The New York equity derivatives trader and poker ace Andy Frankenburger claimed his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Event 28: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the World Series of Poker is in the books, with Frankenburger – last year’s WPT Player of the Year – scoring his first WSOP bracelet and $599 153 after a hotly contested heads up with Joshua Evans in Level 27 of the third day of play in the event.
The day started with 28 survivors, all that remained of an original entry field of 2 500, many of them seasoned professional players, but it took only two hours for the field to be whittled down to a final table dominated by Steven Merrifield, Frankenburger and Evans.
When the heads up started Evans looked the fave to win with a decided chip advantage, but Frankenburger showed his considerable experience and ability in wresting the chip lead from Evans and then grinding his opponent into defeat.
Evans’s impressive second placing was rewarded with a check for $372,498.
Event 29: $2,500 10-Game Mix is proving to be a tough endurance competition, with only 3 players remaining in the wee small hours of Sunday on the third day of the event.
Chris Lee had a comfortable lead over Travis Pearson and Brian Haveson as play in level 28 continued into the early morning hours after Saturday saw 19 survivors from an original field of 431 return to the tables.
At that point the field still contained names like Jason Stern, David Benefield, Tad Jurgens, Roland Isra, Daniel Makowsky, John D’Agostino, Matt Vengrin, and Brian Powell, but all were destined to bust out during the course of a tough day of poker.
The final nine players were reached Saturday night when Josh Weiland was eliminated at position ten after three disastrous consecutive clashes with Pearson, then Deeb and finally Chris Lee.
Kevin Chance, Don McNamara, John D’Agostino, Kendall Fukumoto, Chris Lee, Joshua Evans, Travis Peterson, Brian Haveson and Shaun Deeb entered final table play with aggression and it was not long before more eliminations occurred, eventually leaving the three survivors still battling for supremacy early on Sunday morning.
The record turnout of 3,752 registrations for event 30: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship was down to 529 going into the second day of the competition Saturday; play for the second day was halted at level 20, with only 37 players still left in the race, headed by Craig Koch of Oregon.
The event has seen many big names in poker fall before lesser known but talented players. 396 players will cash in the event, including all the remaining 37.
The top ten going into day three includes Gregory Alston, Bruce Baker, Richard Harwood, Michael Millard, James Hess, Jack Ward, James Jarvis, Kenneth Russell and Andrew Bradshaw.
The 685 entries for Event 31: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha eclipsed last year’s field by 51 players, and included many top stars such as Matt Glantz, Jeff Williams, T.J. Cloutier, Noah Schwartz, Jason Mercier, Chad Brown, Humberto Brenes, Jeffrey Lisandro, Vanessa Selbst, Phil Laak, Eli Elezra, Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, and Josh Arieh.
Ben Lamb led the field of 138 survivors into the second day, but many were to fall, with only 26 players still in contention when a halt to the second day’s action was called early Sunday morning.
Among those knocked out in the second day were Jeffrey Lisandro, John Juanda, Eli Elezra, Tony Cousineau, Joe Hachem, Paul Volpe, Bryn Kenney, Dan Heimiller, Robert Williamson, John Racener, Pat Pezzin and Erick Lindgren.
Sam Stein currently holds the lead, about 200 000 chips ahead of Ben Lamb, but back there in the top ten are players like Adam Junglen, Austin Scott and Brock Parker – always dangerous.
Event 32: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em kicked off Saturday with another massive field of 2,828 attesting to the popularity of this event, and a prize pool worth $4.24 million.
Notable names taking their seats included 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel, 2007 WSOP Main Event Champion Jerry Yang, Alexander Gomes, Phil Laak, Adam Levy, Shannon Shorr, Neil Channing, Jason Young, Faraz Jaka, David Baker, Andre Akkari, Tim West and Jeff Madsen.
The first day’s action was halted when ten levels had been reached, with 362 players bagging up their chips and the overnight leader Adam Lippert.
Lurking in the top ten are Chino Rheem, Kyle Cartwright, Layne Flack, Brett Jungblut and Eric Cloutier – and there are still an abundance of aces in the field, making for a tough second day.
Hitting the rail on the first day of play were Phil Laak, Jean-Robert Bellande, Jerry Yang, Dwyte Pilgrim, Scotty Nguyen, Joe Cada, Kara Scott, Kathy Liebert, Adam Levy, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Humberto Brenes, Jason Mercier, and Andre Akkari.
Event 33, the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship also commenced Saturday with a field of 168 (two short of last year’s registrations) generating a prize pool of $1.57 million.
Look who was there: Gavin Smith, Bernard Lee, George Lind, Richard Ashby, Jason Mercier, John Hennigan, Phil Laak, David Benyamine, Shannon Shorr, Betrand Grospellier, Dan Kelly, Jennifer Harman, Mike Sexton, Allen Kessler, Frank Kassela, Justin Smith, John Juanda, Justin Bonomo, Huck Seed, Barry Greenstein, and Daniel Negreanu and many more – truly a star-studded entry field.
Early casualties were last year’s winner of this event Frank Kassela along with Daniel Negreanu, Tom Dwan, Alexander Kostritsyn, Brian Hastings, John Hennigan and John Juanda.
The first day?s action closed at level 8 with 127 players remaining, narrowly led by John Racener, but check out who else is in the top ten and close behind in this exciting competition: Maxwell Troy, David Benyamine, Brandon Cantu, Felipe Ramos, Allen Kessler, Justin Smith, Ted Forrest and Bernard Lee.