10k Stud 8 Final Table Set

The final table of the $10,000 Stud 8 or Better final table has been set, with plenty of big names looking to take down a bracelet this evening. Here’s how the final table will look when play resumed at 9pm:

Seat 1: Jennifer Harman – 861,000
Seat 2: Steve Zolotow – 684,000
Seat 3: Frank Kassela – 800,000
Seat 4: John Juanda – 787,000
Seat 5: Vladimir Schmelev – 304,000
Seat 6: Kirill Rabtsov – 882,000
Seat 7: Allen Kessler – 467,000
Seat 8: Dario Minieri – 316,000

Follow the split-pot action at PokerNews.

Vance Still Best in $1k NL

Matt Vance remains the chip leader (1,100,000) with 19 remaining on day 3 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event. David Baker, no relation to 50k Player’s Championship final tablist David “Bakes” Baker, has 990,000. It was hoped that they would play down to a finish, but that looks unlikely at this time, so they’ll stop when they reach the final 9. See what does happen by following over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL 6-max Day 2

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max has under 50 players remaining, with Michael Myers the current chip leader with 385,000. Other notables include Ray Henson (329,000), Jordan Morgan (240,000), and Mark Seif (200,000). Follow the updates and results over at wsop.com.

$5,000 NL Day 1

The only tournament to start this afternoon, the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a field of 792 players, up over 100 from last year’s edition. Under 500 remain after the dinner break at the end of level 6 with Amit Makhija currently in front with 83,000 in chips. Other notables near the top: Chino Rheem (60,000), Perry Friedman (55,000), Scott Fischman (53,000) and defending champion Brian Lemke (48,900). More updates and chip counts are available at wsop.com.

Yan Chen Lowball Winner

The $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw champion was Yan Chen, a cash game veteran defeated Mike Wattel heads-up to earn his first bracelet, along with $92,817. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are online at wsop.com. Check out a brief documentary on Chen, which I believe appeared on Pokerati a while ago, here.

18 Left for Day 3 of 10k Stud 8

Day 2 of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud 8 or Better World Championship concluded with 18 players returning at 3:30 this afternoon, but only 16 will make the money. The current chip leader is Frank Kassela (515,000), followed by Sergey Altbregin (497,000) and Kirill Rabtsov (388,000). Other notables returning include John Juanda (368,000), Allen Kessler (316,000), Steve Zolotow (301,000) and Vladimir Schmelev (275,000). Here’s the full list of the remaining field.

Vance leads day 3 of $1,000 NL

Matt Vance (547,000) will lead the day 3 field of $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event with 56 players remaining. Other notables returning at 2:30 to maybe play down to a winner: Mats Gavatin (453,000), Carl Olson (325,000), Jared Hamby (217,000) and Ylon Schwartz (183,000). See the full list of chip counts here.

Teska Tops for Day 2 of $1,500 NL 6-max

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-Max event drew a field of 1,663 players, with the field making the money near the end of play. When the 146 players return at 2:30 this afternoon, Roger Teska (221,000) will start with the chip lead, with familiar names David Sands (117,800), JP Kelly (92,900), Mark Seif (70,300), and Bryan Micon (65,500). Event 16 chip counts here.

Tuesday’s Tournament

The only tournament starting today is at noon, the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem event should bring out a strong field of pros, both live and online. Last year’s event was won by Brian Lemke, cousin of Justin Shronk, for nearly $700,000. Follow all the action this afternoon at WSOP.com or PokerNews.

Tournament ID: 121607994
Title: Justin Shronk Memorial Tourney
Game: NLHE
Buy-In: $5+$5
Starts: Sunday, December 6 at 18:00 server time (6 p.m. EST, 3 p.m PST)
Password: Justin Shronk

Half of the buyin goes towards the Justin Shronk Memorial Fund at the Temple University School of Communications And Theater (SCT).

Dear PokerRoad Community,

As many of you know, my cousin Justin Shronk passed away unexpectedly in April of this year. He was a 2005 graduate of the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and was following his dream of a career in the media industry. He greatly enjoyed his work as producer of PokerRoad Radio. His experience there was made all the better by the opportunity to interact with you, members of the PokerRoad community.

After his passing, many of you had expressed interest in honoring Justin is some way, and so I wanted to share the news with you that a permanent, endowed scholarship fund has been created in Justin’s memory at the School of Communications and Theater. Endowed scholarships exist in perpetuity, and we are grateful to be able to pay tribute to Justin’s life and career in this way.

The Justin Shronk Scholarship will provide scholarship support for students majoring in Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media within the School of Communications and Theater, which was Justin’s major as a student. Students must have financial need, and we have asked that there be a preference for a student who has one parent who is deceased. As you might know, Justin’s father passed away while he was a student at Temple. It was a challenging time for him, and we wanted to recognize the difficulties that other students face in similar situations.

We have also asked that the recipient of the scholarship exemplify some of the same characteristics that Justin exhibited during his life—an absolute passion for everything media, a great wit and sense of humor, loyalty in his friendships, and someone who would take a job for less money to be able to do the work that he loved.

If you would be interested in making a contribution to be added to the endowment, you may do so by mailing a check to the attention of:

Ashley Lomery, Director of Development and Alumni Relations
School of Communications and Theater
Temple University
1938 Liacouras Walk, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19122

You may also call Ashley to make a credit card gift by phone. Her number is 215.204.1384. Gifts can also be made online at: myowlspace.com/makeagift. At the drop down menu, please select: School of Communications and Theater, Other, then fill in Justin Shronk Memorial Scholarship.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly by email at bslemke37@hotmail.com You may also contact Ashley Lomery at 215.204.1384 or ashley.lomery@temple.edu. All gifts to the Justin Shronk Scholarship Fund are fully tax-deductible, and a receipt for tax purposes will be sent to you by Temple University.

