Daniel Negreanu is heads-up for the seventh bracelet of his career. (WPT photo)

For the first time at the 2017 World Series of Poker an event wasn’t able to finish inside of the scheduled number of days and now poker’s most marketable name is coming back for Day 4 of Event #9 with a bracelet in sight. Daniel Negreanu and Abe Mosseri are the only two players left in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or Better Championship event after play was halted around 2:30 am Wednesday morning.

The Colossus III and $1,000 Tag Team NLHE played down to a final table on Tuesday and the $1,500 Dealers Choice event has just nine players left, setting up the likelihood of four bracelets being won on Wednesday.

Mark Babekov Sitting Atop Colossus III Final Table Chip Counts

Just nine players remain in pursuit of the $1,000,000 first place prize in Colossus III and Mark Babekov, out of Fountain Hills, Arizona, leads the way with 19,025,000 chips. Right behind him is Erkut Yilmaz with 16,000,000.

Babekov represents the player that the Colossus is designed for. Coming into the 2017 WSOP, Babekov had $130,000 in career earnings, all coming from events with buy-ins of $1,500 or less. This is the second WSOP final table of his career though, having finished fourth in 2010 in a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event for $62,232 – his previous biggest cash.

The bottom of the counts includes a number of familiar faces. Ralph Massey, Luke Vrabel and Matt Affleck take up spots 7-9 respectively.

Raul Martinez Requena, who started the day as the chip leader, ended up with 11th place finish for $62,208.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Mark Babekov – 19,025,000
  2. Erkut Yilmaz – 16,000,000
  3. Taylor Black – 13,300,000
  4. Kent Coppock – 11,500,000
  5. Thomas Pomponio – 10,125,000
  6. John Hanna – 7,550,000
  7. Ralph Massey – 5,300,000
  8. Luke Vrabel – 4,000,000
  9. Matt Affleck – 3,500,000

Mosseri Leads Negreanu in Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

The third day of the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or better Championship included some of the most respected names in poker. John Monnette, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Mike Matusow, Anthony Zinno, Ray Dehkharghani and Fabrice Soulier all fell by the wayside though as Daniel Negreanu and Abe Mosseri made it to heads-up, only to have the clock work against them.

Play was halted at 2:30 am after allowing players to play an extra level three-handed. All three players took turns as chip leader before Negreanu eliminated Yarron Bendor in third. When the chips went into the bag, Mosseri found himself ahead with 5,135,00 to Negreanu’s 2,575,000. They’ll return to the table at 2 pm PT to play to a winner.

Chip Counts

  1. Abe Mosseri – 5,135,000
  2. Daniel Negreanu – 2,575,000

It’s Team DJ & E-Tay on Top of Tag Team Final Table

The second Tag Team event of the summer, this of the $1,000 buy-in variety, is down to a final table with some well-known names still playing for the bracelet and the $150,367 first place prize money.

With 908,000 chips, the team comprised of DJ MacKinnon and Esther Taylor holds down a healthy chip lead over the rest of the field. The big stack is the result of some late night magic, according to MacKinnon.

The next biggest stack belongs to Kiryl Radzivonau and Mikhail Semin with 626,000. They’re 282,000 behind MacKinnon and Taylor, but just 18,00 ahead of third place Pablo Mariz and David Guay and just 61,000 ahead of Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java.

The short stack belongs to Austin Buchanan and his girlfriend Lanie Foster. They return to the table with 165,000.

Action resumes at 2 pm PT.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. DJ MacKinnon/Esther Taylor – 908,000
  2. Kiryl Radzivonau/Mikhail Semin – 626,000
  3. Pablo Mariz/David Guay – 608,000
  4. Aditya Sushant/Nipun Java – 565,000
  5. Ryan Laplante/Sam Cohen – 407,000
  6. Charalampos Lappas/Georgios Zisimopoulos – 403,000
  7. Mukul Pahuja/Jonas Wexler – 292,000
  8. Joseph Choueiri/Rafael Lopez/James Gibson – 226,000
  9. Austin Buchanan/Lanie Foster – 165,000

David Bach Gunslings His Way to $1,500 Dealers Choice Lead

Eight years ago David Bach won the $50,000 HORSE event to establish himself as one of the best mixed game players on the planet. Over the last two days Bach has built up a stack in the $1,500 Dealers Choice event good enough to give him the chip lead with just nine players left.

Bach finished Day 2 with 798,500, which puts him well ahead of the other eight players. The second biggest stack belongs to Christopher Sensoli with 552,000. Chip Jett has the third biggest stack with 305,000.

Bach isn’t the only WSOP bracelet winner still in the field though. Brandon Cantu, who has two bracelets to his name, finished with the seventh biggest stack.

Chip Counts

  1. David Bach – 798,500
  2. Christopher Sensoli – 552,000
  3. Chip Jett – 305,500
  4. Scott Milkey – 288,500
  5. Kevin Iacofano – 275,500
  6. Anthony Arvidson – 143,000
  7. Brandon Cantu – 131,500
  8. Zachary Freeman – 124,500
  9. Wook Kim – 115,000

Ben Heath Leads First $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event

The $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events used to be the events that amateur players flocked to each summer to cross “play a WSOP event” off of their bucket list. The gimmick events, like Colossus and the Millionaire Maker, have taken that mantle but the $1,500 NLHE events still draw large fields. Tuesday saw the first one kick off with 1,739 players. After 10 levels of play, Ben Heath was on top of the chip counts with 160,800.

Two-time bracelet winner finished with the fourth biggest stack at 119,100. Other notables still in the field include Kevin Eyster (101,300), Phil Collins (99,900), Andy Frankenberger (87,000), Nick Schulman (56,600), Mike Leah (56,000), Mike Sexton (47,200), Adrian Mateos (33,000) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (18,500).

Day 2 starts at Noon PT with 10 more levels on the schedule.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Ben Heath – 160,800
  2. Charlie Coultas – 146,200
  3. Graeme Ladd – 124,500
  4. Loni Harwood – 119,100
  5. James Miller – 119,000
  6. Sergi Reixach – 117,900
  7. Kishor Sharma – 115,900
  8. Mihai Niste – 111,700
  9. Eric Larson – 111,100
  10. Michael Telker – 110,300

Just 50 Left in $1,500 Deuce to Seven, Alex Foxen On Top

The $1,500 No Limit Deuce to Seven event drew 266 players and managed to play down to just 50 after 10 levels of play. Alex Foxen, who has already cashed twice this summer, ended Day 1 with 147,850 and is the only player with more than six figures in the bag.

Sitting in second is Russian Georgii Belanin with 91,050. Jared Bleznick is third with 71,000. Benny Glaser, who won two bracelets last year, also bagged a top 10 stack as did Daniel Weinman.

Day 2 gets underway at 2 pm PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Alex Foxen – 147,850
  2. Georgii Belanin – 91,050
  3. Jared Bleznick – 71,000
  4. Craig Chait – 64,000
  5. Naoya Kihara – 60,550
  6. Ben Ponzio – 60,000
  7. Benny Glaser – 56,000
  8. Michael Gathy – 55,500
  9. Max Kruse – 53,000
  10. Daniel Weinman – 53,000