Shiina Okamoto has secured the $1,000 Ladies NLHE Championship bracelet and $171,732 after seeing off Jamie Kerstetter (and her excitable rail) in second place. Runner-up last year, Okamoto has made her mark on this event and, a relative newcomer, has ‘one to watch’ written all over her.
Close to the bracelet-awarding point are both the $25,000 High Roller PLO (down to five with David Eldridge in the lead) and the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship which brings back 18 players for Day 3, led by Todd Ivens. Lower chipped Todd (Brunson) is still in the running in the latter, with Norman Chad, Dario Alioto and Brad Ruben also in contention.
It seemed like the 19,337-entry $400 Colossus would never shrink. But now with just 92 players remaining, it turns out that given long enough, any poker tournament condenses down to just a few chip multi-millionaires. Joel Vanetten tops the counts after Day 2, with Greg Raymer and Matt Glantz still in the running for a first prize of $510,250.
The first cards hit the air on Monday in the $1,000 Tag Team event, superstar-attracting $10,000 Mystery Bounty and $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event, the latter ending with recent bracelet-winner Patrick Moulder taking the chip lead through to Day 2. Moulder’s victory in Event #56: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball can only have boosted the mixed-game specialist’s confidence in a Series in which he’s already cashed seven times.
Nowhere higher to finish
Shiina Okamoto, improving on 2ndShiina Okamoto had experienced the pressure of the final table of the $1,000 Ladies NLHE Championship before. Last year, she battled through 1,293 opponents to finish second to Tamar Abraham, and this year she improved on her performance the only way possible: defeating Jamie Kerstetter heads up to claim her first bracelet and $171,732.
Okamoto was supported by friends and family from Japan as she started the day a close second in chips to Kerstetter and navigated to the win (which took over 50 heads up hands to secure) with the audio in the background tuned to ‘voluble US encouragement at maximum volume’.
Two thirds of the chips in play on the final day started in the stacks of these two leaders, and the early final table action saw Kerstetter shore up her lead by eliminating Cecile Ticherfatine and Mor Kamber in quick succession.
Kerstetter also polished off Linda Durden (who had her own vocal rail that remained echoing even after her elimination, according to WSOP) but the real damage had been done by Ceci Liao in the previous hand, where Durden’s shove with 
on a nine-high flop was picked off with 
. Despite this stack boost, Liao was eliminated by the same premium hand soon thereafter, running queens into the kings of Okamoto.
Despite starting heads up play with under 10 million chips to Kerstetter’s nearly 16 million, Okamoto patiently gained ground, overtaking the long-time leader (and two-time Global Poker Award winner) to foil her hopes of a first bracelet with a final two-pair turn hit that sealed the deal.
Eldridge leads final five in the $25K High Roller PLO
David Eldridge jumped into the lead at the end of the night. The condensed final table is set for Tuesday in the $25,000 High Roller Pot Limit Omaha, with just five contenders still in the running to claim the bracelet and $2,246,728 top prize in this extremely popular big buy-in event.
With 476 entries, over $11 million will have been paid out among the top 72 finishers when David Eldridge, Ethan Cahn, Yang Wang, Brian Rast or Juha Helppi takes this one down; PLO is no poor cousin of NLH but a game consistently attracting big fields at the highest levels.
Eldridge takes a healthy lead through to the final day, with 23,400,000 chips, but no one is returning with fewer than 29 big blinds (looking at you, short stack Helppi, with 8,775,000). Hall of Famer Rast and Wang have both enjoyed spells at the top of the counts over the last days, while Eldridge jumped ahead in the final hand of the night that saw the bust-out of Billy Tarango (6th for $383,491).
There were 29 eliminations on Day 3, including those of Noah Schwartz, Tom Dwan and Sean Winter early on, Joao Vieira, Michael Monchek and Erick Lindgren in the mid-stages, and Joni Jouhkimainen and Eelis Parssinen just outside the final table of eight. Play resumes at 3pm with Rast looking to secure his seventh WSOP bracelet, and Eldridge his first. For only double the buy-in, bustees from this event can try another one: the $50K HR PLO starting hot on its heels.
Who needs Day 1?
