WSOP: Luis Calvo Wins $3K Six Max PLO; Josh Arieh Leads $10K PLO8
Tuesday was another day at the 2017 World Series of Poker where only one player walked away with a bracelet, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a day full of action. The Monster Stack carried on and has just 20 players left, a one-time “young gun” bagged up a Day 2 chip lead in a bounty event and a two-time bracelet winner finds himself in position for his first bracelet in 12 years.
Just 20 Remain in $1,500 Monster Stack; Stoyan Obreshkov Leads
When Day 3 of the $1,500 Monster Stack began Tuesday, Bulgarian Stoyan Obreshkov had the 19th biggest stack. When it wrapped up, he had the biggest, with just 19 players between him and the first WSOP bracelet of his career. Obreshkov finished play Tuesday with 11,300,000 and the chip lead.
No other player finished with an eight-figure stack. Stanley Leesits second with 8,980,000 while Joldis Cosmin has 7,935,000 for the third biggest stack.
A few notables have managed to navigate their way through the massive field and still have a shot at the $1,094,349 first place prize. Former November Niner Scott Montgomery sits fifth with 7,335,000, Will Failla has 5,400,000 and Maurice Hawkins ended the day with 3,500,000.
The player who started the day on top, Scott Baumstein, managed to survive the 213 eliminations with 1,955,000, the fourth smallest stack.
Action resumes at Noon PT and is scheduled to play down to a winner on Wednesday.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Stoyan Obreshkov – 11,300,000
- Stanley Lee – 8,980,000
- Joldis Cosmin – 7,935,000
- Pfizer Jordan – 7,825,000
- Scott Montgomery – 7,335,000
- Gregory Milliron – 6,550,000
- Salvatore DiCarlo – 6,460,000
- Thomas Ryan – 5,700,000
- Paul Gibbons – 5,580,000
- Will Failla – 5,400,000
Cash Game Grinder Luis Calvo Wins $3,000 Six Max PLO
Luis Calvo doesn’t play many tournaments, instead preferring to focus his efforts and energy on the cash games in Florida. After taking a bad beat to bust out of an earlier WSOP event, Calvo fired up the $3,000 Six Max Pot Limit Omaha event and just never busted.
“I’m not really a big fan of tournaments, but I did decided to play the $1,500 (PLO) and this one; I took a bad beat in the $1,500, but I knew that I would enjoy it,” said Calvo.
Coming out on top of the 630-player field earned him his first WSOP bracelet and $362,185. While he might not be a household name, Calvo is longtime friends with one of Florida’s most successful poker families.
“Mike (Mizrachii) and I have been friends since ’99. We started playing in the same underground clubs with Robert Mizrachi, Chino Rheem, Stuart Patterson… a lot of guys that have had a lot of success in poker,” said Calvo. “They’ve gone out and really crushed it on the tournament scene, and I’ve really just been along for the ride on the cash-game scene. They always push me to play tournaments.”
Runner-up Rudolphk Sawa earned $223,812 in what was his first WSOP cash.
Final Table Payouts
- Luis Calvo – $362,185
- Rudolphk Sawa – $223,812
- Mark Reilly – $149,258
- Eric Hicks – $101,513
- Aleksei Altshuller – $70,438
- Gerhard Schleicher – $49,885
Harrison Gimbel Leads $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (w/bounties) into Day 3
If the live poker Triple Crown is still a thing, Florida’s Harrison Gimbel is on the verge of finishing the final leg. Gimbel, who has already won a World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour title, leads the final 29 players in the $1,500 NLHE with bounties event.
Gimbel ended Day 2 with 1,085,000 and was the only player with at least one million in chips. Behind Gimbel is Marc Foggin (982,000), Tobias Peters (963,000), Jiri Horak (943,000) and Jacob Bazeley (904,000).
Day 2 started with just 264 players already in the money. Among the 235 Day 2 eliminations were Chris Bjorin, Joseph Cheong, Justin Young, Michael Addamo, Joshua Field, Dzimitry Urbanovich, Brandon Cantu and Mike Leah.
