Poker Tournaments & Misc
James Guill
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Jeff Madsen is now a four-time WSOP bracelet winner after taking down the $3,000 PL Omaha Hi-Lo on Tuesday. The $1,000 NL Event just missed crowning a champion, so Ivan Luca and Artur Rudziankov will return on Wednesday to play for the title.

The Monster Stack final table has been reached. Fernando Konishi will start the final table on Wednesday as chip leader with two-time bracelet winner Hoyt Corkins starting in fourth. Finally, James Obst is chip leader heading into the final day of the $5,000 NL Six-Max while Toby Mulloy leads heading into the $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw final.

Jeff Madsen Wins Fourth Career Bracelet in $3,000 PL Omaha Hi-Lo

Jeff Madsen made history back in 2006 when he became at that time the youngest person in history to win a WSOP bracelet. He won two bracelets that year and a third in 2013. After Tuesday’s victory in the $3,000 PL Omaha Hi-Lo Event, he joined rare company after winning his fourth career bracelet.

The final day of this event started with 17 players looking to make the final table. As play thinned to the final nine, Robert Mizrachi fell in 12th place. He was looking for his second bracelet of the series in this event.

The final table of this event featured three bracelet winners. Three-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen was joined by bracelet winners David “ODB” Baker and Rami Boujai. By the time the final was reached, Madsen had built more than a 2:1 chip lead over the rest of the field.

Here are the chip counts at the start of the unofficial final table:

Seat 1: Rami Boukai – 640,000
Seat 2: Mike Gracz – 495,000
Seat 3: Jeanmarc Thomas – 460,000
Seat 4: Sun Kwak – 655,000
Seat 5: Huarong Ma – 465,000
Seat 6: David Baker -305,000
Seat 7: Richard Tucker – 830,000
Seat 8: Jeff Madsen – 2,010,000
Seat 9: Spencer Chen – 710,000
Seat 10:John O’Shea – 630,000

Mike Gracz was the final table bubble boy in this event. He started the day as chip leader but couldn’t build a stack. Madsen continued to build his stack as he personally knocked out four of the first six players eliminated from the final table.

Ultimately, it was Jeff Madsen facing Jeanmarc Thomas for the bracelet. Madsen’s dominance over the final table began to wane during three-handed play and heads-up play started relatively even between these two. Thomas even took the chip lead for a time but after the levels moved up to 40,000-80,000, Madsen took over.

Madsen won pot after pot and took a 5:1 chip lead. Thomas managed a couple of doubles to cut Madsen’s lead to 2:1 but his third attempt at a double fell short. Thomas’ remaining stack went in pre-flop holding Ac-9c-2h-2s. Madsen made the call with As-10h-9c-6c. The flop fell 6d-7s-6c to give Madsen trip sixes and Thomas a low draw. The turn Jc missed Thomas and the river 7c gave Madsen the victory.

Jeff Madsen wins the $3,000 PL Omaha Hi-Lo Event for his fourth career bracelet and $301,413. Congratulations.

Ivan Luca to Battle Artur Rudziankov for $1,000 NL Title on Wednesday

An additional day will be needed to award the bracelet in Event #30, $1,000 NL Hold’em. Play halted after ten levels and two players remaining in the event. Ivan Luca and Artur Rudziankov will return on Wednesday to battle for the bracelet and $353,391.

Day 3 of this event started with 21 players remaining. Four big names remained at the start of play on Tuesday. Antonio Esfandiari, Bertrand Grospellier, Jason Koon and Chris Moorman were all looking to make the final table and add to their resume.

Amazingly, none of the big names that started the final day managed to made the final table. Esfandiari fell in 18th and Koon hit the rail in 17th when he ran pocket eights into pocket aces. Bertrand Grospellier finished in 11th when he ran Ac-Kd into pocket queens.

Chris Moorman was crippled shortly after the start of the unofficial final table and put his remaining chips in pre-flop with Ac-3d. Ivan Luca called with Jh-10s. A ten on the flop would prove enough to make Chris Moorman the final table bubble boy.

Travis Case started the final table as chip lead and almost a million more than the next closest player. This was a relatively unknown final table but someone will eventually walk away having established themselves as a WSOP champion.

Here are the final table chip counts:

1.)  Kai Yang – 495,000
2.) Ivan Franco Luca – 1,460,000
3.) Pierre Horaud – 1,135,000
4.) Artur Rudziankov – 2,025,000
5.) David Chase – 1,485,000
6.) Bruce Angeski – 255,000
7.) Omri Sabach – 215,000
8.) Viliyan Petleshkov – 690,000
9.) Travis Case – 3,005,000

The final table resumed after dinner break and played down to heads-up. Travis Chase was the chip leader at the start of the final table but fell in third after a massive three-way all-in.

Artur Rudziankov moved all-in pre-flop and Travis Case moved all-in. Ivan Luca had both covered and made the call. Rudziankov held pocket queens while Case and Luca both showed A-Q. The flop failed to produce an ace, Rudziankov doubled-up and Case was out in third.

Heads-up play between Ivan Luca and Artur Rudziankov lasted only two hands before action was called for the night. Luca will return as the chip leader with 7.78 million versus the 2.98 million for Rudziankov. Play will resume at 1 p.m. PDT and continue until the heads-up battle is completed.