No need to race to the front of the queueThe field remains unsurprisingly tough in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, which heads to Day 3 with 18 players remaining. There are five bracelet winners in the payouts list alone (NB: only eight in-the-money eliminations so far), including Dario Sammartino, Adam Friedman and Chris Vitch.
Todd Ivens, an eleventh-hour Day 2 registrant, is the only player to have bagged a seven-figure stack (still only 30BB after a nearly 14-hour second day), while Andrey Zhigalov, Jared Talarico and Todd Brunson are not far behind him. Eight out of 18 remaining players already have at least one bracelet to their name; notable deep runners include Norman Chad, Dario Alioto and Brad Ruben. Well-stacked at the start of the day, Allen Kessler, Ali Eslami and Anthony Zinno fell before the money, while a fresh Ivens surpassed all the Day 1 grinders.
Day 3 guarantees everyone remaining at least $20,000, with a top prize of $376,476 awaiting this Championship's champion.
Colossus cut down to size
The $400 Colossus saw the most dramatic drop in field size on Day #35 of the WSOP, with 92/2,358 Day 2 players bagging the chips of most of the 19,337-strong total field. Still in contention for the $501,250 top prize are Matt Glantz (currently lying in 15th place overall), Men Nguyen, Ari Engel, and Greg Raymer, who succinctly combined a cold-deck whinge with his average-stack update at the end of play:
The first Day 3 bust-outs will collect $4,850, a nice 12x buy-in return, but having come through such an intimidating field, it is the six figure payouts awaiting the top six that really motivate. Chip leader Joel Vanetten bagged over 20 million chips – 50BB at blind level 200K/400K/400K – just ahead of Andrew Dubuque and Justin Fawcett. Whatever the highest chip denomination exists at the World Series, we’re likely to see it in play before the winner is decided on Tuesday.
Two's company
Tana and Papa KarnThe $1,000 Tag Team packed in 1,437 pairs (one player at a time, of course) as this fun, competitive, switch-out tournament saw matching outfits, mutual support and occasionally the beginning of the end of friendships (see Video of the day). Check out how the event works on the WSOP site.
Among the 292 teams making it to Day 2 (though not yet the money which starts to be paid at 216th place) are the combos of Rachel and Josh Arieh, Chris Moorman and Dan Charlton, and Jason Wheeler and Anthony Nardi. The bracelets (it wouldn’t do to make a team share one) will come with $95,455 for each player from a total prize pool of $1,264,560.
Photo of the day
Kris Burchfield and Abby Merk, tag-teaming vegetarian and meat feastHand of the day
According to WSOP.com, the final hand of Day 3 of the $25K High Roller Pot Limit Omaha started when (playing six-handed) Brian Rast and Billy Tarango limped in before David Eldridge fired 3,250,000 in the big blind. Rast dodged and Tarango called from the small blind to see 
on the flop.
Tarango bet the pot and Eldridge jammed with the slightly bigger stack before Tarango invested his final 8 million, showing down 
. Eldridge held 
, and though the on the turn was interesting for Tarango, the 
on the river wasn’t. An abrupt and dramatic end to the day’s play.
Tweet of the day
There can be only one. Runner-up can feel like a brutal spot, especially having been the final table chip leader, but Jamie Kerstetter has the right frame of mind (and $114,479).
Video of the day
Aren't you meant to trash-talk the other teams?
The day in numbers
773,480,000
Total chips in play in the $400 Colossus
0.47
Percentage of the field making Day 3 in the Colossus
$1,018,933
The prize money that comes with the bracelet in the $10K Mystery Bounty – totally separately from those wonderfully unpredictable bounty payouts
Coming up on Day #36
The part everyone likes about Mystery Bounty events is the lucky dip. The selection, the reach, the reveal. The $10,000 Mystery Bounty has now hit the point of awarding those mysterious bounties (even though cash payouts don’t start until 145th) and Day 2 is going to be a highlight of Day #36. Chipped up (but behind leader Matthew Beinner) going into Day 2 are notables including Roberto Romanello, Stephen Chidwick, Isaac Haxton, Sergio Aido and Shaun Deeb.
