It took 20 events at the 2017 World Series of Poker for Canada to bag its first bracelet of the year, but that win has come in one of the biggest ROI spin ups available on the schedule. While a Canadian took down the Millionaire Maker, Wednesday (14th) also saw a Limit Hold’em champ crowned, a big stretch in the Marathon, a stacked Razz final table formed, and more.

Millionaire Maker Makes Mariz a millionaire

After four days of play, the $1,500 Millionaire Maker has come to an end. The final table lasted 161 hands over seven and a half hours, but in the end there was just one man left: Pablo Mariz of Canada, who’s now $1,221,407 richer.

Mariz, a 27-year-old online pro from Montreal, had to battle his way through the 7,761 field to get to a tough final table, which included Hollywood Poker Open champ Dejuante Alexander, and Ireland’s Marc MacDonnell.

The latter of those two got a bit unlucky to eventually bust in fourth, after calling all in with pocket jacks from the big blind against Alexander Farahi’s small-blind shove with king-nine offsuit. A king on the flop and another on the turn left MacDonnell drawing to two jacks, neither of which appeared on the river.

It got down to heads-up play between Mariz and Alexander, who held the chip lead, and in one of the first hands of the duel Alexander was close to winning it all. The chips were all in with pocket aces for Alexander and pocket threes for Mariz, but a miracle three on the flop gave Mariz a big double up.

That left Alexander with 13 big blinds, who then hit a miracle of his own. He was all in with king-three against ace-ten, and a king on the river kept him alive. In fact, from there he battled to take the lead, but Mariz fought back. In the final hand, Alexander shoved with ace-three and Mariz called with queen-jack. A queen landed on the river to give Mariz the win.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Mariz said after the win. “I had to double check that it was a queen, especially the queen of spades. That [same card] saved me yesterday in an all-in situation against jacks when I was a shorter stack. So [with] the queen of spades on the river, I just won the $1.2 million with the same queen. An unreal feeling.”

Final table payouts

1. Pablo Mariz – $1,221,407
2. Dejuante Alexander – $754,499
3. Alexander Farahi – $561,530
4. Marc MacDonnell – $420,805
5. Bryce Yockey – $317,544
6. Yuriy Boyko – $241,303
7. Jonathan Gray – $184,663
8. Thiago Grigoletti – $142,323
9. Hector Martin – $110,476

Faraz Jaka leads final 56 in The Marathon (Event #23)

It’s been a long hard slog for those playing in the slow-structured Marathon event, but at the end of Day 3 just 56 remain.

Several big names sit at the top of the chip counts, including overall leader Faraz Jaka(2.83 million), Maurice Hawkins (2.42 million), and two-time bracelet winner John Phan(2.37 million).

The bubble finally burst at the beginning of the day, with 268 players returning but only 264 making the money. Pascal Hartmann was the unfortunate bubble boy, but while he couldn’t survive others thrived. Other notables who made it through to Day 4 include Ana Marquez (1,03 million), recent two-time bracelet winner Upeshka De Silva (799K), Eric Baldwin (617,000) and two-time bracelet winner Kristen Bicknell(401,000).

Keep an eye on three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos too, who despite being short-stacked with 218K is still in contention for his second win of the summer. Play resumes at 12pm Thursday, with $690,469 for the eventual winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Faraz Jaka – 2,838,000
2. Maurice Hawkins – 2,423,000
3. John Phan – 2,374,000
4. Xixiang Luo – 1,622,000
5. Joseph Di Rosa Rojas – 1,613,000
6. Joshua Smith – 1,604,000
7. Maxim Sorokin – 1,567,000
8. Darryl Ronconi – 1,206,000
9. Samuel Phillips – 1,200,000
10. Alex Massman – 1,195,000

Shane Buchwald wins Limit Hold’em bracelet in WSOP debut

Just about every poker player dreams of playing in a WSOP event, and capturing a gold bracelet. Winning one in your very first attempt, however, is a little farfetched.

Unless your name is Shane Buchwald, who took down his first bracelet yesterday in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em (Event #24) in his first ever WSOP tournament. But Buchwald, who banked $177,985 for his victory, is no stranger to the game; he’s an online pro originally from Utah who now lives in Brazil.

“I was here and not planning on playing poker, but my friend is a limit hold’em regular and he wanted to play this,” said Buchwald. “I got here and registered after a 25-hour flight. I was falling asleep during the last four levels of the first day. But I built up a stack and I ran really well.”

Buchwald overcame a field of 616, 15 of which returned for beginning of Day 3. Barry Greenstein was still alive, eventually busting in 11th, before Buchwald went on a final table killing spree, eliminating three of the final six players to take down the title.

