The final day of the 2016 World Series of Poker before the Main Event kicks off buzzed with the arrival of the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop and the final table of the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller. The Ladies Championship also got underway and three bracelets were awarded for two events while a power couple got a little stronger.

Jens Kyllonen, Tommy Le, Dan Smith Return for $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha Day 4

The $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller event returned 20 of the world’s top players for Day 3 on Friday, but fell short of crowning a champion with three players remaining after ten levels of play. Jens Kyllonen leads Tommy Le with Dan Smith as the short stack.

Smith doubled up on the last hand of the night with a straight against Le. Kyllonen bagged up 10,925,000, Le with 8,650,000 and Smith with 3,425,000.

The final day saw ten full levels of action but with three players remaining there was no option but return for an additional day to play out. They’re all guaranteed nearly $500,000 but it may be a long day with $1,127,035 for the winner.

Two of the Mizrachi brothers, Robert and Michael, were second and third in chips to start the day but finished ninth and 12th respectively. Cary Katz, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Paul Volpe were among the early eliminations on the day.

Final Table Payouts

  1. TBD – $1,127,035
  2. TBD – $696,558
  3. TBD – $487,361
  4. Ryan D’Angelo – $347,641
  5. Veselin Karakitukov – $252,909
  6. Dmitry Savelyev – $187,724
  7. Ludovic Geilich – $142,227
  8. Sean Winter – $110,035

Doug Polk and Ryan Fee Win Inaugural Tag Team Event

Doug Polk and Ryan Fee go down as the first Tag Team in WSOP history to win gold.
The first Tag Team event in WSOP history turned out to be a big hit with players. Doubles have been held in the past, but now with the Tag Team structure and two of the formats biggest critics turned out to be the winning team. Doug Polk and Ryan Fee took down the event for their second and first bracelets respectively with each earning $76,679.

“I think being one of the skilled teams is a huge advantage. It’s not a big deal if your teammate punts off your stack somewhat reasonably,” Polk said. “But on the weaker teams there is a lot more pressure to just not screw things up. So, we can play our game and really care if we bust.”

“Two weeks ago, we were making fun of the format, that you could just play a round of blinds and then we went on a podcast and really made fun of the whole concept,” Fee said. “We entered this tournament because we thought it would be a good way to promote our new coaching site.”

The team of Marvin Rettenmaier and Mohsin Charania collected their 27th and 38th WSOP cashes. James Dempsey earned his 14th career cash while his teammate Christopher Godfrey logged his first. Jonathan Little played with his parents and returned to the final table as the short stack with 12 big blinds before busting out in ninth.

Final Table Payouts (payout per player)

  1. Doug Polk/Ryan Fee – $76,679
  2. Niel Mittleman/Adam Greenberg/Gabriel Paul – $31,582
  3. Marvin Rettenmaier/Mohsin Charania – $33,229
  4. James Dempsey/Christopher Godfrey – $23,639
  5. John Gale/TJ Shulman – $17,059
  6. Owais Ahmed/Benny Glaser/Adam Owen/Bart Lybaert – $6,246
  7. Robert Altman/Reuben Peters – $9,282
  8. Michael Padula/Marco Caruso/Daniel Urban – $4,668
  9. Jonathan Little/Larry Little/Rita Little – $3,574

Yue Du Wins $5,000 No Limit, Jason Mercier Pops the Question

Yue Du is the first Chinese resident to win a WSOP bracelet.
Yue Du returned with an overwhelming chip lead for Day 4 of the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event. Du’s hot hand kept him in the lead and he became the first Chinese resident to win a WSOP bracelet for $800,586 – but Natasha Barbour’s third-place bustout stole the show.

Barbour and Jason Mercier have been poker’s power couple and with his two bracelets and multiple final tables, Barbour was on the rail supporting her partner. It was Mercier’s turn on the rail and moments after she was eliminated he dropped to a knee and proposed.

Du eliminated every player at the final table and performed against top competition beyond his record would suggest – he has a single previous cash from a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event earlier this Series.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Yue Du – $800,586
  2. Michael Getili – $494,797
  3. Natasha Barbour – $348,374
  4. Dominik Nitsche – $248,640
  5. Ismael Bojang – $179,923
  6. Marius Gierse – $132,030
  7. Matt O’Donnell – $98,269
  8. Sertac Turker – $74,201
  9. Arne Coulier – $56,851

Raffaele Castro Leads $1,000 No Limit Hold’em, Tony Dunst & Faraz Jaka Look for First Bracelet

The day began with 269 returning players and 10 levels of play reduced the field to a more manageable 25 surviving players. Raffaeel Castro leads with the only seven-figure count but Tony Dunst looks for his first bracelet as fourth in chips.

Dunst has 24 WSOP cashes but the highest he’s ever finished was eighth place in a 2008 $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event. Faraz Jaka returns but has ground to make up as one of the short stacks.