David Eldridge, Ethan Cahn, Yang Wang, Brian Rast and Juha Helppi are vying for one of the most prestigious bracelets on offer and $2,246,728 in cash on the $25K High Roller PLO final table, but any one of the 236 remaining Mystery players could pick the biggest bounty from the chest at any time. If it were possible to split-screen rail these two events, they’d be the ones to keep an eye on.
The $400 Colossus rumbles on, with 92/19,337 still remaining, while the $1,000 Tag Team brings back 292 teams ready to swap on and off until half of one of them finishes off half of the runners-up to clinch the title.
The $10K Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better will clip a bracelet on the wrist of one of 18 remaining players, with Todd Ivens currently in possession of the biggest stack. Norman Chad, Todd Brunson and Brad Ruben remain in contention for this one. Finally, the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event – led overnight by Patrick Moulder – brings back 156 players with late registration still open.
New for Day #36 are two events near the opposite ends of the buy-in spectrum: the obviously-going-to-be-massive $1,000 Mini Main Event and the $50,000 High Roller Pot Limit Omaha. All of the fan favorites from the $25K HR PLO will undoubtedly be back in action starting at 2pm.
Day #35 gallery
Results
Event #71: $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shiina Okamoto | $171,732 |
| 2 | Jamie Kerstetter | $114,479 |
| 3 | Ceci Liao | $81,573 |
| 4 | Linda Durden | $58,910 |
| 5 | Mor Kamber | $43,125 |
| 6 | Cecile Ticherfatine | $32,007 |
| 7 | Susan Bluer | $24,090 |
| 8 | Haruna Fujita | $18,390 |
| 9 | Andrea Sager | $14,242 |
Full results on WSOP
Ongoing events
Event #70: $400 Colossus No-Limit Hold'em
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Vanetten | 20,650,000 |
| 2 | Andrew Dubuque | 18,575,000 |
| 3 | Justin Fawcett | 17,500,000 |
| 4 | Ali Razzaq | 17,400,000 |
| 5 | Alan Servoss | 16,875,000 |
| 6 | Jeffrey Deegan | 16,675,000 |
| 7 | Andy Chen | 16,125,500 |
| Notables | ||
| 15 | Matt Glantz | 12,825,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #73: $25,000 High Roller Pot Limit Omaha (8-Handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Eldridge | 23,400,000 |
| 2 | Ethan Cahn | 17,550,000 |
| 3 | Yang Wang | 12,250,000 |
| 4 | Brian Rast | 9,450,000 |
| 5 | Juha Helppi | 8,775,000 |
Results so far on WSOP
Event #74: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Todd Ivens | 1,190,000 |
| 2 | Andrey Zhigalov | 983,000 |
| 3 | Jared Talarico | 963,000 |
| 4 | Todd Brunson | 859,000 |
| 5 | Brad Ruben | 738,000 |
| 6 | Jake Schwartz | 735,000 |
| 7 | Arash Ghaneian | 704,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 13 | Norman Chad | 288,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #75: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek Stark/Teammate | 485,000 |
| 2 | Ivan Rezzonico/Alejandro Lococo | 331,500 |
| 3 | Charlton Zhu/Nick Bond | 319,500 |
| 4 | Scott Stewart/Teammate | 302,500 |
| 5 | Steve Foutty/Chanchal Sharma | 298,000 |
| 6 | Sheraton Hall/Teammate | 288,000 |
| 7 | Hooran Cai/Teammate | 272,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 9 | Chris Moorman/Dan Charlton | 260,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #76: $10,000 Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Beinner | 1,090,000 |
| 2 | Roberto Romanello | 868,000 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | 825,000 |
| 4 | Or Suliman | 695,000 |
| 5 | Isaac Haxton | 669,000 |
| 6 | Young Eum | 607,000 |
| 7 | Justin Liberto | 596,000 |
| 8 | Dvid Mzareulov | 593,000 |
| 9 | Rob Hollink | 567,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #77: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event (6-Handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patrick Moulder | 388,500 |
| 2 | Anthony Ribeiro | 315,000 |
| 3 | Joshua Adcock | 312,500 |
| 4 | Andres Korn | 295,000 |
| 5 | Allan Le | 290,000 |
| 6 | David 'ODB' Baker | 264,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 9 | Scott Bohlman | 246,000 |
| 12 | Noah Boeken | 234,500 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Bracelet winners
- Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion – Asher Conniff (USA)
- Event #2: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em – Jose Garcia (USA)
- Event #3: $500 Kickoff No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout – Daniel Willis (UK)
- Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed) – James Chen (USA)
- Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions - Malcolm Trayner (Australia)
- Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship – Darius Samual (UK)
- Event #7: $1,500 Dealer's Choice – John Hennigan (USA)
- Event #8: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha (8-Handed) - Bryce Yockey (USA)
- Event #9: $1,500 Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Guagenti (USA)
- Event #10: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #11: $1,500 Badugi - David Prociak (USA)
- Event #12: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em - Simeon Spasov (Bulgaria)
