Recapping last night with a preview of Sunday activities:
In the $1,500 NL holdem event, Jesper Hougaard returned from the dinner break seemingly in better spirits, as he was able to recover from giving up a 6.5-1 chip lead to Cody Slaubaugh to get back to having a very slight chip lead. A single $25,000 chip separated the two when the final hand was played out as Jesper\’s QQ (with a 3rd Q on the flop) crushed Cody\’s A-10. Hougaard takes home the bracelet and $610,000, while Cody has the consolation of winning $389,128 for finishing 2nd.
The $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship led to another name being removed from the list of best players to never win a bracelet as David Benyamine won $535,687 and the coveted WSOP bracelet. Greg Jamison finished in 2nd, Mike Matusow finished in 5th, Eugene Katchalov was 6th, while David Chiu ended up in 8th. Benyamine\’s win places him only 2 points behind Jacobo Hernandez in the ESPN WSOP Player of the Year race. The announcement that the $50,000 HORSE event later this week will count towards the standings means that plenty of big names are still in the hunt to take down that title.
The final table for today, and other stuff on page 2…
The $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem final table at 2pm today brings an interesting mix of players, here\’s that lineup:
Seat 1: David Kitai 274,000
Seat 2: Ben Roberts 82,000 (6th at the 1998 WSOP Main Event)
Seat 3: Ayaz Mahmood 314,000
Seat 4: Michael Greco 120,000 (Actor whose most famous role was on the popular British soap opera, Eastenders)
Seat 5: Chris Bell 260,000
Seat 6: Jan Von Halle 485,000 (Infamous for checking behind a royal flush earlier in the Series)
Seat 7: Robert Cheung 352,000 (Bracelet winner of a $1,500 NL Holdem event at last year\’s Series)
Seat 8: Keith Greer 238,000
Seat 9: Lee Watkinson 357,000 (8th at last year\’s Main Event of the WSOP)
The $1,500 NL Holdem event made the money last night, and 218 get to return today to play down to the final 9 starting at 2pm. Among the notable names towards the top: Barry Greenstein, Humberto Brenes, Kenna James and Hasan Habib.
Today\’s doubleheader of tournaments starts at noon today with the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) event. Last year, when it was a $1,000 NL event with rebuys, Rafi Amit won his second bracelet in a field of 209 with over 500 rebuys.
The 5pm tournament today is the $1,500 Mixed Holdem (No-Limit/Limit) event, won last year by Fred Goldberg; who emerged from the field of 620 to take down the bracelet.
More good stuff to come throughout the day…