Every gift made to the endowment will increase the amount available to award to students, allowing them to follow their dreams as Justin did.

I, along with Justin’s mother Kim, sister Courtney, and all of his family and friends, greatly appreciate your consideration of making a gift to support this scholarship fund in his name. I also want to extend special thanks to Robert Gauss, member of the PokerRoad Community, for helping to launch this effort.

Brian Lemke

Notable eliminations: Bernard Lee, Robert Williamson III, Phil Tom, David Sklansky, Gavin Griffin, Howard Lederer, Scotty Nguyen, Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles (who was at the ESPN feature table with Hellmuth), Shannon Shorr and Erick Lindgren.

Check out the updates and chip counts at wsop.com here and more stuff from Pokerati during the late hours. WSOP Media tournament and media briefing tomorrow, I’ll be with Team Pokerati in spirit in the tournament. The Commish has quite a few announcements tomorrow, including the Poker Hall of Fame nominees so come back tomorrow.

Daily WSOP Bracelets: Brian Lemke from PokerListings.com

New Women’s World Champion

Lisa Hamilton made her first tournament a successful one, taking down the $1,000 Ladies NL Holdem World Championship for a final table that lasted less than four hours, collecting $195,390. Lori Bender was the runner-up good for $120,575.

The Spectacular Six in Omaha

The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship is down to their final six players after the eliminations of Rich Zhu, Annie Duke and Tom Koral. Scott Clements is still the chip leader, with John Monnette, Daniel Alaei and Daniel Negreanu in hot pursuit.

Six-max Field Shrinking

Day 2 of the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-Max event is down to just 51 players as they’re playing to a final table tonight with Brian Meinders the current chip leader at 610,000. Other notables remaining include Rick Fuller (201,000), Brock Parker and Erick Lindgren (135,000 each), Bill Edler (118,000) and Howard Lederer (72,000).

Taking it to the Pot-Limit, One More Time

Yet another smaller field than last year began as 633 entrants started the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event (down from 713). 161 players will remain when they return from their dinner break shortly. Jeremiah Vinsant is the reported chip leader at 58,000. Other notables with chips include Joe Sebok (44,000), Blake Cahail (27,000) and Kevin Song (25,000).

HORSE-ing Around

The $3,000 HORSE event drew a field of about 400, final numbers will be released later this evening. Unfortunately, no one’s broken out yet in the first couple of levels, so check out www.worldseriesofpoker.com later this evening or tomorrow morning’s update for further details.

Brian Lemke Goes ShronkDaddy on 5k Final Table

Brian Lemke, cousin of the late Justin Shronk of PokerRoad and PokerNews, came back from a 4 to 1 chip deficit against Fabian Quoss to take down the $5,000 NL Holdem event for his first WSOP cash, final table, and bracelet, picking up $692,690 in the process. Quoss collected $427,911 for the 2nd place finish. An emotional Lemke dedicated the win to Shronk, saying “He was with me the whole time – the entire time. I know he brought that queen for me.” (The final hand had Lemke holding A-8 to Quoss’ A-Q, the board ran out 9-10-J-Q-x). “I miss him and that bracelet is dedicated to him, my family, my grandma, and his mom”.

All the Ladies at the Final Table, Say Yeahhhhh!

The $1,000 Ladies NL Holdem World Championship has their final table which will be seated as follows, with the final table streamed at 2pm on ESPN360:

Seat 1: Mari Lou Morelli 320,000
Seat 2: Lisa Parsons 427,000
Seat 3: Dawn Thomas 212,000
Seat 4: Lisa Hamilton 527,000
Seat 5: Lisa Santy 196,000
Seat 6: Angel Pedroza 522,000
Seat 7: Lori Bender 643,000
Seat 8: Kimberly Cunningham 140,000
Seat 9: Kim Rios 197,000

Omaha 8, 17 Looking to be Great

Meanwhile, the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship is down to its final 17 players, with John Monnette looking to get the bracelet that Phil Ivey had won from him in the $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball event last week. Monnette is the dominant chip leader (1,141,000) with Ben Boyd in 2nd place (663,000). Eight bracelet winners make up the other half of the field, topped by Scott Clements (477,000),
Daniel Alaei (297,000) and Ville Wahlbeck (231,000). The other bracelet winners: Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Toto Leonidas, Ted Lawson, and Alex Kravchenko. Play resumes this afternoon with the final table scheduled to air at around 2pm PT at www.bluffmagazine.com/live.

$2,500 6-max Going All Out on Day 2

2pm today also brings the return of 135 players for Day 2 of the $2,500 NL Holdem 6-max event, of which 108 will make the money. Brett “threatnasty” Switzer is the chip leader (183,000), with Brock Parker in 6th place trying to pick up a second bracelet this WSOP (138,900). Among the notables: Howard Lederer (93,900), Shaun Deeb (80,100), Neil Channing (59,000), and Erick Lindgren (31,600).

Two for Tuesday and Projections

It’s a return to double duty for the WSOP, with the 12pm tournament the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event, which was won last year by David Singer in a field of 713, collecting over $210,000. The 5pm tournament is $3,000 HORSE, which was won last year by Jens Voertmann taking home almost $300,000 in a field of 414.

The WSOP Staff Guide projections for today’s events: $1,500 PL Holdem – 713 (take the under, with around 685). $3,000 HORSE is projected at 435 (take the under as well, I’ll guess 403).

More stuff during the day so check back to Pokerati frequently.