Nick Schulman beat Brian Hastings for the third bracelet win of his career. (WSOP photo)

Nick Schulman spends a lot of time in the commentary booth during the World Series of Poker but on Monday he wasn’t able to do the commentary for one of the $10,000 Championship events. He was busy winning it. Schulman was the sole bracelet winner on Monday as nearly every table was in play for the opening day of one of the new additions to the schedule.

Nick Schulman Wins $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo for Bracelet #3

Nick Schulman arrived at the Rio on Monday with the chip lead and just six other players standing between him and the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship title. It took just a smidge over five hours, including four hours of heads-up play, for Schulman to stand tall against a stacked final table and earn his third WSOP bracelet.

Schulman eliminated three of the six including Joe Hachem in third place and Brian Hastings in second. The four-hour long heads-up battle so each player hold the chip lead before Schulman ultimately prevailed.

Schulman, who last won a bracelet in 2012, tweeted after his win a tongue-in-cheek Marlo Stanfield warning for the rest of the poker world.

The win came with $463,670 for Schulman while Hastings, who was 4-0 when heads-up for a bracelet before Monday, took home $286,570 for his runner-up finish.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Nick Schulman – $463,670
  2. Brian Hastings – $286,570
  3. Joe Hachem – $201,041
  4. Denis Strebkov – $143,700
  5. Christopher Vitch – $104,688
  6. Corey Hochman – $77,763
  7. Michael McKenna – $58,918
  8. Bryce Yockey – $45,551

$888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold’em (Event #64)

Just 91 players remain after Day 2 of the $888 Crazy Eights event with none other than 888poker Team Pro Vivian Saliba among the chip leaders. Saliba ended with the fourth-best stack at the end of the 10 levels of play trailing only Ryan Leng, Scott Davies, and leader Natalia Panchenko.

Some of the more notable names to move on to Day 3 include Jerry Odeen, Leo Margets, Martijn Gerrits, Matt Matros, and Jesse Sylvia.

The day started with 1,223 players still in contention. There were a number of players who didn’t make it through the day but did manage to pick up an in-the-money finish including Max Steinberg, Asher Conniff, Ryan Laplante, Jay Farber, Ryan Riess, Cliff Josephy, Josh Arieh, Anatoly Filatov, Calvin Anderson, Blair Hinkle, Greg Raymer, and Alex Foxen.

Day 3 begins at Noon PT and is scheduled for 10 more 60-minute levels.

Top Chip Counts

  1. Natalia Panchenko – 11,870,000
  2. Scott Davies – 11,855,000
  3. Ryan Leng – 11,765,000
  4. Vivian Saliba – 9,565,000
  5. Roland Rokita – 9,515,000
  6. Andrew Brokos – 9,485,000
  7. Jean Fabre – 9,305,000
  8. Oren Rosen – 8,550,000
  9. Rick Alvarado – 8,475,000
  10. Jeanpierre Besancon – 8,190,000

David ‘ODB’ Baker Leads $1,500 Limit Hold’em Final Six

David ‘ODB’ Baker started Day 3 of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event with the chip lead and then worked his way through 15 other players to finish with the chip leading with just six players remaining. Baker nearly doubled his stack on Monday, finishing with 2,493,000 after starting with 1,275,000.

The player closest to Baker is Ruiko Mamiya with 1,551,000. Brian Kim is the only other player in seven-figure territory with 1,106,000.

Chris Ferguson sits fifth in what is his third final table and 15th cash of the summer.

Daniel Negreanu busted in 20th place for his 12th cash of the summer. Matt Glantz, Roland Israelashvili, and Greg Mueller also busted on Monday.

The final table begins at Noon PT.

Final Table Payouts

  1. David ‘ODB’ Baker – 2,493,000
  2. Ruiko Mamiya – 1,551,000
  3. Brian Kim – 1,106,000
  4. Dominzo Love – 620,000
  5. Chris Ferguson – 246,000
  6. Chicong Nguyen – 152,000

Old School Representing Well in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo

Eli Elezra already picked up one bracelet this summer for the Old School Set and on Monday he made all the rights moves to put himself in position for another. And he’s got some Old School company.

Elezra finished Day 2 of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event with 1,362,000 and the chip lead with just 16 players left. Right behind Elezra is Mike Matusow with 1,005,000. Andrey Zhigalov, fresh off of his runner-up finish in the $10,000 Razz event, bagged up the third biggest stack with 968,000.

Anthony Zinno, Ryan Hughes, Robert Campbell, and Yueqi Zhu all bagged up top 10 stacks as well.

There were 17 players who took advantage of the start-of-Day 2 registration period to push the total field to 151 players, a 10-player bump over the 2018 field.

Day 3 begins at 2 PM PT and is scheduled to play down to six players.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Eli Elezra – 1,362,000
  2. Mike Matusow – 1,005,000
  3. Andrey Zhigalov – 968,000
  4. Anthony Zinno – 738,000
  5. Steven Wolansky – 733,000
  6. Qinghai Pan – 727,000
  7. Ryan Hughes – 601,000
  8. Mike Wattel – 596,000
  9. Robert Campbell – 528,000
  10. Yueqi Zhu – 410,000

$1,000 Mini Main Event (Event #69)

One of the new additions to the WSOP schedule this summer could be offering a hint at massive things to come in the Main Event. The $1,000 Mini Main Event runs the same structure as the $10,000 Main Event with 30-minute levels. WSOP officials were expecting somewhere in the neighhorhood of 3,000 players for this event.

Then 5,521 players showed up. All of the tables inside the Rio were in use and hallways snaked throughout the hallways as players waited for their chance to sit down and play. Lula Taylor finished Day 1 with 2,695,000 and the chip lead. Liran Betito isn’t far behind with 2,625,000. Heidi Orloff bagged up 1,935,000 for the third best stack.

Rex Clinkscales, Yuval Bronshtein, and Chris Ferguson all managed to make it through Day 2. Just 546 players made it through Day 1 with 280 of those eliminated finishing in the money.

Action resumes at Noon PT.

Top Chip Counts

  1. Lula Taylor – 2,695,000
  2. Liran Betito – 2,625,000
  3. Heidi Orloff – 1,935,000
  4. Alexis Urli – 1,925,000
  5. Lazaro Hernandez – 1,890,000
  6. Kunal Punjwani – 1,765,000
  7. Aleksandr Merzhvinskii – 1,725,000
  8. Ming Li – 1,700,000
  9. Gal Sharvit – 1,670,000
  10. Brian Andrews – 1,640,000

Barry Hutter Leads $5,000 Six Max No Limit Hold’em

The $5,000 Six Max No Limit Hold’em event always draws some of the best NLHE players in the world. Barry Hutter worked his way through 539 of them to lead the remaining 212 players into Day 2. Hutter ended the 10 levels of play with 400,000.

Darren Elias, Roberto Romanello, Samuel Vousden, Brian Yoon, Cord Garcia, Peter Traply, Chris Hunichen, Ryan Laplante, Koray Aldemir, and Dan Smith all advanced to Day 2.

Action resumes at 2 PM PT.

Top Chip Counts

  1. Barry Hutter – 400,000
  2. Eder Murata – 319,300
  3. Faisal Shihabi – 291,600
  4. Darren Elias – 257,500
  5. Joseph Couden – 256,700
  6. Tamer Kamel – 236,500
  7. Torrey Korsog – 233,700
  8. Alberto Morales – 232,400
  9. Alexandros Theologis – 227,300
  10. Pfizer Jordan – 218,700