WSOP: Josh Arieh Leads $50K Poker Players Championship Final Table
Thursday at the 2019 World Series of Poker had a rare occurrence on Thursday: nobody won a bracelet. The only event that was scheduled to play down to a winner, the $600 Deepstack Championship event, stopped for the night with five players left, needing an extra day. Across the Amazon Room, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship played from 12 players down to a final table of six that will not include Day 4 chip leader Phil Ivey.
Josh Arieh Leads $50K PPC; Shaun Deeb Lurking
At the start of Day 4 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, all eyes were on 10-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey as he lead the field with 12 players remaining. Through just seven hours of play, however, Ivey was sent to the rail as one of six eliminations on Thursday.
At the end of the day, Josh Arieh bagged up 6,220,000 for the chip lead. No other player broke the 5,000,000 chip mark. Bryce Yockey sits second heading into the final day with 4,465,000 with Phillip Hui right behind him with 4,135,000.
Ivey was one of three players eliminated by John Esposito on Thursday. Talal Shakerchi and David Oppenheim were the other two victims that helped Esposito make it to Day 4 with the fourth best stack.
Shaun Deeb ended the day with 2,485,000 and is guaranteed no fewer than 453 WSOP Player of the Year points at this point. He currently sits sixth in WSOP POY standings, just over 600 points behind current leader Dan Zack.
The final table begins at Noon PT with the final table stream on PokerGO beginning at 1 PM PT.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Josh Arieh – 6,220,000
- Bryce Yockey – 4,465,000
- Phillip Hui – 4,135,000
- John Esposito – 3,630,000
- Shaun Deeb – 2,485,000
- Daniel Cates – 1,260,000
$600 Deepstack Championship Goes into Overtime
Originally scheduled as a two-day event, the 6,140-player field in the $600 Deepstack Championship event was only able to get down to five players on Day 2 and will be returning for a third day. Raymond Foresman bagged up the chip lead with 74,600,000 and holds nearly 30,000,000 more than any other player.
That second largest stack belongs to bracelet winner Will Givens. The Colorado native finished with 45,500,000. The rest of the chase group consists of Steffen Logen, Jeff Hakim, and Hlib Kovtunov.
Day 2 started with 83 players still in contention. Lang Lee, who started the day with the biggest stack, was one of the 78 players sent to the rail on Thursday. Lee finished 18th for $17,096.
The final five players return to action at 2 PM PT.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Raymond Foresman – 74,600,000
- Will Givens – 45,500,000
- Steffen Logen – 30,100,000
- Jeff Hakim – 24,300,000
- Hlib Kovtunov – 9,800,000
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha HiLo or Better
The Deepstack Championship wasn’t the only event that needs an extra day. The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event has nine players remaining with Scott Abrams standing tall atop the chip counts. Abrams finished with 6,600,000 which puts him comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.
Rodney Burt finished with 4,675,000 for the second-best stack while Jordan Spurlin managed to put 4,250,000 in the bag for third best.
Anthony Zinno and Erik Seidel are the only two bracelet winners at the final table while Jon Turner and Connor are chasing their first.
The final nine players begin play at 2 PM PT.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Scott Abrams – 6,600,000
- Rodney Burt – 4,675,000
- Jordan Spurlin – 4,250,000
- Anthony Zinno – 3,955,000
- Thomas Schropfer – 3,565,000
- Erik Seidel – 1,490,000
- Jon Turner – 1,460,000
- Connor Drinan – 1,125,000
- Kyle Miaso – 530,000
$400 Colossus Draws Massive Day 1B Field
With only two starting flights and a lower buy-in than previous years, the Colossus ended up drawing a five-figure field with 7,871 players showing up on Day 1B alone. That strong of a turnout made for long lines at registration as players waited for their opportunity to play. Somehow, 1,178 players managed to make it to Day 2.
Romik Vartzar finished with 2,170,000 and is the only player from both Day 1A and 1B to bag more than 2,000,000. The second biggest 1B stack belongs to John Goyette with 1,453,000.
Ian Steinman finished with the fifth best stack after amassing 1,127,000. Other notables that advanced to Day 2 include Maurice Hawkins, Norm MacDonald, David “Bakes” Baker, Michael Soyza, Joseph Galazzo, Jeremy Ausmus, Jon Friedberg, and Matt Berkey.
GPI President Eric Danis also managed to find a bag at the end of Day 1B.
The total field of 13,109 players makes this event the fifth largest WSOP field in history, surpassing the 2018 Colossus which had a $565 buy-in and six starting flights.
The 1,948 survivors from Day 1A and 1B will combine on Friday for another 15 40-minute levels beginning at 11 AM PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Romik Vartzar – 2,170,000
- John Goyette – 1,453,000
- Hien Tran – 1,152,000
- Kyle Shaw – 1,130,000
- Ian Steinman – 1,127,000
- Julian Manolio – 1,095,000
- Robert Georato – 995,000
- Kulwant Singh – 991,000
- Daniel Dizenzo – 985,000
- Hannes Neurauter – 968,000
Chris Ferguson Leads $10,000 Razz with 12 Left
Chris Ferguson will return to the Rio on Friday in position to win his seventh WSOP bracelet after bagging up the chip lead in the $10,000 Razz Championship. Ferguson finished with 1,280,000 and is joined by David Bach as the only players with more than a million to work with. Bach finished Day 2 with 1,087,000.
Russian Andrey Zhigalov flirted with a seven-figure stack, ending the day with 976,000. The rest of the field is stacked. Current WSOP POY leader Dan Zack sits fourth with 815,000.
Scott Seiver, Daniel Negreanu, defending champion Calvin Anderson, Marco Johnson, Mike Gorodinsky, Andre Akkari, and Cary Katz also still have a shot at taking home the bracelet and the $301,421 first place prize.
Action gets underway at 2 PM PT and will play until just six players remain.
Final 12 Chip Counts
- Chris Ferguson – 1,280,000
- David Bach – 1,087,000
- Andrey Zhigalov – 976,000
- Daniel Zack – 815,000
- Scott Seiver – 622,000
- George Alexander – 593,000
- Daniel Negreanu – 478,000
- Calvin Anderson – 385,000
- Marco Johnson – 297,000
- Mike Gorodinsky – 227,000
- Andre Akkari – 106,000
- Cary Katz – 96,000
$1,500 Omaha Mix Draws 717 Players
Day 1 of the $1,500 Omaha Mix, which consists of Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Big O, brought out 717 players and after 10 levels of play, Aaron Henderson ended up as the biggest stack. He wrapped up the day with 138,600.
A total of 228 players made it through Day 1 including Bart Hanson, Patrick Leonard, Ryan Riess, Barry Greenstein, Ryan Laplante, and Eli Elezra.
Day 2 begins at 2 PM PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Aaron Henderson – 138,600
- John Evans – 130,400
- Anatolii Zyrin – 117,800
- Bart Hanson – 107,800
- John Templeton – 106,200
- James Chen – 102,100
- Patrick Leonard – 97,000
- Sean Yu – 95,100
- Ivo Donev – 87,000
- Corey Emery – 86,500
