other player to bag up more than 200,000 was Kitty Kuo with 202,000.

Just 191 players were able to advance to Day 2 including Mike Leah, Michael Mizrachi, Olivier Busquet, John Racener, Antonio Esfandiari, Martin Jacobson, Doug Polk and Nick Petrangelo.

Notables who failed to advance include Sorel Mizzi, Chino Rheem, Phil Hellmuth and David Peters.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Faraz Jaka – 255,400
  2. Kitty Kuo – 202,000
  3. Kyle Bowker – 192,000
  4. Nadar Kakhmazov – 153,000
  5. Anton Astapau – 151,000
  6. Taylor Black – 148,000
  7. Mike Leah – 148,000
  8. Dietrich Fast – 141,000
  9. Michael Mizrachi – 139,000
  10. Sam Grafton – 135,000