https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2013/07/ en Copyright 2026 Mon, 29 Jul 2013 22:00:00 +0100 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification As has happened every summer since 2008, the World Series of Poker Main Event reached its not-quite-climactic climax again with the mid-July pausing of poker's biggest tournament with just nine players remaining. With the final table not coming until November, the WSOP Main Event is surely the most marathon-like of all poker tournaments, with the nine players who've survived from the 6,352 starters already having made hundreds upon hundreds of decisions that have affected their getting this far. Each has survived seven full days' worth of poker, with the tournament having moved into the 35th two-hour level when 2001 WSOP Main Event champion Carlos Mortensen was eliminated in 10th place by current chip leader J.C. Tran sometime after 2 a.m. on the final day.   It was only a few hours later I was packing up to return home after having spent another summer in Las Vegas reporting on the WSOP for PokerNews, and like most who had been there Mortensen's elimination was certainly foremost in my thoughts as I did. But along with his knockout I found myself thinking a lot about a hand he had played the day before, as well as a particular decision I'd seen both he and other players face during this year's Main Event -- namely, whether or not to fold pocket kings. Two of those instances I'd watched first-hand as a reporter, both of which involved players having been dealt K-K and facing preflop action that severely put them to the test. Folding pocket kings before the flop in a tournament is something many players confess they have either never done or perhaps only very rarely, with the occasion(s) usually memorable enough for them to narrate readily all of the details whenever the topic arises. I remember a couple of years ago having played in one of those "Deep Stack" tournaments at the Rio during the WSOP in which I was dealt pocket kings during an early level, got involved in a raising war with an opponent, and found myself being eliminated after having committed the last of my stack only to see him turn over A-A. In hindsight I found ways to doubt myself and think of how I might have avoided my fate in the hand. But in truth there was little chance of me finding a fold. I was reminded of that hand late on Day 2c of the Main Event when I happened to be present to watch from the beginning a hand play out that involved Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Chris Tryba, and Jackie Glazier.   It was Level 10 -- the last of the night -- and the blinds were 600/1,200 with a 200 ante. Timoshenko began the action with a raise to 2,700 from the hijack seat, then Tryba three-bet to 5,700 from a seat over. Glazier then put in another reraise from the button to 9,400, which raised the eyebrows of everyone at the table (and of yours truly). All three players had well over 100,000 to start the hand, meaning their stacks were especially deep (i.e., ranging between 80-120 big blinds). When the action returned to him, Timoshenko quickly let his hand go, but Tryba very deliberately reraised again to 22,700. Glazier sat for a while, then reraised again herself, making it 36,000 to go. That's when Tryba acted somewhat quickly for the first time in the hand, setting out a stack of chips to reraise once more to 70,000.   That would be a "seven-bet" for those scoring at home. It was an interesting situation to witness as an observer. Glazier took a lot of time -- about two minutes, I estimated in my hand report -- as she thought about what to do. It was long enough for players not involved in the hand to get up from the table and stretch their legs a little at the end of a long day of poker. One moved over to where I was standing and engaged me in conversation, leaning over at one point and quietly asking a question. "Whaddya think they got?" he said. Not wanting to pursue the subject, I just shook my head in response, but I did have an answer. Aces and kings, I thought. Had to be. It's one thing to have figured that out, but it's another to act accordingly. And after that long session in the tank Glazier finally pushed her hand away to the dealer, and Tryba promptly showed her his Ad-Ac. Glazier then said she'd let go of K-K, and no one doubted her. Tryba would ultimately be eliminated on Day 3 shy of the cash, while both Timoshenko and Glazier would make it much further, with