2013 World Series of Poker Little One for One Drop Draws Massive Field on Day 1a
The $50,000 Poker Players�� Championship played down to its final table on Wednesday, headlining an action-packed day with five events at the 2013 World Series of Poker. The other big news was the start of the inaugural Little One for One Drop, a charity tournament with a small buy-in to complement its famous cousins, last year��s Big One for One Drop and last week��s Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em.
In a rare occurrence in the midst of the WSOP, no bracelets were awarded on Wednesday, as the final table of Event #56: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em stopped for the night before heads-up play could conclude.
Event #55: The $50,000 Poker Players' Championship
The most high-profile event of the day was the Poker Players�� Championship. The players reached the official final table, and you can read all about it in our Day 4 recap.
Event #56: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Event #56 was scheduled to end on Wednesday after three days of play. However, a winner had not been determined at the end of the night, so Vincent Maglio and Nikolaus Teichert will return on Thursday to determine the next WSOP bracelet winner who will walk away with $730,756.
FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Dan Owen | $312,516 |
| 4 | Sergey Lebedev | $225,392 |
| 5 | Josh Arieh | $164,768 |
| 6 | Kirill Rabtsov | $122,036 |
| 7 | Nicolas Faure | $91,586 |
| 8 | Sebastien Comel | $69,627 |
| 9 | Nicolas Levi | $53,593 |
The tournament started with 1,736 entrants, by far the biggest tournament of the series with a $2,500 buy-in. Twenty-three returned on Wednesday for Day 3. The most recognizable face among the remaining competitors belonged to Josh Arieh, a two-time bracelet winner and the third-place finisher in the 2004 WSOP Main Event.
After more than five hours of play, the final table was set, and the nine bracelet-hopefuls moved their chips to the main stage. About 45 minutes later, the final table lost its first player. Nicolas Levi pushed all in with A?3?, but ran into Nikolaus Teichert��s A?Q?. Sebastien Comel followed him to the rail five hands later when Arieh spiked an ace against his pocket kings. Comel had entered the final table as chip leader, but lost about half of it when Dan Owen doubled through him, and he never got much traction after that.
The next player eliminated was Nicolas Faure. He shoved with K?Q?, but Nikolaus Teichert held A?Q?, and the board didn��t provide Faure enough help. Kirill Rabtsov busted out just a few minutes later. He lost a coin flip against Sergey Lebedev to finish in 6th place.
Arieh was the next to go. He flopped top pair, but Vincent Maglio flopped the nut straight and instantly called Arieh��s all-in. The turn and river didn��t help Arieh, and he hit the rail in fifth. Sergey Lebedev then busted in fourth, leaving Dan Owen, Vincent Maglio, and Nikolaus Teichert to play three-handed.
Three-handed play didn��t last long, however. Just three hands after Lebedev��s elimination, Dan Owen busted out in third place. He moved all in preflop with K?J?, and was called by Teichert��s A?5?. An ace fell on the flop, all but ending it, and the board never improved Owen��s hand.
Owens��s elimination would prove to be the last bustout of the night. Only ten levels of play were scheduled, and with only two left, the players were given the option of playing an 11th. However, they declined, and chose to return on Thursday to determine a winner. Nikolaus Teichert holds a slight lead, 7,620,000 in chips to Maglio��s 5,415,000.
Play resumes on Thursday at 1 p.m. Las Vegas time. Join us here at PokerNews as we bring you live updates while Teichert and Maglio conclude their heads-up match.
Event #57: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em
There were 235 survivors from Day 1, out of a starting field of 784, who returned for Wednesday��s Day 2 in Event #57. After a second full day of play, only 31 remained, led by Seth Berger with 986,000 in chips.
Only 81 players would make the money in this event, so most of the players who made Day 2 would leave with nothing. Many notables, including Maria Ho, Taylor Paur, Allen Cunningham, Calvin Anderson, Eugene Katchalov, Dan O'Brien and Mike Watson, found themselves on the rail before the money bubble burst.
Eros Nastasi was the unfortunate bubble boy. He committed his chips holding 10?10? but would lose to his opponent's A?K?. The remaining 81 players were each guaranteed a minimum payout of $9,175.
