The ninth day of the 2017 World Series of Poker was all about joining the three-time bracelet winner’s club. Not one but two poker veterans managed to win their third gold bracelets on Thursday, while the prestigious $10,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em Championship is down to the semi-finals.

Here’s what went down yesterday in the Rio.

David ‘Dragon’ Pham defeats Jordan Young to win third bracelet

Eleven years after winning his second WSOP gold, 50-year-old Vietnamese legend David ‘Dragon’ Pham captured his third after taking down Event #12 – a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament for a fantastic payday worth $391,960.

On Tuesday 1,739 players took their seats, and by the end of Day 2 on Wednesday they were down to a final table which included Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal, overnight chip leader Melissa Gillett, Russian beast Roman Korenev, and online star Jordan Young.

Agarwal was the first final table casualty, followed by Huihan Wu, Billy Rodgers, Nathan Pfluger, and Kevin Trettin. When play got four-handed, Gillett lost a flip with pocket sevens against Pham’s king-queen, leaving the Australian with less than two big blinds.

She busted shortly after, followed by Korenev in third. The Russian was all-in and dominated with king-queen against Pham’s ace-king, and couldn’t survive. That began an epic heads-up match which went on for 130 hands and around three hours.

As always in a battle that lengthy, the two traded blows and stacks went up and down. Ultimately, Pham shoved on the button, and Young peeked down at the . That one card was enough for him to make the call, and it turned out to be against Pham’s . Up until the river, the board was safe for Young, but the on the river gave Pham the victory.

Young banked $242,160 for the runner-up finish, while Pham adds to his previous bracelets, won in 2001 ($2,100 S.H.O.E. event), and in 2006 ($2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout).

“It feels amazing,” Pham said. “It’s been a long time. Every year I’ve come close; last year I made a final table, too. I had a stack, but I didn’t make it [to the win].

“Of course the money comes first,” he added, “but the bracelet means something, too. It took me 11 years to make it [back]. You get emotional.”

Final Table Payouts

1. David Pham – $391,960
2. Jordan Young – $242,160
3. Roman Korenev – $174,559
4. Melissa Gillett – $127,180
5. Kevin Trettin – $93,667
6. Nathan Pfluger – $69,741
7. Billy Rodgers – $52,503
8. Huihan Wu – $39,969
9. Aditya Agarwal – $30,774

Frank Kassela also adds third bracelet; wins $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball

With two bracelets in Stud, former WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela now has one in No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw too, after winning the $1,500 Event #13.

Kassela faced a tough final table which included chipleader Bernard Lee, Matt Waxman, and Jared Bleznick– aka ‘harrington25’. To get there though, the final six had to battle their way through a 266-strong field, which had created a $359,100 prize pool.

As the UK’s Stuart Rutter bowed out in sixth, followed by Bleznick and Waxman in fifth and fourth respectively, it was Tim McGuiganwho held the chip lead. But while Kassela and Lee fought on, McGuigan eventually fell short on chips and was eliminated in third for his first ever WSOP cash.

Lee now held the heads-up chip lead, but Kassela found a way to battle back. In the final hand, Kassela stood pat with a jack after Lee had shoved, while Lee drew one but ended up hitting a pair.

“Nothing feels better than winning a World Series of Poker bracelet when you’re a poker player,” Kassela said after his victory. “Poker, in general, requires a lot of patience, specifically at a final table, people are going to make mistakes. They’re going to get a little bit too hasty, and you can’t allow bad hands to f*** up your head.”

When asked who he would least like to have faced heads-up, Kassela referenced final table bubble boy and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser.

“Benny’s a really good player. It was a bummer to see him get knocked out as a friend, but at the same time, it’s nice to not have to play against him.”

Kassela also stated that he considers himself one of the best recreational players in the world. With his three WSOP bracelets (the other two both coming in 2010), it’s hard to argue with him.

Final Table Payouts

1. Frank Kassela – $89,151
2. Bernard Lee – $55,086
3. Tim McGuigan – $37,032
4. Matt Waxman – $25,451
5. Jared Bleznick – $17,890
6. Stuart Rutter – $12,868
7. Benny Glaser – $9,477

Big names remain in $1,500 H.O.R.S.E (Event #14)

Just 18 of 736 players remain after Day 2 of Event #14, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E, and it’s Kyle Loman who leads the pack.

