By Lisa Yiasemides
Following on from the incredible WPT Online Championship, it is time now to focus on the last (but certainly not least) of the three flagship events – the WPTDeepStacks! The $1,050 event is gaining momentum with four of the starting flights already in the books, as we build towards the second day, which takes place next Tuesday, May 26. With $3,000,000 guaranteed in the prize pool, this is certainly one not to be missed.
In addition to all of that, two more trophies were handed out last night, as the 8-Max and its little brother the 8-Max Mini concluded – plus several more tournaments got off the mark last night too, including a star-studded $10,300 PLO High Roller.
8-Max – $1,050
The first of the trophies went to Philipp Hofbauer in the 8-Max. He takes down the title, as well as almost $60,000, after beating Enrico Camosci heads up. The one-to-one battle rounded off over four hours of poker action that ended without a deal, securing Hofbauer the largest chunk of the prize pool possible.
It is the first title of the series for Hofbauer and the third final table for Camosci, who has previously come 4th in the $2,650 6-Max and 7th in the $2,650 Bounty.
Hossein Ensan
One of the biggest stars in the poker world right now, Hossein Ensan came in third place, ahead of Sebastian Lewin, Roger Tondeur and Day 1 chip leader Brock Wilson. Βασιλειος Ζιακουλης and László Molnár took the last two spots at the final table, denying some familiar names a place, including Richard Dubini (9th), Aram Zobian (10th), Zachary Gruneberg (13th) and Ian O’Hara (14th).
Mini 8-Max – $109
55 players returned last night to try to a portion of the $106,000 prize pool and over the course of seven hours, they were reduced to two with Lee Jack representing Great Britain and Gustavo Mastelotto Brazil. Once again there was no deal and the two players went head to head for the $5,000 difference in prize money. Jack came out on top as Mastelotto took the runner up position.
Some big names were in contention but couldn’t go the distance, with Tyler Goatcher (14th), Aram Zobian (19th), Robin Ylitalo (21st), Day 1 chip leader Fabrizio D’Agostino (30th), Rui Ferreira (37th) and Fabrizio Gonzalez (39th) all having a go but finishing outside of the final eight.
Concludes tonight
PLO High Roller – $10,300
Online specialist Linus Loeliger (734,464) had the most productive Day 1 in the event that exceeded its $1,000,000 guarantee. 101 entries started and they were reduced to eight with Yuri Dzivielevski (656,952) and Jason Mercier (519,931) bagging the second and third chip leads. Viktor Blom (515,642), Andreas Torbergsen (321,520), Andres Ojeda (163,414), John O Shea (93,249) and Mark Davis (24,828) complete a final table that is nothing short of formidable.
Yuri Dzivielevski
Fabrizio Gonzalez (11th), Niklas Åstedt (12th), László Bujtás (13th), Anton Suarez (14th) and Ben Lamb (15th) all reached the money but are out of the running of the $279,265 top prize.
6-Max Bounty Hunter – $1,575
A huge $403,500 was collected for the prize pool, smashing the $300,000 guarantee. Just six remain of the 269 starters and they come back to play to a winner tonight. Team partypoker Kristen Bicknell (399,406) made her second final table of the series after coming 6th in the $5,300 High Roller. She starts at the back with 20bb to play with. WPTDS Brussels runner up Alexandre Reard (565,757), David Tovar Lasierra (646,731) and Patrik Sundvik (1,054,207) are the next shortest.
Kristen Bicknell
Frank Lillis (2,457,065) bagged the second largest stack. The man to catch, however, is chip leader Pavel Plesuv (2,946,834) who sits in the top spot of the Moldovan all-time live tournament earnings leaderboard. He will be in the best position to achieve that $35,457 (plus bounties) prize for the winner.
Christopher Oliver (7th), Chad Eveslage (8th) and Dorian Rios (9th) all ran deep but finished just outside of the final table. Norbert Szecsi (12th), Andras Nemeth (20th), Ema Zajmovic (22nd) and Stewart Kirby (27th) were just a few of the notables to reach the money stages, with 30 places paid.
Mini 6-Max Bounty Hunter – $162
A huge 1,367 players sat down in the mini event, creating a $205,050 prizepool! With $12,071 (plus bounties) up top, there is a lot to play for, with the 39 survivors guaranteed at least $334 for getting this far.
Pedro Pérez Gómez bagged a very impressive 3,730,988 over the course of 22 levels and Maximilian Lehmanski (2,520,391) and Elvis Arzic (2,216,843) take second and third places in the counts. Amichai Barer, Sam Grafton, Manig Loeser and Georgos Zisimopoulos are some of the big names to watch, particularly as they each bagged a top-ten stack.
Continues tonight
WPTDeepStacks – $1,050
With at least one starting flight per day for the next five days, there are still plenty of opportunities to get involved in this $3,000,000 guaranteed event! So far 1,148 registrations have been logged in the WPTDS and 3,365 in the Mini WPTDS.
A total of 299 entries took part, with 33 qualifying for Day 2. Aram Zobian (600,174), Sergei Denisov (585,830), Sean Reuven Roberts (568,452) Thomas Österreicher (538,832) and Parker Talbot (531,374) made up the top five stacks, as Rayan Chamas, Jeremy Menard, $1,050 6-Max winner Gustavo Mastelotto and Team partypoker Patrick Leonard all featured in the top 10. Plus, partypoker teammate Kristen Bicknell accrued a stack worthy of 12th place – her second deep run of the night.
Patrick Leonard
Mini WPTDeepStacks – $109
A total of 905 entries were counted in the WPTDS Mini and of those, 105 progressed. Aaron Benton (821,075) and Mihail Trubkin (610,840) bagged the top two stacks and Luigi Knoppers (547,979), Guillaume Diaz (543,303) and Steven Van Zadelhoff (541,864) rounded out the top five.
WPTDS UK winner Michael Tureniec is chipped up and Jans Arends, Daniel Wilson and Niklas Åstedt will all return next week for round two.
On tonight’s schedule
As well as the final days of the three tournaments above, for those wishing to jump in the action there are Days 1e in the WPTDS and Mini WPTDS, as well as a $530 6-Max Hyper Bounty and $55 Mini 6-Max Hyper Bounty on offer this evening.
Leaderboard
Please note this takes into account results up to and including May 20
Viktor Ustimov skyrockets into the lead as a result of his second-place finish in the Online Championship two days ago. He is almost 100 points clear of second placer Rui Ferreira who has climbed up two spots since yesterday too. Samuel Vousden drops down into third, while Sam Greenwood and Pascal Hartmann’s final table results in the OC are enough to bring them into the top five as well.
*All times stated are BST