Chips would begin to fly as a multitude of players hit the rail. Tobias Reinkemeier (77th), Dani Stern (72nd), Barry Shulman (63rd), Dominik Nitsche (60th), Eric Baldwin (43rd), Phil Laak (41st) and Jared Hamby (35th) were all eliminated before play was called for the night. Of those remaining players, Seth Berger topped the counts with an impressive 986,000. However, Philipp Gruissem (743,000) and Antonio Buonanno (732,000) are close on his heels.
With the tournament expected to play down to the final table of nine, highly skilled players such as Joe Serock, Olivier Busquet, Matt Berkey, Grant Levy and the short stacked Sam Trickett all still have a chance of grabbing their first WSOP bracelet here in Event #57.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor at 1 p.m. local Las Vegas time on Thursday afternoon, providing continuous live updates as Event #57 plays down to a winner.
Event #58: $1,111 Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em
A huge field of 2,233 players turned out for Day 1a of the Little One for One Drop. After eight levels of play, only 428 survived, led by Polish pro Mikolaj Zawadzki.
This is the only multiple re-entry tournament of the 2013 WSOP. Players were permitted to re-enter as many times as they wished throughout the first four levels. The tournament also has two starting days, and Thursday��s Day 1b will also permit unlimited re-entries. Players eliminated on Wednesday have the option of re-entering on Thursday.
Event #58 is the second charity tournament at the 2013 World Series of Poker. Along with Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em, it is the product of the WSOP��s partnership with the One Drop Foundation, a charity that aims to improve global access to clean water. Last week��s High Rollers event contributed $553,278 to the One Drop Foundation, and for each entry of the Little One for One, $111 will be donated to One Drop, which totals almost $250,000 from Wednesday��s players. With unlimited re-entries on Thursday��s Day 1b as well, the amount of that donation may very well double before this event is over.
Zawadzki leads the field with 85,225 in chips. He has company on the leaderboard, however, as notablesLiv Boeree (65,675), Paul Volpe (32,225), Randy Lew (26,300), Erik Seidel (23,575), and Tommy Vedes (18,400) are all lurking with healthy stacks.
The tournament will continue Thursday at noon local time with Day 1B. Check back with PokerNews then to follow all of the action live from the floor of the Rio, as the Day 2 field is set.
Event #59: $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
Wednesday saw the start of the last non-flop games at the WSOP, as Day 1 of Event #59 $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball was completed. After eight levels of drawing and standing pat, Jui Jen Chang leads the way with 66,000 in chips. The only player within 20,000 of him is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, who ended the night with 58,300 despite sitting out the last level of the night.
A total of 282 players ponied up the buy-in for this event, well above the 228 from last year. Over half of the field was eliminated on Day 1, and some of the casualties included Phil Galfond, Greg Raymer, John Juanda, Barry Greenstein, Billy Baxter, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Alex Kravchenko.
It wasn't all bad news for the notables, as a slew of them made it through to Day 2. Among those still alive are David ��ODB�� Baker (46,900 in chips), Gavin Smith (36,900), Daniel Negreanu (24,400), Mike Leah (23,000), Scott Seiver (18,900) and 2013 WSOP bracelet winners Marco Johnson (40,000), Tom Schneider (32,300), David Chiu (28,500), Daniel Idema (21,500), Vladimir Shchemelev (13,700), and Jesse Martin (12,800).
The 88 surviving players will return Thursday at 2 p.m. local time to play ten more levels of triple-draw poker. The plan is to play ten levels, or until a final table has been reached, whichever comes first. As always, Pokernews.com will be here with all of your up-to-date action.
On Tap
On Thursday, five events will be in action at the World Series of Poker. The Poker Players�� Championship will play its final table and determine the next winner of the Chip Reese Trophy. Nikolaus Teichert and Vincent Maglio return to finish their heads-up match in Event #56: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em. The Little One for One Drop returns for Day 1B. Players in two other events will come back for Day 2 of Event #57: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em and Event #59: $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.
Video of the Day
Kristy Arnett takes you behind the scenes of World Series coverage in this week��s episode of The Straddle.
Be sure to follow our Live Reporting page for continuing coverage of every event at the 2013 World Series of Poker, and follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
