John Monnette now has three WSOP bracelets after taking down the K No Limit Deuce to Seven Championship. (WSOP photo)

Through the first 20 events or so at the 2017 World Series of Poker, one of emerging themes is the number of bracelets being won by players who already have won from a previous year. That trend continued on Wednesday with John Monnette winning his third career bracelet.

That was the only bracelet awarded on Tuesday, but there were five other events on the schedule.

Ralph Perry Leading Millionaire Maker into Final Day

Just 136 of the 7,761 entries in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker unbagged chips on Monday afternoon and after another 10 levels of play, just 14 were putting chips back in the bag.

Leading the way is Ralph Perry with 7,765,000, but his lead over the second biggest stack isn’t huge. Daniel Chan finished with 7,585,000.

Senovio Ramirez III, who started the day with the chip lead, managed to survive and will begin Day 4 with the third shortest stack at 3,520,000.

2016 November Niner Kenny Hallaert finished 17th for $53,962. Other notable players to bust on Tuesday included Jessica Dawley (30th – $34,718), Matt Affleck (31st – $34,718), Joe Cada (42nd – $28,160), Brian Rast (75th – $13,147) and Jonathan Karamalikis (78th – $13,147).

Action resumes at 11 AM PT on Wednesday and will play down to a winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Ralph Perry – 7,765,000
  2. Daniel Chan – 7,585,000
  3. Bryce Yockey – 6,315,000
  4. Yuriy Boyko – 5,300,000
  5. Alexander Farahi – 5,295,000
  6. Jonathan Gray – 5,160,000
  7. Chen Yu Hung – 4,550,000
  8. Senovio Ramirez III – 3,520,000
  9. Hector Martin Merced – 2,910,000
  10. Dejuante Alexander – 2,440,000

John Monnette Adds Third Bracelet with $10K Deuce Victory

The $10,000 Championship events always draw out the best players in the world and the No Limit Deuce to Seven event always seems to have the cream rise to the top. That was the case on Tuesday as John Monnette beat out a final table that included Paul Volpe, Mike Leah, Mike Gorodinsky and Darren Elias.

Monnette beat Per Hildebrand heads-up to win the bracelet, his third, and $256,610.

“I had some good hands,” said Monnette. “Those were some really tough players — Paul (Volpe), who won this event last year. And Darren (Elias), on my left, who is excellent at this game.”

Volpe finished eighth for $24,408 for his fourth cash in five years in this event. During that span he’s finished eighth (2013), first (2014) abd 12th (2015).

Monnette’s previous bracelets came in Seven Card Stud (2012) and Eight Game Mix (2011).

Final Table Payouts

  1. John Monnette – $256,610
  2. Per Hildebrand – $158,596
  3. Darren Elias – $110,944
  4. Xavier Kyablue – $79,016
  5. James Chen – $57,316
  6. Mike Gorodinsky – $42,357
  7. Mike Leah – $31,903
  8. Paul Volpe – $24,498

Maurice Hawkins Running Away with Marathon Chip Lead

We’ve chronicled Maurice Hawkins’ start to his 2017 WSOP and while he hasn’t managed to post a big score, and even expressed concern about being bored, he did admit he was looking forward to the Marathon the most.

“That’s like my Main Event,” said Hawkins. And he showed it on Tuesday, finishing Day 2 of the five day tournament with 920,000 – more than 300,000 more than any other player.

The rest of the field is no joke though. Alexander Lynskey sits second with 618,000, just ahead of three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos with 599,500.

Just 268 players remain with the plan to play seven 100-minute levels on Wednesday.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Maurice Hawkins – 920,000
  2. Alexander Lynskey – 618,000
  3. Adrian Mateos – 599,500
  4. Matthew Parry – 586,000
  5. Maxim Sorokin – 553,500
  6. Rigoberto Rodriguez – 532,500
  7. Michael Kane – 515,000
  8. Eric Baldwin – 492,500
  9. Sampath De Silva – 478,500
  10. Thomas Lutz – 457,000

Nancy Nguyen Leads Final 15 in $1,500 Limit Hold’em

Nancy Nguyen finished Day 2 of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em with the chip lead and just 14 players standing between her and her first WSOP bracelet. Mark Bassaly sits second with 461,000 and Ray Henson, also looking for his first bracelet, is third with 373,000.

Michael Reed, who began the day as chip leader, sits fourth with 364,000.

Of the 117 players eliminated on Day 2 were Andrey Zaichenko (91st – $2,246), Jesse Martin (82nd – $2,285), Justin Bonomo (79th – $2,381), John Racener (66th – $2,547) and Alex Luneau (48th – $3,080).

  1. Nancy Nguyen – 574,000
  2. Mark Bassaly – 461,000
  3. Ray Henson – 373,000
  4. Michael Reed – 364,000
  5. Shane Buchwald – 343,000
  6. Shane Fumerton – 341,000
  7. Hod Berman – 337,000
  8. Barry Greenstein – 316,000
  9. Ray Pulford – 297,000
  10. Venkata Tayi – 287,000

$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha Down to 102

The $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha event kicked off Tuesday afternoon with 1,058 players entering. Leading the way after Day 1 is Casey Carroll with 210,800.

Michael Mizrachi also bagged up a top three stack, finishing with 153,800.

Day 2 begins at Noon PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Casey Carroll – 210,800
  2. Jia Mai – 168,000
  3. Jesse Fulmer – 164,700
  4. Michael Mizrachi – 153,800
  5. Yashuo Chin – 146,200
  6. Jesse Chinni – 140,200
  7. Allan Le – 138,000
  8. Alexandre Fradin – 128,900
  9. Igor Sharaskin – 118,600
  10. Andrew Lukovsky – 116,500

Frank Kassela Chasing Second ’17 Bracelet in $10K Razz Championship

Frank Kassela has already won a bracelet this year, and on Tuesday he put himself in position to win another one. Kassela finsihed Day 1 of the $10,000 Razz Championship with 364,500, good enough for the chip lead.

Don Zewin finished with the second biggest stack, 303,000 while Anthony Zinno finished third with 254,000.

James Obst, who has cashed four times already, also finished with a top five stack.

The event drew 97 players – three fewer than last year – with 44 making it through the day.

Other notables still in contention include Mike Watson, Scott Clements, Nick Schulman, Mike Leah, Brandon Shack-Harris and Mike Gorodinsky.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Frank Kassela – 364,500
  2. Don Zewin – 303,000
  3. Anthony Zinno – 254,000
  4. Andrey Zhigalov – 241,000
  5. Konstantin Maslak – 216,500
  6. James Obst – 210,000
  7. Russell Clayton – 200,000
  8. Mike Watson – 190,000
  9. Viacheslav Zhukov – 187,500
  10. Jared Talarico – 185,000