Day 20 of the World Series saw another European claim a gold bracelet in the $2,500 no-limit hold’em six-handed event. Fields were further narrowed on day two of the $1,500 no-limit hold’em and the $5,000 World Championship Stud Eight-Or-Better events, and play began in two new tournaments; the $1,500 seven-card stud and the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys.
There were two Europeans at the final table of the $2,500 no-limit hold’em six handed event; Italian Dario Minieri and Irishman John O’Shea. At opposing ends of the chip spectrum, it wasn’t long before O’Shea left Minieri to fight the European corner alone. O’Shea was knocked out in fifth place, receiving rapturous applause from his fellow Irishmen in the crowd. He took home $98,923 in prize money.
With four players left, Minieri showed no sign of slowing down. He carried his super-aggressive play from earlier in the tournament all the way through to the final hand. With Minieri holding over half the chips at the table, it quickly became a race for second place as opposed to a race for the bracelet.
The final hand of the tournament was between Minieri and Seth Fischer. Fischer moved all in preflop and Minieri made the call to cover him. Minieri had Q
Q
and Fischer K
10. The board came AA
523. Minieri won the hand and in doing so took home $528,418 and his first gold bracelet.
As the field grew smaller and the blinds got bigger on day two of the $1,500 no-limit hold’em event, the vast majority of players left were unknown to the public. The final nine who emerged by the end of play were Jose Velador, Joseph Georges, Utsab Saha, Jae Chung, Anthony Signore, Shane Stacey, Osmin Dardon, Dean Bui, and Justin Huffman. $574,734 lies in wait for the last player standing after they reconvene tomorrow.
The start of day two of the $5,000 World Championship Stud Eight-Or-Better event waved goodbye to two well-known European players; Italian Max Pescatori and Norwegian Thor Hansen. It, however, also saw many overseas players making good progress with Norwegian Vegard Nygaard, Dutch Marcel Luske, German Sebastian Ruthenberg, and Russian Aleksandr Dzianisau all doing well mid-session.
After a number of hands which saw Sebastian Ruthenberg take various pots from Chris Ferguson, Ferguson got some revenge. The hand he won however, only put a very minor dent in Ruthenberg’s 310,000 chip stack. Ruthenberg went on to reclaim some of his missing chips, and this time Cindy Violette was his victim. His success was her elimination.
Populating the leader-board towards the end of play were Ruthenberg, Luske, and Dzianisau.
Day one of the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys was a rollercoaster ride for many Europeans. Those who won’t see any of the $2,470,125 prize pool include Finn Juha Helppi, Russian Alex Kravchenko, Austrian Markus Golser, Brit Roland de Wolfe and Irishman Andy Black.
More gambling than poker was going on during the first level of the event with Sorel Mizzi and Englishman Peter Gould shipping their chips all-in blind. The first time they did it another player went along for the ride also. Mizzi hit quads, and Gould and seat 2 rebought with a double add-on.
In the next hand Mizzi and Gould did the same thing again, but this time Gould held the best hand and doubled up, making both players essentially even in chips.
In the third hand, seat 2 once again got involved in Mizzi and Gould’s madness. The three players got it all in and seat 2 showed AKJJ. Mizzi showed J732, Gould showed K855, and the board ran 32Q104. Mizzi’s pair of deuces took the entire pot, moving him up to 30,000 in chips with the level only halfway finished. Gould and seat 2 rebought with double add-ons and the players decided to no longer play blind.
Despite this decision, Mizzi and Gould soon found themselves up against each other again. On a flop of 1088, seat 1 bet 1,000 and Mizzi called. Seat 7 potted it to 7,000, Gould called, seat 1 folded and Mizzi called. The turn was the 6 and seat 7 moved all in for 3,700. Both Mizzi and Gould called. Gould checked dark going to the river. The river was the Q and Mizzi bet the pot, which put him all-in. Gould had Mizzi covered and tanked before finally folding the nut flush and an 8, while Mizzi showed QQ108 to win both the side pot and the main pot with a full house.
Table 5 was not a very friendly place to be as anger erupted between opponents during the last level of the day. Early in the level, with Rami Boukai already all-in, Sorel Mizzi bet enough on the river to put Nikolay Evdakov all-in. The board was 10-8-5-J-K, and Evdakov took, according to players at his table, over 15 minutes before Mizzi called the clock. Boukai had already stormed out of the Amazon Room when the director ruled Evdakov’s hand dead. At that point Mizzi said to call Boukai and tell him the main pot was his. Mizzi showed two nines and a missed draw and took the substantially larger side pot while people around him called him a sicko.
Tensions were high during the rest of the level with Mizzi and others often calling the clock on Evdakov and another player. At one point, some of the players even wanted to see an opponent’s hole cards to know if he truly had a decision or was just stalling.
To end the day’s play, a huge pot developed between Mizzi, Evdakov and Daniel Makowsky after a QJ9 flop. Mizzi bet, Makowsky raised pot, and after Evdakov folded he immediately called the clock on Mizzi out of spite. Mizzi then moved all in and Makowsky called.
Mizzi: JJQ8
Makowsky: AKT4
Board: QJ9AT
Makowsky’s straight took down the pot and gave him the chip lead, while Mizzi headed to the rail, though not before saying something to Evdakov.
Germans were out in force on day one of the $1,500 seven-card stud event. Jens Voertmann and Katja Thater were both representing their homeland well, while Andreas Krause had some ups and downs, eventually resulting in his elimination.
At level 6, Krause was whittled down in a heads-up battle. Bets had been raised and reraised through to fourth street, and at fifth Krause showed J75. His opponent held KQ4. His opponent bet 600, Krause raised to 1200, and his opponent drove it to 1800, which Krause called. Krause added the 9, his opponent the 7, and both players committed another 600. After seventh street Krause bet and had just 600 behind. His opponent called and Krause rolled over Q64 for the flush.
Krause was later eliminated alongside former Card Player Poker + Sports European bureau chief, Rolf Slotboom.
Play will continue tomorrow with day two of this event and also the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys tournament. Day three of the $1,500 no-limit hold’em and the $5,000 World Championship Stud Eight-Or-Better events should produce some interesting final tables, and two new events to watch out for are the $1,500 no-limit hold’em and the $10,000 World Championship Omaha High-Low Split Eight-Or-Better.
Check back at CardPlayer.com for all the action from the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
