Ron Ware captured the first WSOP bracelet of his career on Monday night in the ,500 Eight Game (WSOP photo)

There was just one bracelet awarded Monday at the 2017 World Series of Poker as a mixed game grinder who got oh-so-close to winning one last year, finally got his hands on poker’s most desired piece of jewelry. That might have been the only bracelet handed out, but there was plenty of other action including the start of the Marathon event and a pre-WSOP Player of the Year pick taking the chip lead to a $10K final table.

Just 136 Left Chasing the Milly

Monday saw 1,187 Day 1A and 1B survivors combine into one field in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker and through 10 levels of play Senovio Ramirez III sits on top of the final 136 players.

Ramirez, who finished third in the Little One for one Drop in 2015, ended the day with 1,570,000. Nine of the top 10 stacks are in seven-figure territory when the average stack is just 428,000.

Joe Cada, Kenny Hallaert, Bertrand Grospellier, Jason Strasser, Brian Rast, Jonathan Karamalikis and Bryan Piccioli all managed to bag chips on Day 2.

A number of notables were among the 1,029 players who got through the bubble on Monday, but ultimately didn’t survive. Frank Kassela (142nd – $8,054), Barry Hutter (187th – $6,948), David Peters (212th – $6,948), Upeshka De Silva (224th – $6,948), Tim West (250th – $6,043), Kevin Saul (312th – $5,298), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (821st – $2,659), Chris Moorman (834th – $2,659), John Racener (880th – $2,493), Martin Jacobson (954th – $2,493), and Jason Koon (960th – $2,493).

Action resumes at 11 AM PT on Tuesday.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Senovio Ramirez III – 1,570,000
  2. Lucas Blanco – 1,339,000
  3. Daniel Lee – 1,196,000
  4. Scott Baumstein – 1,187,000
  5. Michael Falcon Ravn – 1,135,000
  6. Brian Altman – 1,112,000
  7. Victor Wan – 1,101,100
  8. Brayden Gazlay – 1,101,000
  9. Yervand Boyadjian – 1,023,000
  10. Harsukhpaul Sangha – 980,000

Ron Ware Rides Good Fortune To Eight Game Mix Win

Tuesday morning Ron Ware woke up with a chance to win his first bracelet in the same event he finished third in last year. Ware started the day second in chips in the $1,500 Eight Game Mix and navigated his way through the final 10 players to win $145,577 and the first bracelet of his career.

The night before his win, a fortune cookie promised him good things.

Michael Ross finished second for $89,948 – also a career high. For Ware, the key to bettering his third place finish was patience.

“It’s a slow grind. You’ve got to be patient and just wait for chips,” said Ware.”I still stayed out of trouble and I still waited for good hands.”

Final Table Payouts

  1. Ron Ware, $145,577
  2. Michael Ross, $89,948
  3. Fabrice Soulier, $58,968
  4. Sachin Barghava, $39,945
  5. Chris Vitch, $27,142
  6. Ryan Himes, $19,077

John Monnette Leads $10K No Limit Deuce to Seven Final Table

When Day 2 of the $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven event started there were 30 players still in contention for the bracelet. Through 10 levels of play on Monday only eight players remain with John Monnette, who was one of three players chosen by PocketFives writers to win WSOP POY, on top.

Monnette, who has final tabled this event before, ended the day with 1,051,000 and a sizable lead over the rest of the field. The second biggest stack belongs to Darren Elias with 637,000.

The shortest stack belongs to former #1-ranked PocketFiver Paul Volpe with 315,000.

Six players managed to cash but not advance to Day 3 including Robert Mizrachi, Shaun Deeb, Mike Watson and Jon Turner.

Day 3 begins at 3 PM PT.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. John Monnette – 1,051,000
  2. Darren Elias – 637,500
  3. Mike Leah – 618,500
  4. Mike Gorodinsky – 591,000
  5. Xavier Kyablue – 484,500
  6. Per Hildebrand – 474,500
  7. James Chen – 428,000
  8. Paul Volpe – 315,000

Igor Yaroshevskyy in front of Marathon After Day 1

Longer levels and a bigger starting stack were enough to draw out 1,647 players to play in the $2,620 Marathon event. A little less than half survived the first day with Igor Yaroshevskyy bagging up the biggest stack.

Yaroshevskyy finished with 292,000, just ahead of Rigoberto Rodriguez (283,600) and Maurice Hawkins (263,000).

Registration remains open until the start of Day 2 which begins at Noon PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Igor Yaroshevskyy – 292,600
  2. Rigoberto Rodriguez – 283,600
  3. Maurice Hawkins – 263,000
  4. Bill Germanis – 214,200
  5. Saurabh Patel – 213,000
  6. Matthew Parry – 187,300
  7. David Gonia – 179,400
  8. Dietrich Fast – 170,400
  9. Rubem Mourao – 166,600
  10. Troy Southerland – 165,600

Michael Reed Leads $1,500 Limit Hold’em After Day 1

Michael Reed is one of two players to finish Day 1 of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event with more than 100,000 in chips. Reed finished with 111,600 and Jeff Thompson finished with 108,700.

They are just two of the 132 players to make it through Day 1 from a starting field of 616.

Some of the notables still in the field include Ray Henson, Barry Greenstein, Alex Luneau, Terrence Chan, Justin Bonomo, and John Racener.

Day 2 begins at 2 PM PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Michael Reed – 111,600
  2. Jeff Thompson – 108,700
  3. Jeff Norman – 93,100
  4. Harun Sapmaz – 84,000
  5. Joshua Turner – 78,500
  6. Mike Cordell – 72,500
  7. Sean Berrios – 71,900
  8. Shane Buchwald – 69,700
  9. Brandon Gee – 69,600
  10. Robert Scott Pendergrast – 66,300