With just 16 of 233 players returning for the finale of the $10K 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship on Tuesday, the event was scheduled to play down to a winner. After almost 12 hours of play, six players still had chips. They’ll be back on Wednesday to try again, but Daniel Negreanu won’t be among them.
Negreanu was seeking his 8th WSOP bracelet when he went all-in against Chad Eveslage at the final table, drawing to a 9-6. Eveslage was drawing to a 9-7, and hit his card. Negreanu didn’t, and hit the rail.
His 7th place finish was good for $61K, but this time the bracelet will go to one of Eveslage, Dan Smith, Ben Yu, Nick Schulman, Oscar Johansson or Darren Elias (below), who leads the way with a quarter of the chips in play (around 43bb) heading into the unscheduled extra day.
Darren Elias is in the driver's seat heading into the home straight.Racener races all the way to bracelet #3
Super turbo tournaments never need an extra day; short levels ensure the action gets done in time, which is perfect if you’re in a hurry. Like John Racener.
“I was very anxious to get here,” Racener told PokerOrg, “I got here yesterday, my first tournament was today, right out of the gate.” If you’re wondering what kept him, Racener and his wife are still celebrating the recent birth of their newborn child. Racener now has three sons, and also has three WSOP bracelets after finally making it to town and hitting the ground running with victory in the $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty.
The tournament had 2,232 entries, but 20-minute levels kept things moving at a brisk pace and Racener was able to seal the deal — and the $247,595 top prize — before bedtime in Las Vegas, if not at home. “It’s 4:30am back home,” said Racener, “I just called them. I said, ‘If I call, you better answer me, cos it’ll be good news!’ But I guess her and the baby are sound asleep.” Looks like everyone’s a winner, there.
Racener channeled the spirit of 'baby rungood' to collect his third WSOP title.
Koon holds a big lead in $50K High Roller
The 171 entries in the $50K NLH High Roller have reduced to 10. All will be laser-focused on the huge $1,968,927 payout up top, but first they’ll have to overcome the monster at the top of the chip counts.
Jason Koon (below) is used to the pressure at this altitude, and will be exerting plenty of his own with a stack larger than those of 2nd (Andrew Lichtenberger) and 3rd (Aliaksei Boika) combined.
Jason Koon is all business in the $50K High Roller.Also in the mix are the likes of Viktor Blom, Brock Wilson and Ben Tollerene, while the likes of Shannon Shorr, Chino Rheem and Brian Rast had to settle for a min-cash. Did we mention a min-cash is worth over $102K?
Martin Kabrhel was another player who went out for a min-cash, though we’re sure he will be looking on the bright side of life.
Four more Tuesday winners
There’s been no avoiding the $500 COLOSSUS lately, with its multiple starting flights and a huge field of 16,301. Its reign of terror is at an end, however, after California’s Courtenay Williams slayed the beast to win his first bracelet and $542,540. Check out the full colossal story.
Courtenay Williams celebrates his bracelet win with his friends.Igor Zekster’s Omaha chops can’t be questioned after the LA-based player scored consecutive cashes in the Mixed Omaha, PLO8 and PLO Double Board Bomb Pot events. All that was missing was a bracelet, but Zekster put that right in the $1,500 Big O when the final two players returned for an unscheduled Day 4. Zekster beat Paul Sincere, who notched his first-ever WSOP cash ($198,134), to take the title, the $297,285 up top and his first recorded tournament win.
Igor Zekster knows his way around Omaha.Back to hold’em, and Jonathan Stoeber took down the $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack title, and $352,610, after two days of 30-minute levels reduced 4,481 entries to just one. Over in the $2,500 NLH event, Mark Darner bagged his first bracelet and $496,826 by outlasting a field of 1,493.
Additional image courtesy of the WSOP.