However, he’s got stiff competition from the likes of David Singer, David ‘Bakes’ Baker, Richard Ashby, Max Pescatori, and Brandon Shack-Harris, who are all still alive.

Those remaining are all guaranteed $5,882, but they’ll all have their eyes set on the $203,709 first-place prize.

Play resumes Friday at 12 pm Vegas time, and here’s a look at the top 10 counts:

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Kyle Loman – 580,000
2. Paul Sokoloff – 540,000
3. David Singer – 525,000
4. David ‘Bakes’ Baker – 479,000
5. Wayne LaMonica – 451,000
6. Frederic Moss – 419,000
7. Andrew Kelsall – 418,000
8. Esther Taylor – 336,000
9. Mike Coombs – 283,000
10. Richard Ashby – 269,000

Riess, Mateos, Carrel and Smith set to battle in $10K Heads-Up Championship

Ryan Riess. Adrian Mateos. Charlie Carrel. John Smith.

You’ll no doubt recognise the first three names there, but John Smith? Sounds pretty anonymous. So would you be surprised if I told you that the 70-year-old US Army veteran has more than $1M in live earnings, including a runner-up finish in this very event last year?

Smith seems to absolutely crush this event, winning just shy of $200K last year. He’ll now face 2013 Main Event champ Riess in the semi-finals, while Mateos and Carrel will battle it out for the other final spot.

None of the four have had easy routes to get to this point. Smith has beaten the likes of Dietrich Fast, Chance Kornuth and Russell Thomas. Riess has defeated Dimitar Danchev, Dan Smith and Olivier Busquet, among others. Carrel has vanquished Tim Adams, Stephen Chidwick, Chris Moore and Ryan Fee to get here. And Mateos also overcame five players including Daniel Negreanu, Eric Wasserson and Taylor Paur.

The four have $112,379 in the bag, but if they make it through that payment will increase to $208,154. However, it’s the $336,656 and the bracelet they’re looking for.

Smith and Riess begin their match at 3pm Vegas time on Friday, with Carrel and Mateos starting just after.

Two more Day 1s in the books

While several events were finishing, two more were just kicking off.

Event #16, the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed, got 1,748 entries which has created a huge prize pool and a first-place prize worth $393,273. Just 263 remain after the first stretch, and it’s Dustin Bush currently out in front.

Meanwhile, Matt Berkeyended the day third in chips, while Aditya Agarwal, Toby Lewis, Shannon Shorr, Layne Flack, Shyam Srinivasan, Justin Bonomo, Paul Volpe, Ismael Bojang, Cate Hall, David Peters, ElkY, and Vanessa Selbst are all still in contention.

Top 10 overnight counts are as follows:

1. Dustin Bush – 182,800
2. Sebastian Winkelmann – 177,300
3. Matt Berkey – 166,500
4. Danny Noam – 155,400
5. Aditya Agarwal – 140,000
6. Matthew Zarcadoolas – 138,300
7. David Levy – 136,400
8. Michael Holm – 136,000
9. Daniel Colpoys – 133,700
10. Toby Lewis – 132,700

The other event to get started was the $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship (Event #17), and this one got 102 runners. The $958,800 prize pool means the winner will collect $273,962.

When the chips were bagged and tagged, 37 players remained, all led by 2016 $10K Razz Championship winner Ray Dehkharghani. As you’d expect the remaining field is absolutely stacked, so we’ll just give you the top 10 chip counts instead of listing off every single player.

But okay, if you insist – we’ll mention a couple. Outside of the top 10 which you’ll see below, there’s also Todd Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Lyle Berman, John Racener, Jared Bleznick, Chris Klodnicki, Matt Glantz and Rob Mizrachi in the mix.

Play in this one resumes on Friday at 2 pm PT.

1. Ray Dehkharghani – 265,000
2. Viacheslav Zhukov – 258,400
3. Zachary Freeman – 257,200
4. Schuyler Thornton – 241,600
5. Dennis Eichhorn – 230,000
6. Jon Turner – 212,100
7. James Obst – 185,600
8. Mike Matusow- 179,200
9. Shawn Buchanan – 172,700
10. David Prociak – 164,700