Day 3 begins at Noon PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Harrison Gimbel – 1,085,000
- Marc Foggin – 982,000
- Tobias Peters – 963,000
- Jiri Horak – 943,000
- Jacob Bazeley – 904,000
- Thomas Lutz – 880,000
- Tom Hall – 875,000
- Govert Metaal – 792,000
- Uri Reichenstein – 751,000
- Zhaoxing Wang – 700,600
Josh Arieh on Top of $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
It’s been 12 years since Josh Arieh last won a WSOP bracelet. On Tuesday he took a huge step toward ending that streak, finishing Day 2 of the $10K Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship with an impressive chip lead.
Arieh ended the day with 1,695,000 with just 14 other players still in contention. The second biggest stack belong to Bruce Yamrom with 1,040,000. No other player bagged more than one million.
Ray Henson has his ninth 2017 WSOP cash in the books and can add to his WSOP Player of the Year lead on Wednesday. Henson has 588,000, good enough for the seventh best stack. He’s hoping to add a bracelet to his impressive 2017 WSOP, not just another cash.
On to day 3 again. 15 left got 588k. Plzzzzzz let me close one out!!! #TeamRunGood
— Ray Henson (@Ray_Henson) June 28, 2017
The player that Arieh beat heads-up for his last bracelet, Chris Ferguson, is also still in contention here, but bringing just 486,000 into the final day.
The final 15 will unbag their chips at 2 pm PT and play down to a winner.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Josh Arieh – 1,695,000
- Bruce Yamron – 1,040,000
- Kate Hoang – 991,000
- Quentin Krueger – 931,000
- Tyler Groth – 860,000
- Bryce Yockey – 629,000
- Ray Henson – 588,000
- Damjan Radanov – 569,000
- Jeremy Joseph – 559,000
- Mark Herm – 518,000
246 Players Survive Day 1 of $1,500 NLHE; Kework Besiktasliyan Leads
Kework Besiktasliyan has cashed three times at the WSOP this summer, all in smaller buy-in No Limit Hold’em events. Tuesday he took a big step towards adding a fourth and possibly even a bracelet.
Besiktasliyan finished Day 1 of the $1,500 NLHE event with the chip lead with just nine more eliminations to go before reaching the money. His three previous cashes came in Colossus, the Millionaire Maker and the Monster Stack.
Some of the more familiar faces to make it to Day 2 include Will Molson, Cary Katz, former NFLer Richard Seymour, Bernardo Da Silveira Dias, Tony Dunst, Kevin Saul, Eddy Sabat, Eugene Katchalov, Andy Frankenberger, Matt Stout, Jason Mercier and Rob Tinnion.
Action resumes at Noon PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Kework Besiktasliyan- 177,400
- Kyle Muelrath – 131,500
- Parker Drew – 119,300
- Griffin Malatino – 116,500
- Finn Zwad – 113,700
- Jean-Pascal Savard – 108,600
- Brandon Ageloff – 104,700
- Denny Crum – 102,000
- Pratik Ghatge – 101,000
- Dylan Hortin – 97,300
Juha Helppi Leads $3,000 Six Max Limit Hold’em After Day 1
Finnish poker prop Juha Helppi doesn’t play a lot of WSOP events, but when he does, he makes them count. Helppi, who cashed in the $3,000 Six Max PLO event, ended Day 1 of the $3,000 Six Max Limit Hold’em event with 146,000 and the chip lead.
Justin Thurlow is in second with 122,000. Just 73 of the 256 players advanced to Day 2 including 2017 bracelet winners Jesse Martin, Frank Kassela, James Obst, David Bach, Chris Vitch, John Racener and Joe McKeehen.
Action resumes at 2 pm PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Juha Helppi – 146,000
- Justin Thurlow – 122,000
- Ayaz Mahmood – 111,300
- Steve Chanthabouasy – 110,000
- Jesse Martin – 98,200
- Frank Kassela – 96,200
- Ayman Qutami – 89,900
- Jason Fan – 87,400
- Georgios Kapalas – 86,100
- John Hoppmann – 85,400