- Event #13: $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship - Robert Mizrachi (USA)
- Event #14: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold'em - Thibault Perissat (France)
- Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Caleb Furth (USA)
- Event #16: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Brent Hart (USA)
- Event #17: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack - TJ Murphy (USA)
- Event #18: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha - Dylan Weisman (USA)
- Event #19: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship - John Racener (USA)
- Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold'em - Stephen Winters (USA)
- Event #21: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (6-Handed) - Brek Schutten (USA)
- Event #22: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw (6-Handed) - Aaron Cummings (USA)
- Event #23: Event #23: $1,500 SHOOTOUT No-Limit Hold'em - Dan Sepiol (USA)
- Event #24: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Sean Troha (USA)
- Event #25: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Daniel Vampan (USA)
- Event #26: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Schulman (USA)
- Event #27: $1,500 Big O - Michael Christ (USA)
- Event #28: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em - Evan Benton (USA)
- Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship (6-Handed) - Phil Ivey (USA)
- Event #30: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack - Alen Bakovic (Canada)
- Event #31: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Nicholas Seward (USA)
- Event #32: $1,500 Seven Card Stud - Richard Ashby (UK)
- Event #33: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack (8-Handed) - Alex Manzano (Chile)
- Event #34: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout - Antonio Galiana (Spain)
- Event #35: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Phillip Hui (USA)
- Event #36: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack (8-Handed) – Timur Margolin (Israel)
- Event #37: $10,000 Big O Championship – John Fauver (USA)
- Event #38: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold'em - Pedro Neves (Portugal)
- Event #39: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Sergio Aido (Spain)
- Event #40: $1,500 Razz – Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #41: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot - Xixiang Luo (China)
- Event #42: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship - James Obst (Australia)
- Event #43: $1,500 Mixed: PLO Hi-Lo 8; Omaha Hi-Lo 8; Big O - Magnus Edengren (Sweden)
- Event #44: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Jared Kingery (USA)
- Event #45: $10,000 HORSE Championship - Maksim Pisarenko (Russia)
- Event #46: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship - Khang Pham (USA)
- Event #47: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em - Chris Hunichen (USA)
- Event #48: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) - Chris Vitch (USA)
- Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em - Erlend Melsom (Norway)
- Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship - George Alexander (USA)
- Event #51: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout - Peter Park (USA)
- Event #52: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em – Mostafa Haidary (Australia)
- Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed - Yuri Dzivielevski (Brazil)
- Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em - Franco Spitale (Argentina)
- Event #55: $250,000 Super High Roller – Santhosh Suvarna (India)
- Event #56: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball (2-7, A-5, Badugi) – Patrick Moulder (USA)
- Event #57: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em – Frank Funaro (USA)
- Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship - Daniel Negreanu (Canada)
- Event #59: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em - Sean Jazayeri (USA)
- Event #60: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Paolo Boi (Italy)
- Event #61: $2,500 Mixed: Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Dario Sammartino (Italy)
- Event #62: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship - Hector Berry (UK)
- Event #63: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw - David Funkhouser (USA)
- Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack - Chris Moen (USA)
- Event #65: $5,000 Seniors High Roller No-Limit Hold'em - Mark Checkwicz (USA)
- Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship - Elie Nakache (France)
- Event #67: $500 Salute to Warriors - No-Limit Hold'em - Ben Collins (UK)
- Event #68: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Colin Robinson (USA)
- Event #69: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Nikolay Fal (Russia)
- Event #71: $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship - Shiina Okamoto (Japan)
- Event #72: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship - Scott Seiver (USA)