Timoshenko taking 22nd (for $285,408) and Glazier 31st (for $229,281). Indeed, Glazier would make it farther than any other woman in the event, but that deep run might never had happened had she not found a fold in her hand versus Tryba. I would end up witnessing a second, somewhat similar situation that came up late on Day 4 of the tournament, a hand between Sterling Savill and Clyde Tjauw Foe. That hand I came upon after preflop betting had already commenced between the pair. The blinds were 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante (Level 20), Foe had around 740,000 to start the hand, and Savill something close to that. In other words, both were around 60 big blinds deep with a little less than 300 players left in the tournament. To make a long story short, I arrived to see Foe reraising, then saw Savill slowly reraise back and Foe snap-shove. That sent Savill into the tank, and finally he called, turning over Kh-Ks and then watching Foe show As-Ah. "I even thought about folding," said Savill as he stood and watched the community cards come to seal his elimination in 282nd ($37,019). "But I can't do it," he added. "Can't fold them." It was a tough spot for sure, and as I was saying above with Glazier's decision, to fold kings before the flop is most certainly easier said than done. Finally, I mentioned it was Mortensen's bustout in 10th that had inspired all of these thoughts about players folding kings. That's because "The Matador" had himself folded K-K in a hand on Day 6. I didn't see this hand as it happened over on the feature table and I was assigned elsewhere, but my colleague Mo Nuwwarah did and he reported it for PokerNews. In a way this hand belongs in a different category from the other two, as it involved Mortensen folding pocket kings after the flop and not before, in fact on the river. It had begun as a three-way hand with Mortensen picking up two callers after a preflop raise, then only he and Jorn Walthaus had reached the river with the board showing Jh-Jc-8s-7h-2h. That's when Walthus bet 975,000 into a pot of about 2 million after having led both of the previous post-flop streets. Mortensen thought a long time about his decision, since calling the bet would mean leaving himself with only about 1 million chips (about 16 big blinds or so at the time). In fact, Mortensen thought so long about it the clock had to be called on him. He let the tourney director count down his remaining decision time to the last few seconds, then tossed his hand away. There's a reason why the hand stood out in my mind. That's because Mortensen didn't actually show his hand to the table when he folded, but we all knew what he had thanks to the fact that Jay Newnum of BLUFF Magazine had been there to snap a quick picture at the moment Mortensen tossed his cards.   Up above appears only the top half of Newnum's photograph; here it is in full: Notice how Newnum managed not only to grab a glimpse of Mortensen's hand -- Ks-Kd -- but also included in his photo the mass of chips and the board below. I also like the expression on Mortensen's face as he folds, that look of tempered frustration absolutely suitable for someone who has found it needful to let go of pocket kings. We don't know what Walthaus had -- perhaps if the hand makes it to ESPN later we will. In any case, there were a little over 50 players left when Mortensen made his fold. As noted, he'd make it all of the way to the final hand of the summer before falling in 10th ($573,204). And perhaps it was Mortensen's being able to let go of the second-best hand in hold'em that enabled him to extend his run as far as he did. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/folding-pocket-kings-at-the-2013-wsop-main-event-290713-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/folding-pocket-kings-at-the-2013-wsop-main-event-290713-77.html News WSOP Mon, 29 Jul 2013 22:00:00 +0100 The 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event has reached its final table and what a final table it will be when it kicks off on November 4.  https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/jc-tran-leads-as-2013-wsop-main-event-final-table-is-set-160713-162.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/jc-tran-leads-as-2013-wsop-main-event-final-table-is-set-160713-162.html News WSOP Tue, 16 Jul 2013 11:36:00 +0100 One week ago, the poker media reported that 6,352 players had bought into the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event, but that impressive figure has been reduced to 27 at the end of the official sixth day's play. