Thursday’s action in the 2017 World Series of Poker saw an Australian crusher finally take down his first gold bracelet, having made six final tables over the years. The day also saw a winner in the $1K PLO, the Marathon event play down to a final two tables, the $3K Six Max down to 21, a final table set in the $1,500 2-7, and two events wrap their Day 1s.

Here’s all the latest from the 2017 WSOP.

James ‘Andy_McLEOD’ Obst Gets First WSOP Glory in $10K Razz

No doubt you’ll be familiar with his online handle; he’s been a beast on the virtual felt for years. But now James ‘Andy McLEOD’ Obst has his first WSOP bracelet to boot, after years of close calls.

Obst took down the $10,000 Razz Championship yesterday for $265,138, beating a 97-player field and a tough final table which includedDavid ‘ODB’ Baker (3rd – $112,645), Anthony Zinno (5th – $57,903), Brandon Shack-Harris(6th – $43,370), and Nick Schulman (9th – $21,946).

The 26-year-old Aussie came into the final as the chip leader, but by the time it was three-handed between Obst, Baker and eventual runner-up Eric Kurtzman, the latter held a whopping 75% of chips in play. Then a vital pot between Obst and Baker saw the ODB almost out the door, and allowed Obst a decent stack to take on Kurtzman heads-up. That’s exactly what he did, and in the end he came out on top.

“I guess it’s a new experience to win a bracelet,” Obst said shortly after his victory. “When you win one and it’s online I’m probably… I’m obviously not celebrating wildly like some people might, because that’s just my nature. Online, when no one’s around, you can probably be a bit more excited and get pumped up a bit more. But at the moment I’m just a bit… I don’t know how to process it just yet. It’s awesome and I’ll try to win another one before the series is out.”

Having already finished in second and eighth positions in other WSOP events this summer, Obst is certainly in the running for Player of the Year. It’s something he’s considering going for, within reason.

“I’m interested in trying to contend for it (POY), but you know at the end of the day I’m not going to be multi-tabling events or doing anything crazy to try to win it. I’m trying to hold on to my money and make more of it.”

Final Table Payouts

1. James Obst – $265,138
2. Eric Kurtzman – $163,867
3. David “ODB” Baker – $112,645
4. Andrey Zhigalov – $79,616
5. Anthony Zinno – $57,903
6. Brandon Shack-Harris – $43,370
7. Jyri Merivirta – $33,485
8. Jack Duong – $26,674
9. Nick Schulman – $21,946

Just 13 remain in The Marathon

After four long, hard days in the $2,260 Marathon No Limit Hold’em (Event #3), the end is finally in sight for the remaining 13 players.

They’re a talented bunch too; while the unknown Joseph Di Rosa Rojas from Venezuela leads the pack, he’s joined by the likes of Tim Reilly, Maurice Hawkins, Faraz Jaka, Julien Stuer, and Patrick Mahoney.

They’re all guaranteed at least $33,350, but there’s $690,469 up top for the eventual champ. Some of those who fell during Day 4’s action include Eric Baldwin (21st place – $21,434),Ana Marquez (26th place – $21,434), two-time bracelet winners Upeshka De Silva (30th place – $17,491) and Kristen Bicknell(44th place – $14,446), and three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (52nd place – $12,077).

Play resumes at 1pm Friday.

Final 13 Chip Counts

1. Joseph Di Rosa Rojas – 10,575,000
2. Tim Reilly – 7,220,000
3. Andrew Jernigan – 6,270,000
4. Maurice Hawkins – 3,630,000
5. Faraz Jaka – 3,215,000
6. Julian Stuer – 3,055,000
7. Bill Germanis – 2,470,000
8. Breixo Gonzalez – 2,180,000
9. Patrick Mahoney – 1,965,000
10. Alexander Lynskey – 1,775,000
11. Jeffrey Tomlinson – 1,475,000
12. Josh Weiss – 1,280,000
13. Pratik Ghatge – 955,000

Tyler Groth comes out on top in $1K PLO

The other champion crowned on Thursday was Tyler Groth, a 32-year-old Vegas resident who took down his first WSOP bracelet in the 1,058-strong$1K PLO (Event #25) for $179,126.

“I am an (Omaha Hi-Lo) player and took on a lot of great PLO players. I am in shock, I am really shaking,” he said, after the win.

Coming into the final day third of eleven in chips, Groth got off to a dream start, hitting two full houses and getting paid both times. Those hands shot him up to the chipleader position, but there were a few bumps in the road.

By the time former November Niner and 888 Ambassador Bruno Politano bubbled the final table, Groth had found himself with a short stack after a gruelling ten-handed stretch, losing a valuable set over set pot.

An interesting story at this final was Igor Sharaskin, who was looking to best his third-place finish in the $565 PLO earlier in the series. In the end, though, Sharaskin fell to Groth when his big draw ran into Groth’s full house.

