The second weekend of the 2017 World Series of Poker has come to an end, so while you sip your Monday morning coffee and prepare yourself for another week, why not catch up on all of Sunday’s action from the Rio?

Tyler Smith wins first bracelet in largest ever live Pot Limit Omaha event

Last year’s $565 PLO tournament attracted a staggering 2,479 entries. Pot Limit Omaha might be the ‘great game’ to some, but to many it’s still unexplored water.

How refreshing, then, to see that this year’s $565 PLO (Event #18) shattered last year’s turnout, bringing 3,186 runners into the Rio, and creating the largest ever live PLO tournament. Late Sunday night, when all was said and done, just one man remained with the chips, the cash, and his first gold bracelet: Tyler Smith, now $244,344 richer.

Smith battled his way through an international final table line-up, featuring Americans, Canadians, Russians, Czechs, and Belgians. And when Smith got heads-up with fellow American Jason Stockfish, it took him just one hand to get the job done.

With a roughly 13:1 chip advantage, Smith opened to 600,000 before calling Stockfish’s all-in with the . Stockfish held the , but after a runout, Smith’s ace-queen held up to take it down.

”It feels amazing,” said Smith. “You know, when you enter these things and there are so many people, it’s a minefield, but they seem unwinnable to an extent. So, kind of every level that you go and you make it a little bit further. It’s like a surreal experience.”

Primarily a cash game player, Smith added that his experience with the roller coaster ride of PLO helped him remain in the right frame of mind.

“I guess I’ve just played so much PLO that I’m used to it,” he said. “I don’t really play no-limit [hold’em] at all anymore. I’m pretty much exclusively a PLO guy. I guess you just expect it. You just understand that that is part of the landscape and that is the nature of the game. Whatever happens, just kind of happens.”

Final table payouts:

1. Tyler Smith – $244,344
2. Jason Stockfish – $138,655
3. Igor Sharaskin – $102,045
4. Scott Davies – $75,699
5. Marek Ohnisko – $56,607
6. Jessie Bryant – $42,673
7. John Dallaire – $32,432
8. Ryan Wince – $24,852
9. Yves Kupfermunz – $19,201

Ten remain for $1,500 8-Game Mix 6-Handed Finale (Event #21)

Monday sees ten players return to the Rio to battle it out for the $1,500 8-Game Mix 6-Handed bracelet. Among them are a couple of well-known Frenchman, and a guy whose closest WSOP run was ended by another well-known Frenchman.

Gregory Jamison is the chipleader coming into the finale, having eliminated two players in a monster pot at the business end of Day 2 Sunday. Back in 2008 he finished runner-up to David Benyamine in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, so he’ll be hoping to go one better than that today.

However, he’ll have to fight his way through two more formidable Frenchman, what with Fabrice Soulier and Alex ‘alexonmoon’ Luneau still in contention, sitting fifth and seventh in chips respectively. Soulier is aiming for his second WSOP bracelet, while anyone who saw Luneau in the excellent documentary ‘Nosebleed’ knows that winning one means a lot to him. He’s still seeking his first victory.

The same can’t be said for Christopher Vitch, who’s also still alive in this one. Vitch took down his first bracelet at the 2016 WSOP in the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) (Event #40).

Final Day chip counts:

1. Gregory Jamison – 714,500
2. Ron Ware – 511,000
3. Sachin Bhargava – 470,000
4. Ryan Himes – 410,000
5. Fabrice Soulier – 346,000
6. Christopher Sensoli – 345,000
7. Alexandre Luneau – 310,500
8. Georgii Belianin – 168,000
9. Christopher Vitch – 148,000
10. Michael Ross – 118,500

Millionaire Maker Day 1B concludes

One of the more exciting lower-buy-in events on the WSOP schedule is the $1,500 Millionaire Maker. While Day 1A took place on Saturday, Sunday saw 4,323 hopefuls take their seats on Day 1B, making a total field of 7,761. After a full day’s play, just 678 remained.

The man who bagged the most yesterday was Brian Altman (227,800), followed by Billy Graybeal(209,200), Scott Skirba (207,500), Adam White (182,000), David Peters(173,200), Dustin Fox (168,600), and Kenny Hallaert (148,500).

Just a few of the notable names who will return for Day 2 today include recent bracelet winners David Pham(68,500) and John Racener (32,100), plus Antonio Esfandiari (73,900), Joe Elpayaa (91,800), Dan O’Brien (65,300), Ravi Raghavan (108,000), Tristan Wade(19,400), Darryll Fish(63,600), Jeff Gross (9,000), Dutch Boyd(68,500), Johanssy Joseph (62,000), Matt Waxman (46,600), and Jake Bazeley (108,600).

The 1,187 remaining players will be back to work at 11am Monday, with only 1,165 making the money. That means it’ll be bubble time almost from the get go. a min-cash is worth $2,249, but nobody wants just that; not when there’s $1,221,407 and a gold WSOP bracelet for the winner.

A who’s who come out for the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship

Sometimes referred to as the ‘Nick Schulman Invitational’, due to the fact that Schulman has won this event twice, the$10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship (Event #22) brought out all of the big guns, each allowed one re-entry.

Ten one-hour levels saw 67 unique entries and 25 re-entries whittled down to 30 survivors, with Jon ‘Pearljammer’ Turner (367,300) and Mike Leah (361,500) leading the bunch. Other big stacks at the end of play include John Monnette (265,400), Robert Mizrachi(255,000), Shaun Deeb (230,700),Phil Galfond(223,100), Mike Watson (218,600) and Mike Gorodinsky (109,000).

Schulman himself is also doing nicely, bagging up 186,000, good for ninth right now. Recent bracelet winner Jesse Martin also had a nice day (105,900), while all-round beast Paul Volpe also survived (97,700).

It was not a good tournament for others though. Both Jason Mercier and Phil Hellmuth fired two bullets and won’t be returning, while Chris Klodnicki, Eric Wasserson Stephen Chidwick, Felipe Ramos, Richard Ashby, Jennifer Harman, Ben Tollerene, and Benny Glaser all tried their luck to no avail.

Just fourteen players will make the money, and there’s $256,610 up top. The final 30 will play down to a final table today.

Top 10 chip counts:

1. Jon Turner – 367,300
2. Mike Leah – 361,500
3. John Monnette – 265,400
4. Robert Mizrachi – 255,000
5. Shaun Deeb – 230,700
6. Xavier Kyablue – 228,800
7. Phil Galfond – 223,100
8. Mike Watson – 218,600
9. Nick Schulman – 186,000
10. Darren Elias – 179,400