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/anton-morgenstern-leads-the-final-27-players-in-the-2013-wsop-main-event-150713-162.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/anton-morgenstern-leads-the-final-27-players-in-the-2013-wsop-main-event-150713-162.html News WSOP Mon, 15 Jul 2013 14:56:00 +0100 This week saw the last five preliminary event bracelets won at the 2013 World Series of Poker -- indeed, the last bracelets to be awarded in Las Vegas this summer -- and the start of this year's Main Event which has now played down from 6,352 players to just 666 (less than twenty shy of the cash). Among the final winners at this year's WSOP was another U.K. player, Eli Elezra beating Daniel Negreanu heads-up to win an event, and a second woman winning an open-bracelet event.   Here are the results and a few highlights from the last five 2013 WSOP prelims:  Event No. 57:  Perrins Earns Another Bracelet for Brits The $5K no-limit hold'em event saw Manchester's Matt Perrins earn a third bracelet of the summer for the U.K. after he topped a field of 784 to take the title and $792,275 first prize.   For Perrins it marked his second career bracelet after winning a $1,500 2-7 NL Draw event in 2011. Philipp Gruissem (11th) and Olivier Busquet (12th) were among those just missing the final table. 2013 WSOP Event No. 57: $5,000 NLHE results 1st: Matt Perrins (United Kingdom) -- $792,275 2nd: Arthur Pro (United States) -- $489,451 3rd: Seth Berger (United States) -- $315,529 4th: Antonio Buonanno (Italy) -- $231,147 5th: Matt Berkey (United States) -- $171,822 6th: Thomas Muehloecker (Austria) -- $129,447 7th: Randal Flowers (United States) -- $98,715 8th: Joe Serock (United States) -- $76,164 9th: Kent Roed (Norway) -- $59,398 Event No. 58:  A Boon for Yoon  Californian Brian Yoon won the "Little One for One Drop" no-limit hold'em tourney featuring a $1,111 buy-in and unlimited re-entries for the first four levels of play. There were 4,756 entries total in the event, and Yoon motored through the final table in just three hours to earn the victory, probably the quickest final table of the summer.   A couple of U.K. players came close to the final table in this one, with Gordon Huntly finishing 10th and Scott O'Reilly (16th). 2013 WSOP Event No. 58: $1,111 Little One for One Drop NLHE w/re-entries results 1st: Brian Yoon (United States) -- $663,727 2nd: Cuong Van Nguyen (United States) -- $408,264 3rd: Roland Israelashvili (United States) -- $295,433 4th: Justin Zali (United States) -- $218,771 5th: Henry Tran (Canada) -- $163,340 6th: Joseph Morneau (United States) -- $122,933 7th: Kevin O'Donnell (United States) -- $93,269 8th: Alexander Case (United States) -- $71,311 9th: Adriano Santa Ana (Brazil) -- $54,960 Event No. 59:  Elezra Earns Second Bracelet The star-studded $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event saw lots of familiar faces participate and many make the final table, with no less than five of the six final tablists former being bracelet winners. In the end Eli Elezra won his second career WSOP bracelet after coming back and beating Daniel Negreanu heads-up for the title. David "ODB" Baker finished fifth after taking third in the same event a year ago. Michael Mizrachi (9th), Mike Watson (10th), Konstantin Puchkov (14th), and Marco Johnson (16th) were among those also making deep runs in the event that drew 282 entrants. 2013 WSOP Event No. 59: $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw results 1st: Eli Elezra (United States) -- $173,236 2nd: Daniel Negreanu (Canada) -- $107,055 3rd: Brian Brubaker (United States) -- $70,743 4th: David Chiu (United States) -- $48,077 5th: David "ODB" Baker (United States) -- $33,399 6th: Scott Seiver (United States) -- $23,698 Event No. 60:  Harwood Wins the Hardware The last $1,500 no-limit hold'em event of the summer saw history made as Loni Harwood became the second woman to win an open event this summer, following Dana Casteneda's win in Event No. 54 ($1,000 NLHE). Harwood beat out a field of 2,541 to win the gold. The tourney marked Harwood's third final table of the summer, as she took sixth in Event No. 31 ($1,500 PLO8) and fourth in Event No. 53 (another $1,500 NLHE). With six cashes overall in the 2013 WSOP, Harwood presently sits in third place in the WSOP Player of the Year race behind Matthew Ashton (first) and Daniel Negreanu (second). 