Obrestad Among Final Eight for WSOP Event #3 ($3K NLHE/PLO Heads-Up)
Obrestad hopes to win her second bracelet after capturing the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event back in 2007. If she wins, Obrestad will be the first woman to win an open event at the WSOP since Vanessa Selbst won the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event in 2008.
Just eight remain in Event #3 at the World Series of Poker, the $3,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha event that drew 317 entrants. Three matches stand between each and the title, with Jason Koon, Andy Frankenberger, David Benefield, and Annette Obrestad among those still vying for the bracelet.
Event #3 features a unique format, one aspect of which is alternating between no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha with each level. Players also start each round with a third of their total chips, then keep the rest behind as "add-ons" each also worth 1/3 of their starting stack. They may subsequently use these "add-ons" at any point in the match, including after losing whatever they have before them.
Tuesday's first day of play saw three rounds of play trim that starting field down to 64 players. Making it to Day 2 meant making the money in this one, so those falling in the Round of 64 matches earned $3,395 each. That group included Justin Smith, Guillaume Darcourt, Ayaz Mahmood, David Chiu, Sam Stein, Justin Bonomo, Tim West, and Eric Froehlich.
Players eliminated in their second match on Wednesday (the round of 32) each took away $5,144, a group that included Matt Jarvis, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Vojtech Ruzicka, and Victor Ramdin.
The eight players who made it to the final 16 before losing late Wednesday night earned $9,644 for their efforts. Here's a quick rundown of how those matches went.
First Andy Frankenberger knocked out Mike Sexton in an early NLHE round after a flop came 2s-8s-6h and Sexton got his last chips in with 8d-2d against Frankenberger's 8h-6d.
Leif Force knocked out George Lind soon afterwards, then Simeon Naydenov beat David Williams and Jason Koon felted Josh Arieh to fill out half of the quarterfinal spots.
Annette Obrestad next defeated Sebastion Sarrari, Gregg Merkow took the last of John Racener's chips near the end of the second hour of play, then Julian Powell overcame George Wolff to advance.
Day 2 finally concluded when David Benefield knocked out Scott Davies at the start of the third hour of their match. That one ended with a NLHE hand in which Benefield's pocket kings held against Davies' pocket eights.
Here's how the final eight will be pairing up for today's quarterfinal matches, which begin at 1:00 p.m. Vegas time:
Jason Koon vs. Annette Obrestad
Simeon Naydenov vs. David Benefield
Julian Powell vs. Gregg Merkow
Leif Force vs. Andy Frankenberger
The big pay jumps start with these final rounds of play. Those losing quarterfinal matches will earn $28,409. Those making the semis and falling will win $73,655. The eventual runner-up will take away $128,708. And $207,708 will go to the winner.
Obrestad hopes to win her second bracelet after capturing the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event back in 2007. If she wins, Obrestad will be the first woman to win an open event at the WSOP since Vanessa Selbst won the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event in 2008.
Selbst has already come close again this year to winning her second bracelet, finishing fourth in Event #2, a $1,500 no-limit hold'em event won by Brent Hanks.
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