Final Table Results

1. Shane Buchwald – $177,985

2. Sandy Tayi – $109,968

3. Ray Henson – $75,780 

4. Shane Fumerton – $53,102 

5. Nancy Nguyen – $37,850 

6. Hod Berman – $27,449 

7. Kevin Lizak – $20,261 

8. Mark Bassaly – $15,225 

9. Tung Tran – $11,652

$1,500 PLO down to final 11

Of the 1,058 players who entered Event #25, the $,1500 PLO, only 102 returned on Wednesday to play Day 2. When the chips were bagged, only 11 remain, and it’s Igor Sharaskin who’s out in front.

WAY out in front. This is Sharaskin’s second PLO Day 3 in back-to-back events, and he has more than double the stack of his nearest competitor, Casey Carroll.

Michael Mizrachi had a deep run, as did Jason Stockfish, James Chen, Christopher Frank, and current Ireland no.1 online player Toby ‘Jobytoyce’ Joyce.

All remaining players are guaranteed $10,129, with $179,126 up top. Play resumes at 12pm Thursday.

Final 11 Chip Counts

1. Igor Sharaskin – 1,470,000
2. Casey Carroll – 667,000
3. Tyler Groth – 577,000
4. Allan Le – 504,000
5. Daniel Spencer – 399,000
6. Darren Taylor – 350,000
7. Jonathan Zarin – 333,000
8. Adam Brown – 292,000
9. Mark Zullo – 289,000
10. Jesse Chinni – 277,000
11. Bruno Politano – 135,000

James ‘Andy McLEOD’ Obst leads Razz final table

What a summer it’s already been for Australia’s James ‘Andy McLEOD’ Obst. With two final tables and four cashes already under his belt, he now holds the chip lead going into the final table of the $10,000 Razz Championship.

He’ll have quite a battle on his hands to win his first bracelet though. Multiple bracelet winners Brandon Shack-Harris and Nick Schulman, as well as all-round crushers David ‘ODB’ Baker and Anthony Zinno, will be trying to stand in Obst’s way.

A total of 97 players took a shot in this event, meaning plenty of big names fell during Day 2’s action. Among those included Ted Forrest in 14th ($16,437), Steven Chidwick in 11th ($18,668), and Owais Ahmed in 10th ($21,946).

The final table kicks off at 2pm, with $265,138 awaiting the eventual winner.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. James Obst – 818,000
2. Andrey Zhigalov – 782,000
3. David “ODB” Baker – 757,000
4. Eric Kurtzman – 737,000
5. Brandon Shack-Harris – 587,000
6. Anthony Zinno – 508,000
7. Jyri Merivirta – 281,000
8. Nick Schulman – 238,000
9. Jack Duong – 148,000

Day 1s of $3K 6-Max and $1,500 2-7 in the books

While two tournaments were crowning champions, two more were just getting started.

The popular $3K Six-Max No Limit tournament (Event #27)attracted 959 runners, and when the chip bags were brought out at the end of play only 202 were left. Craig Varnell bagged the chip lead, ever-so-slightly ahead of Jeff Coddington.

Other notables still seeking six-max glory include Andrew Spears, Scott ‘Aggro Santos’ Margereson, Jeremy Ausmus, Vanessa Selbst, Igor Kurganov, recent bracelet winner David Pham, Gaelle Buamann, and Mike Watson.

Only 144 will make the money, and at the top of the payouts sits $498,682 for first. Well-known players who contributed to the $2.58 million prize pool but busted during Day 1 include Doug Polk, Eddy Sabat, Fabrice Soulier, Justin Bonomo, Cate Hall, Martin Jacobson, Greg Merson, Olivier Busquet, Jonathan Duhamel, David Peters, and Griffin Benger.

Top 10 Day 1 chip counts:

1. Craig Varnell – 202,600
2. Jeff Coddington – 202,400
3. Andy Spears – 193,200
4. Joshua Gibson – 190,900
5. Jerry Payne – 185,700
6. Josh Bergman – 185,500
7. Julien Martini – 180,600
8. Ryan Jones – 174,200
9. Marcos Antunes – 170,300
10. Scott Margereson – 162,300

The other tournament kicking off was Event #28 – the $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw. That got 326 entrants, with 61 Day 1 survivors.

Mark Roland is the overnight chip leader, while the rest of the survivors include a plethora of multiple bracelet winners including Ian Johns, Rep Porter, Shaun Deeb, Max Pescatori, Rob Mizrachi, Michael Gathy, Jonathan Duhamel, Luis Velador, Chris Bjorin and Daniel Negreanu.

The bubble bursts at 49 players, with $109,967 going to the winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Mark Roland – 116,600
2. Jordan Siegel – 101,400
3. Brian Brubaker – 86,600
4. Rick Fuller – 80,900
5. Jon Turner – 75,500
6. Yuval Bronshtein – 71,800
7. Helge Stjernvang – 70,600
8. Tim Finne – 65,000
9. Ian Johns – 64,400
10. Frank Athey – 64,400