2013 WSOP Event No. 60: $1,500 NLHE results 1st: Loni Harwood (United States) -- $609,017 2nd: Yongshuo Zheng (Canada) -- $378,607 3rd: Mika Maasonen (Finland) -- $267,978 4th: Yngve Steen (Norway) -- $193,265 5th: Asi Moshe (Canada) -- $141,124 6th: Daniel Cascado (United Kingdom) -- $104,282 7th: Cy Williams (United States) -- $78,006 8th: Bijon Notash (United States) -- $59,036 9th: Hiren Patel (United States) -- $45,212 Event No. 61:  Alaei Captures Fourth The last WSOP prelim concluded early Monday morning (around 4 a.m.) when Daniel Alaei won his fourth career bracelet after topping Jared Bleznick in the $10K pot-limit Omaha event after just a single heads-up hand for a huge $852,692 first prize. A total of 386 played, and 32 returned for the third and long final day of play, a group featuring players from a dozen different countries.   Oleksii Kovalchuk of the Ukraine (10th), Johannes Strassman of Germany (11th), and the American Tony Cousineau (12th) were among those just missing the final table, with U.S. players ultimately grabbing the top seven spots. 2013 WSOP Event No. 61: $10,000 PLO results 1st: Daniel Alaei (United States) -- $852,692 2nd: Jared Bleznick (United States) -- $526,625 3rd: James Wiese (United States) -- $380,836 4th: Tom Marchese (United States) -- $278,298 5th: Numit Agrawal (United States) -- $205,512 6th: Gjergj Sinishtaj (United States) -- $153,372 7th: Sean Dempsey (United States) -- $115,637 8th: Rory Rees Brennan (Ireland) -- $88,061 9th: Alex Kravchenko (Russia) -- $67,742 Event No. 62:  6,352 Play the Main The 62nd and last event of the 2013 -- the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em Main Event -- drew a total field of 6,352, down from the 6,596 who played in 2012 and the lowest turnout for the ME since 2005. The top 648 finishers will be dividing up a prize pool of $59,708,800, with $8,359,531 due the winner in November. As of this morning, the tourney had wound its way through Day 3 with just 666 players still alive and with hopes of winning.   Maxx Coleman takes the chip lead into today's Day 4 as the only player with more than 1 million chips, with Doyle Brunson also returning to a top 40 stack and 2012 Main Event champion Greg Merson also still in the hunt with above average chips.  Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2013-wsop-main-event-underway-elezra-harwood-alaei-among-last-prelim-winners-120713-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2013-wsop-main-event-underway-elezra-harwood-alaei-among-last-prelim-winners-120713-77.html News WSOP Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:25:00 +0100 Betfair Poker Ambassador Elisabeth Hille gained international attention last year after finishing 11th at the WSOP. Read about here remarkable story here. This year she's already made Day 3 and looking to make consecutive deep runs. @BetfairPoker: How has your life changed since your performance last year at the Main Event? Elisabeth Hille: I have been able to spend the last year playing poker - the game I love - and do lots of travelling. Usually about once a month. I've been to places like Vegas, Spain, Prague, Ireland, Vienna, Malta, Norway (obviously) with Betfair. @BetfairPoker: What is your expectations for the Main Event 2013? EH: I don't have a big game plan. I'm just going to go in, take it easy, play the best I can - and hopefully repeat what I did last year!   @BetfairPoker: How painful was it to bubble the Final Table in Main Event 2012? EH: I really didn't mind at all. I was very happy with how it turned out. The only thing I was sour about was that I didn't get to play even more poker at that level! @BetfairPoker: What did you do after your big result in the Main Event 2012?  EH: It was a last night in Vegas anyway, so I ended up collecting my cheque, did lots of interviews, had plenty of beers with my Norwegian friends at the Betfair qualifiers, then flew home the next day! I did have a massive party with my family and friends when I got home though!  @BetfairPoker: Do you have any advice for players playing the Main Event for the first time?  EH: Yeah! Patience is so important during the big one. You start with so many chips, and the structure is so slow, that it really pays to take it slow - get to know your table properly - then start exploiting them. Patience is important in Poker anyway, but more so during the Main Event. @BetfairPoker: What are the most important assets for a Poker Player?  