Groth ultimately found himself heads-up against Jonathan Zarin holding a 5:1 chip lead. Zarin managed one double up, but couldn’t keep that upward trend going. Groth took it down in a cooler, when he rivered a bigger full house (yes another full house!) to claim victory.

“I moved [to Vegas] to finally give ‘live pro’ a go,” Groth said. “I had an online career, and in 2011 [after Black Friday] I literally quit my job and I was like, you know what, no more bosses, I am going back to poker. This is my first real run, that was probably my eighth or ninth World Series Event.”

Final Table Payouts

1. Tyler Groth – $179,126
2. Jonathan Zarin – $110,655
3. Allan Le – $78,372
4. Darren Taylor – $56,224
5. Igor Sharaskin – $40,862
6. Adam Brown – $30,090
7. Daniel Spencer – $22,456
8. Mark Zullo – $16,986
9. Casey Carroll – $13,026

Max Silver dominates final 21 in $3K 6-Max

When chips were bagged at the end of Day 2 in Event #27, the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Six Max, 201 players had turned into 21, and the UK’s Max Silver had an overwhelming chip lead.

Silver has almost double the stack of his nearest competitor, Morten Mortensen, while Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman also sits in the top five counts. Samantha Cohen, Nacho Barbero, James Chen and Pratyush Buddiga are all still alive too.

Action resumes at 12pm Friday with $498,682 for the winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Max Silver – 2,219,000
2. Morten Mortensen – 1,160,000
3. Jerry Payne – 955,000
4. Chris Moorman – 906,000
5. Onur Unsal – 893,000
6. Bernardo Dias – 867,000
7. Steve Sung – 840,000
8. Michael Gagliano – 840,000
9. John Gorsuch – 733,000
10. Ryan Tosoc – 709,000

Final table set in $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw

There are only six players remaining of the 326 who started in the $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw, and it’s Brendan Taylorwho’s out in front. He’s looking for his second WSOP bracelet, having won a $1,500 Shootout event back in 2010 for $184,950.

Taylor might be the only player remaining to already have WSOP gold, but the player in second place is no stranger to the big stages. Max Kruse is a German professional soccer player for Werder Bremen, who finished third in a No Limit 2-7 WSOP event back in 2014. He’s also well-known for having left £60,000 of poker winnings in the back seat of a taxi.

A winner will be crowned on Friday, with $109,967 up top.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Brendan Taylor – 714,000
2. Max Kruse – 635,000
3. Brian Brubaker – 549,000
4. Jason Riesenberg – 270,000
5. Dean Kerl – 190,000
6. Rick Fuller – 78,000

Mercier and Fernandez Lead After Two More Day 1s

There were two events kicking off on Thursday: the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em (Event #29) and the $10,000 HORSE Championship (Event #30).

A total of 1,086 players sat down in Event #29, withPablo Fernandez bagging the chip lead (193,600) over the 239 who made it through. With registration closed, a $2.44 million prize pool was confirmed with $456,822 for the winner.

Other notables still in contention include Jonathan Abdellatif (149,200), Matt Salsberg (147,300), Daniel Reijmer (122,400), Seth Berger(116,700), Linglin Zeng (91,400), Federico Butteroni(85,000), Jason Wheeler (78,900), Kristen Bicknell(73,700), Jason Koon (63,500), Chad Holloway (63,400), Manig Loeser (40,700), and Natasha Mercier (27,200).

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Pablo Fernandez – 193,600
2. Michael Wang – 170,700
3. Benjamin Francisco – 159,500
4. Jonathan Abdellatif – 149,200
5. Matt Salsberg – 147,300
6. James Romero – 140,000
7. Sadan Turker – 137,900
8. Niall Murray – 135,500
9. Lawrence Pileggi – 130,500
10. Jeremy Joseph – 129,400

Speaking of Merciers, it’s none other than defending champ Jason Mercierleading the way in the $10K HORSE overnight. Despite his late entry, the five-time bracelet winner was able to spin his stack up to 384,500, the most of the 64 remaining players. Mercier’s stack size is also very close to the amount going to the winner of this event: $383,208.

Others who will return on Friday include Esther Taylor(201,500), Brandon Shack-Harris(171,500), Anthony Zinno (146,000), Felipe Ramos (136,000), Maria Ho(90,000), Mike Sexton(74,000), Daniel Negreanu(61,500), and Phil Hellmuth(33,500).

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Jason Mercier – 384,500
2. Mack Lee – 347,500
3. David Bach – 278,500
4. Tom McCormick – 224,500
5. Mark Gregorich – 222,500
6. Ted Woolridge – 210,000
7. Esther Taylor – 201,500
8. Tom Hammers – 200,000
9. Aditya Prasetyo – 195,000
10. Eric Rodawig – 190,000