Nick Palma, Chris Bjorin, Mark Radoja, Eric Baldwin and Daniel Weinman all cashed in the event but did not survive the day.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Raffaele Castro – 1,200,000
  2. Ryan Drossel – 1,073,000
  3. Matas Cimbolas – 1,013,000
  4. Tony Dunst – 930,000
  5. Francsico Araujo – 910,000
  6. Jayakrishnan Nair – 697,000
  7. Pratik Ghatge – 583,000
  8. Matthew Moss – 531,000
  9. Steven Wolansky – 525,000
  10. Ashish Gupta – 524,000

Scott Clements Bags Big Lead for Day 3 of $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

Day 2 of the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event returned some of the most well-known Omaha players and by day’s end 21 players remained. Scott Clements bagged up a massive lead with 1.2 million – 500,000 more than Richard Ashby in second with 720,000.

Ari Engel and Kyle Bowker finished near the top with Rex Clinkscales, Blair Rodman and Marco Johnson fall in the middle of the field. Ben Yu and Jon Turner are the two returning shortest stacks.

Each player has $7,965 locked up, payouts jump to $18,702 for a trip to the final table and the winner earns $294,960.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Scott Clements – 1,235,000
  2. Richard Ashby – 720,000
  3. Timothy Vukson – 611,000
  4. Noah Bronstein – 555,000
  5. Ari Engel – 476,000
  6. Anil Gurnaney – 408,000
  7. Daniel Lowe – 367,000
  8. Chris Ruby – 324,000
  9. Kyle Bowker – 321,000
  10. David Solomon – 270,000

Koray Aldemir Tops Star-Studded $111,111 High Roller for One Drop

The most expensive tournament on the 2016 schedule kicked off Friday. The $111,111 High Roller for One Drop and drew a mind-boggling 171 entrants. When the dust settled 88 players advanced to Day 2 with Koray Aldemir topping the elite field with 3.7 million in the bag.

Fedor Holz returns second and leads a pack of Michael Mizrachi, Dominik Nitsche, Jeff Gross and Kyle Julius over the 2 million-chip mark. Niall Farrell, Jason Les, Stephen Chidwick, Mustapha Kanit and Cary Katz all landed in the top 20 counts.

Chris Klodnicki, Olivier Busquet, Keith Gipson and Jake Schindler return as the short stacks. Former One Drop event winners Antonio Esfandiari, Dan Colman and Tony Gregg all return for Day 2.

Registration closes before the start of play but the field combined for a $18,049,905 prize pool on Day 1. The event also allows for a single re-entry.

Nick Schulman, Liv Boeree, Darren Elias, Martin Jacobson, Ole Schemion, Dan Shak, Daniel Negreanu and David Sands are among the many that were eliminated.

Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Koray Aldemir – 3,789,000
  2. Fedor Holz – 2,884,000
  3. Brian Green – 2,360,000
  4. Michael Mizrachi – 2,296,000
  5. Dominik Nitsche – 2,150,000
  6. Jeff Gross – 2,105,000
  7. Kyle Julius – 2,000,000
  8. Sergio Espina Aido – 1,867,000
  9. Joe McKeehen – 1,866,000
  10. Adrian Mateos – 1,842,000

Six Players Return for Online Event Final Table, Clayton ‘SLARKDUCK’ Maguire Leads

The second annual Online Bracelet event kicked Thursday on WSOP.com featuring a $1,000 buy-in with unlimited re-entries. The event drew 1,247 entrants to the virtual felt and the field played down to the final six for a live final table later this week.

Clayton ‘SLARKDUCK’ Maguire leads the field and bracelet winner Simeon Naydenov is second in chips. The final table gets underway at 11 AM PT in the Amazon Room.

The field combined for a $1,184,650 prize pool to pay out the top 153 players. All returning players are guaranteed $46,201 but have their eyes on the $210,279 top prize.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Clayton ‘SLARKDUCK’ Maguire – 7,157,023
  2. Simeon ‘FeelGoodInc’ Naydenov – 6,203,740
  3. Marc-Olivier ‘mariovideo’ Carpentier-Perrault – 2,520,809
  4. Park ‘Sparrow’ Yu Cheung – 1,118,408
  5. Spencer ‘TheGoat21’ Taylr – 943,029
  6. Richard ‘jklolz’ Tuhrim – 761,991

Anetta Holley Leads Ladies Championship, Vanessa Selbst in Top Ten

The Ladies Championship kicked Friday at 11 AM PT and drew 818 female entrants and one male entrant that put up $10,000 to play. Ten levels action reduced to the field to 112 returning players and Anetta Holley bagged up the lead with 117,600 – the only player to cross the century mark.

Vanessa Selbst is tenth in chips and leads a charge of familiar faces with Mina Greco, Amanda Musumeci, Elisabeth Hille, Amanda Baker and Jamie Kerstetter all return for Day 2.

The field combined for $745,200 prize pool that pays out the top 123 finishers. A trip to the final table locks up $10,292 and the winner earns $745,200.

Tony Ruberto was the lone male to post the five-figure buy-in and started at Karina Jett’s table.


Top Ten Chip Counts

  1. Anetta Holley – 117,600
  2. Karen Xiu – 96,400
  3. Barbara Johnson – 88,900
  4. June Jenkins – 86,700
  5. Alexis Sterner – 85,600
  6. Linglin Zeng – 83,800
  7. Donna Dicrescento – 82,400
  8. Courtney Kennedy – 82,200
  9. Vanessa Selbst – 80,800
  10. Marie Acoba – 78,700