EH: Patience and observation. Get to know your players very well before you start taking advantage of their weaknesses. @BetfairPoker: How important are live poker tells?  EH: They are important, but a lot of players fall into the usual trap. A player would look nervous with quad fours and a total bluff. How can you tell the difference? Betting patterns are much more useful than live tells, but during the WSOP you can pick up a lot from watching your opponents.   @BetfairPoker: Do you enjoy Backgammon?  EH: No - but I love Monopoly! @BetfairPoker: Can you tell us more about your unique method of interest last year? EH: I played billions of satellites to try and get into the Main Event last year. Wasted a ton of money! I was playing the very last $1k super-satellite, my last shot, and I was frustratingly low on chips. I got a text from Harald who had worked 3 big blinds into big stack in a different WSOP event, and went on to cash for over $20,000. We split it and both bought into the Main Event. The rest is history!  @BetfairPoker: Are you single?  EH: I'm in a long term relationship with my boyfriend Harald!  @BetfairPoker: What did you think about splitting your WSOP winnings with Betfair Poker qualifiers this year?  EH: Yeah! It was such a great promotion! I was happy to split a percentage with those who played the "John vs. Lizzie" promotion, it's been quite exciting to have the qualifiers railing me to see how I'm doing. @BetfairPoker: Do you get recognised very much? EH: I get recognised a lot during live events - especially people who watched the ESPN events. I'm not that famous at home, but lots of Americans seem to know who I am. People stop and talk, some people stare and whisper - I usually smile and look embarrassed when they do that!  @BetfairPoker: Are there any players who you just hate playing with, because they are so good?  EH: There are so many good players about! But they are all beatable, you got to adjust your game, your aggressiveness, to theirs. I give Greg Merson a hard time last year! @BetfairPoker: Do you have a favourite band? EH: Big fan of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. @BetfairPoker: Do you have any interesting hobbies outside of Poker? EH: I used to dance a lot - cheerleading stuff! We didn't build pyramids and spin in the air, but there's a cheerleading dancing style in Norway. @BetfairPoker: Do you have any tattoos? EH: I have this huge phoenix on my leg! I really like fantasy books and movies, like Game of Thrones, so got this phoenix tattoo. I've read all the Game of Thrones books, and loving the TV series! I've been thinking about getting another sleeve tattoo this year. Join Betfair Poker Now https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/wsop-interview-with-elizabeth-hille-110713-163.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/wsop-interview-with-elizabeth-hille-110713-163.html WSOP Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:12:00 +0100 There were 10 more bracelet winners at the 2013 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this week, with the seven days bookended by Anthony Gregg's huge win in the "One Drop High Rollers" event for a $4.8-plus million score and Matthew Ashton's victory in the always tough-to-win $50K Poker Players Championship. Here's a rundown of the results and highlights from the last week which also included the Ladies event (in which no men played), the $25K NLHE 6-max., Barny Boatman finally breaking through both for himself and the Brits, and the first woman other than Vanessa Selbst to win a bracelet in an open event in six years. Event No. 47: Gregg Tops "One Drop" Sequel Following last year's $1 million buy-in "Big One for One Drop," a $111,111 buy-in version of the event was included this time around, dubbed the "One Drop High Rollers." A big field of 166 participated, with Anthony Gregg ultimately grabbing what will be the largest cash prize of the 2013 WSOP outside of the Main Event for his victory. Chris Klodnicki followed a runner-up in last year's $50K Poker Players Championship with a second place in this one, with businessman Bill Perkins taking third and Antonio Esfandiari nearly winning another "One Drop" bracelet before falling in fourth. Read more about Gregg's win here. 2013 WSOP Event No. 47: $111,111 "One Drop High Rollers" NLHE results 1st: Anthony Gregg (United States) -- $4,830,619 2nd: Chris Klodnicki (United States) -- $2,985,495 3rd: Bill Perkins (United States) -- $1,965,163 4th: Antonio Esfandiari (United States) -- $1,433,438 5th: Richard