Fernando Konishi Leads Monster Stack Final Table – Hoyt Corkins Fourth

The Monster Stack resumed play on Tuesday with 29 players looking to make the final table in this event. Two-time bracelet winner and WPT Champion Hoyt Corkins began the day as chip leader and was the most notable player left in the field.

With so few players remaining, we thought that action would continue into the final table. However, play was halted once the final table was reached. Jeff Kaplan became the final table bubble boy. He was all-in pre-flop with Kd-10d and Fernando Konishi re-shoved with Ad-Kh. The flop fell Ac-Kc-7h to give Konishi two pair and the turn 4h left Kaplan drawing dead.

With Kaplan’s elimination, play concluded for the day. Fernando Konishi will head into the final table with the chip lead with 20.8 million. Hoyt Corkins will start the final table in fourth with 12.92 million. Action will resume today at 11 a.m. and continue until the bracelet is awarded.

Here are the chip counts for the final table:

  • Fernando Konishi – 20,800,000
  • Asi Moshe – 14,725,000
  • Kevin Kung – 14,075,000
  • Hoyt Corkins – 12,925,000
  • Christian Rodriguez – 12,675,000
  • Eric Place – 12,500,000
  • Perry Shiao – 10,000,000
  • Caio Toledoq – 5,550,000
  • Joshua Wallace – 4,675,000

James Obst Leads Final Day of $5k NL Six-Max – Toby Mulloy Leads $1,500 Triple Draw

Just 20 players remain in the $5,000 NL Hold’em Six-Max Event. Day 2 was moving day as the field was thinned from 190 to three tables. Over half the day was spent trying to burst the bubble and Mark Dube was the unfortunate bubble boy in this event.

Jason Somerville managed to notch his first cash of the 2015 WSOP, surviving the bubble with just three big blinds. Sixty players will be paid in this event with a min-cash earning $8,892  and first eventually receiving $633,357. Among the notables finishing in the money on Tuesday were Ryan D’Angelo, Faraz Jaka, Jesse Sylvia, John Gale and Eddie Blumenthal.

James Obst is the chip leader heading into the final day with 1.97 million. Nacho Barbero is second with 1.03 million. Simon Deadman started the day as chip leader and was the only other player to finish over 1 million. Among the notables remaining in this field are bracelet winners Jennifer Tilly and Jason Mercier. Play will resume at 1 p.m. and continue through the final table.

Over in the $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw Event, 16 players will return on Wednesday to battle for the bracelet. Toby Mulloy will start as chip leader while Jon Turner will attempt to make his second straight final table appearance. He made the final in the $10k NL 2-7 Event on Monday, finishing 5th.

Other notables returning on Wednesday include Noah Bronstein, Brock Parker, Dutch Boyd and Steve Billirakis. Play will resume at 2 p.m. and continue until the bracelet has been awarded.

Attendance for Split Format Hold’em Nosedives – Elezra Leads $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

Two new events kicked off on Tuesday. The Noon event was the $1,500 Split Format Hold’em, formerly known as the Mixed Max. This event has typically been popular in the past but this year’s version saw a significant drop in attendance.

Just 873 players showed up for this event on Tuesday, down 40.82% from 2014 and the largest drop in attendance for an event in recent memory. The Split Format event changes the game each day, requiring that players be skilled in multiple formats.

Day 1 was full ring day featuring nine-player tables. By the end of Day 1, just 159 players remain with Matt Iles leading. Notables returning on Day 2 are Jordan Young, Toby Lewis, Christian Harder, Jamie Kerstetter, David Vamplew and Nam Le.

The evening event was $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. This event hasn’t been offered since 2010 when Phil Ivey defeated Bill Chen for the title. The 2015 edition saw a smaller field, but a dominant one.

A field of 376 players started play on Tuesday and due to the slow structure of limit events this year, 224 will return Wednesday. Eli Elezra will return as chip leader with 69,000. Other notables near the top of the leaderboard include David Benyamine, Chris Wallace, Barry Greenstein, Hani Awad and Taylor Paur.

Rio Will Be Busy With Two New Events

The Rio will be buzzing with excitement on Wednesday with two popular events on tap. The Noon event is the $1,500 PL Omaha Event. Last year’s $1,500 PLO drew 967 player with Brandon Paster eventually taking down the title. This event has the potential to exceed last year’s attendance totals.

The evening event is the $10,000 Six-Handed NL Hold’em Championship. This is one of the more popular $10k events and drew a solid field of 264 players last year. Former Main Event champion Joe Cada won his second career bracelet in this event last year and will be back to defend his title against one of the strongest NL fields of the year.

Are you ready to make history? The first-ever WSOP online bracelet event is just over two weeks away. If you’re in Nevada, you can play for your seat on WSOP.com. PokerUpdate is hosting a special satellite on June 25 where you can win your way into the event for just $10. Head to our special satellite page to learn more or to register.

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Tagged under:
2015 WSOP World Series of Poker

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James Guill

James Guill began his poker career in 2006, spending two years traveling the US tournament circuit. Since 2008, he has covered the game extensively for some of the biggest names in the industry. When not writing about the latest poker news, he can be found hunting for antique treasures in Central Virginia.

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