Fullerton (United States) -- $1,066,491 6th: Martin Jacobson (Sweden) -- $807,427 7th: Brandon Steven (United States) -- $621,180 8th: Nick Schulman (United States) -- $485,029 Event No. 48: "Crazy Marco" Captures Gold Marco Johnson -- a.k.a. "Crazy Marco" -- continued what has been a terrific summer at the WSOP this year by earning his first bracelet in the $2,500 no-limit hold'em short-handed event, topping a field of  to win a $206,796 first prize. Counting another cash in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event last night, Johnson has seven cashes total in 2013, including three final tables and a runner-up in Event #31 ($1,500 PO8). Maria Ho took sixth, notching another final table for women at this year's WSOP. 2013 WSOP Event No. 48: $2,500 NLHE 6-max. results 1st: Marco Johnson (United States) -- $206,796 2nd: Jeff Thompson (United States) -- $127,801 3rd: Juha Helppi (Finland) -- $82,956 4th: Danny Warchol (United States) -- $55,457 5th: Michael Schiffman (United States) -- $38,095 6th: Maria Ho (United States) -- $26,858 Event No. 49: Boatman Sails to Victory It was a memorable scene last Saturday in the Amazon Room as the always boisterous British rail cheered on original "Hendon Mob" member 58-year-old Barny Boatman to victory in Event No. 49, another of the large field $1,500 no-limit hold'em events. A total of 2,247 played, with Boatman earning his first WSOP bracelet after numerous near-misses in the past. The win also marked the first for the U.K. this summer after several close calls as well, with Matthew Ashton's win in the $50K PPC bringing the Brits a second (see below). 2013 WSOP Event No. 49: $1,500 NLHE results 1st: Barny Boatman (United Kingdom) -- $546,080 2nd: Brian O'Donoghue (United States) -- $338,745 3rd: Van Tran (United States) -- $239,339 4th: Taras Kripps (Canada) -- $172,087 5th: Aditya Prasetyo (United States) -- $125,372 6th: Robin Yiltalo (United States) -- $92,550 7th: Paul Dasilva (United States) -- $69,192 8th: Noah Sandler (United States) -- $52,387 9th: Roger Lussier (United States) -- $40,162 Event No. 50: Wong Wins While Boatman was winning his event over in the "mothership," the American Brandon Wong was denying the bracelet hopes of two other British players in the $2,500 10-game mix event, earning his first WSOP win while the U.K.'s Sebastian Saffari and Philip Sternheimer finished second and third, respectively. Last year's WSOP Main Event 12th-place finisher Scott Abrams took fifth, and 2004 WSOP ME champ Greg Raymer finished 11th. 2013 WSOP Event No. 50: $2,500 10-Game Mix 6-max. results 1st: Brandon Wong (United States) -- $220,061 2nd: Sebastian Saffari (United Kingdom) -- $135,932 3rd: Philip Sternheimer (United Kingdom) -- $87,397 4th: Christopher George (United States) -- $57,954 5th: Scott Abrams (United States) -- $39,564 6th: Loren Klein (United States) -- $27,792 Event No. 51: Bicknell Binks the Ladies Event Kristen Bicknell earned Canada its 10th bracelet of the summer by winning the Ladies NLHE Championship, made a $10,000 buy-in event this year with a special $9,000 "discount" for women. That price differential kept the men away this time, making it the first Ladies event since 2010 in which only women played. A total of 954 played the event. Poker Hall of Famer and three-time WSOP bracelet winner (including two Ladies events) Barbara Enright finished 25th. 2013 WSOP Event No. 51: $10,000 Ladies NLHE Championship ($1,000 for women) results 1st: Kristen Bicknell (Canada) -- $173,922 2nd: Leanne Hass (Australia) -- $107,616 3rd: Julie Monsacre (France) -- $67,331 4th: Shana Matthews (United States) -- $48,871 5th: Connie Bruce (United States) -- $36,078 6th: Eleanor Gudger (United Kingdom) -- $27,045 7th: Amanda Baker (United States) -- $20,572 8th: Chris Priday (United States) -- $15,858 9th: Cindy Kerslake (Canada) -- $12,389 Event No. 52: Seven-Figure Score for Sung The $25K no-limit hold'em short-handed event always attracts a tough field of elite players, and this year was no exception as Steve Sung topped a talented field of 175 to take his second bracelet, needing to stage a monumental comeback versus Phil Galfond during heads-up play to do so. Dani Stern, Stephen Chidwick, Max Lehmanski, and Richard Lyndaker rounded out the stacked final table, with Shannon Shorr (seventh), Todd Terry (10th), David Benyamine (14th), and David "Bakes" Baker (15th) among those also making deep runs. 2013 WSOP Event No. 52: $25,000 NLHE 6-max. results 1st: Steve Sung (United States) -- $1,205,324 2nd: Phil Galfond (United States) -- $744,841 3rd: Dani Stern (United States) -- $509,473 4th: Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) -- $353,780 5th: Max Lehmanski (Germany) -- $249,291 6th: Richard Lyndaker (United States) -- $178,261 Event No. 53: Shaffer Bests Big Field It took an extra fourth day for Brent Shaffer finally to finish off his last opponent -- the U.K.'s David Vamplew -- in another of the $1,500 no-limit hold'em events to win his first WSOP bracelet. A total of 2,816 participated, making this one the largest of the $1.5K NLHE events thus far this summer. Loni Harwood added another final table for women this summer by finishing fourth, with the nine-handed final table including representatives from six different countries. 2013 WSOP Event No. 53: $1,500 NLHE results 1st: Brent Shaffer (United States) -- $665,397 2nd: David Vamplew (United Kingdom) -- $413,157 3rd: Arttu Raekorpi (Finland) -- $291,392 4th: Loni Harwood (United States) -- $210,456 5th: Mike Watson (Canada) -- $153,850 6th: Diego Zeiter (Switzerland) -- $113,819 7th: Jonathan Cohen (Canada) -- $85,193 8th: Darren Rabinowitz (United States) -- $64,513 9th: Matias Ruzzi (Argentina) -- $49,420 Event No. 54: Castaneda Captures an Open Event Title In 2007 Katja Thater won the $1,500 razz event, then the following year Vanessa Selbst won her first bracelet in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha. No other woman won an open event until last year when Selbst won her second in the $2,500 10-game mix. This week Dana Castaneda added her name to the short list of women winning open WSOP bracelet events by capturing the Event No. 54 title.  Castaneda topped a big field of 2,883 in the $1K no-limit hold'em event to earn the victory. 2013 WSOP Event No. 54: $1,000 NLHE results 1st: Dana Castaneda (United States) -- $454,207 2nd: Jason Bigelow (Canada) -- $281,991  3rd: Mattias Bednarek (Germany) -- $198,883 4th: Michael Zucchet (United States) -- $143,642 5th: Philippe Clerc (France) -- $105,007 6th: Barry Hutter (United States) -- $77,685 7th: Jacob Bazeley (United States) -- $58,147 8th: Joseph Wertz (United States) -- $44,032 9th: Kenneth Gregersen (Denmark) -- $33,731 Event No. 55: Ashton Ascends, Earns Win in $50K PPC The five-day $50K Poker Players Championship featuring a mix of eight different games finally concluded yesterday, with Matthew Ashton of Liverpool earning a second bracelet for the U.K. and a handsome $1.7-plus million first prize. As usual, the $50K PPC brought out all of the stars of poker, with many making the final table. Also of note was the fact that 79-year-old Doyle Brunson made his 2013 WSOP debut in this one, falling shy of the money after busting on Day 3. 2013 WSOP Event No. 55: $50,000 Poker Players Championship results 1st: Matthew Ashton (United Kingdom) -- $1,774,089 2nd: Don Nguyen (United States) -- $1,096,254 3rd: John Hennigan (United States) -- $686,568 4th: David Benyamine (United States) -- $497,122 5th: George Danzer (Germany) -- $388,523 6th: Minh Ly (United States) -- $309,830 7th: Mike Wattel (United States) -- $251,602 8th: Jonathan Duhamel (Canada) -- $207,630 Event No. 56: Teichert Takes It Finally yesterday afternoon an extra fourth day was needed before Germany's Nikolaus Teichert could finish off the American Vincent Maglio heads up to win his first WSOP bracelet and in fact his very first WSOP cash. That made two bracelets for Germany this summer after Martin Finger's win in Event No. 21 ($3,000 NLHE 6-max.). Teichert topped a 1,736-player field and a final table that included two Russians and two Frenchmen, with the Ukraine's Alexander Dovzhenko (10th), Canada's Owen Crowe (11th), and Brazil's Ricardo Fasanaro (13th) just missing the final table. 2013 WSOP Event No. 56: $2,500 NLHE results 1st: Nikolaus Teichert (Germany) -- $730,756 2nd: Vincent Maglio (United States) -- $452,008 3rd: Dan Owen (United States) -- $312,516 4th: Sergey Lebedev (Russia) -- $225,392 5th: Josh Arieh (United States) -- $164,768 6th: Kirill Rabtsov (Russia) -- $122,036 7th: Nicolas Faure (France) -- $91,586 8th: Sebastien Comel (France) -- $69,627 9th: Nicolas Levi (United Kingdom) -- $53,593 Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/gregg-tops-one-drop-high-rollers-brits-break-through-at-2013-wsop-050713-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/gregg-tops-one-drop-high-rollers-brits-break-through-at-2013-wsop-050713-77.html WSOP Fri, 05 Jul 2013 19:37:00 +0100