Category: Live Poker Tournaments

Russian Andrey Pateychuk dominated the final table at the San Remo Main Event of the European Poker Tour, beating out several far more experienced contenders in order to become only the second Russian ever to win an EPT event. The San Remo event has historically been one of the biggest events in the EPT, often touting a prize larger than any other in the annual tournament. At the end of play, Andrey Pateychuk took home a €680,000 prize.

This virtual unknown walked into San Remo and, after four days of play, beat out a final table that consisted of Barny Boatman, the great poker legend from the United Kingdom as well as Kevin MacPhee, the American currently sitting in fifth place on the EPT All-Time Leader Board. Other players included Jan Bendik (5th place), Yorane Kerignard (6th place), and Italian player Rocco Palumbo, who finished seventh.

Neilson dominated most of the San Remo event, staying within the top two places for most of the game (he went into the final table as the chip leader, with twice the chips with which Pateychuk started). MacPhee had the short stack, but he also had the most to gain– winning would make him the first ever two-time winner during the history of the European Poker Tour. MacPhee was the first out, eliminated by Barny Boatman, and he was followed about an hour later by Rocco Palumbo, who was sent to the rail by Slovakia’s Jan Bendik. Danchev took out Yorane Kerignard of France, while Pateychuk himself eliminated Boatman, leading to an unexpected final three. By this point, Neilson’s stack had been whittled away considerably throughout play by the Russian, and Danchev finished him off.

This year’s San Remo had an interesting payout schedule, as second place (which ultimately went to Bulgarian Dimitar Danchev) was awarded €600,000, a mere €80k less than first place, while Australian Daniel Neilson, who came in third, left with only €285,000. That’s quite a leap between second and third, and not a great deal of difference between the first and second prizes, and all of the other events at the European Poker Tour this year have been more fairly distributed. Why did this EPT event, which had one of the larger prize pools so far this season, have a smaller take for the first place winner and such an uneven distribution among the winners? The top two players made a deal during the heads-up play, when the game was determined by a bad beat– instead of winning €800k and €480k, first and second place took home more balanced amounts to reflect the true nature of how this game played out. Pateychuk had gone all in with only a 6-7 in his hand, while Danchev held 9-10. The 9-4-2 flop left Danchev in the lead with a pair, but Pateychuk got lucky when the turn and river produced an 8-5, making this an incredibly bad beat. We imagine that Danchev probably won’t mind too much, as he’s still walking away with a considerable sum.

Poker fans may recall hearing Pateychuk’s name somewhere before, and for good reason. He ran deep in the $10,000 World Championship – No Limit Hold’em Main Event at this year’s World Series of Poker, landing a substantial win of $478,174 after being eliminated in 15th place. Before this year, however, no one had ever heard of Pateychuk, so it looks like a star has been born this year. Congratulations, Andrey, and may your runs be deep and your seat be favorable in the future!

At the end of the first day of WSOPE play, Phil Hellmuth was just another name mentioned in passing among the list of players who were still in the running after the day closed with only 80 players left. He wasn’t a chip leader and wasn’t starting the day in a particularly good position, but, nonetheless, the poker star warranted a nod, as his position in this event could mean not only that he could pass Ben Lamb for the Player of the Year title, but also that he still had a chance at nabbing his 12th bracelet at the World Series of Poker.

Hellmuth ended the day in second place on the leaderboards with over 400k in chips. As one of only 12 players remaining, he’s guaranteed at least €13,228, which moves him into first place on the PoY boards, overtaking Ben Lamb, who has held the number one spot since the WSOP events were paused (although Lamb’s performance in the Main Event could turn the tables once more, as could Hellmuth’s performance through the rest of the events in Europe). The Poker Brat didn’t seem to be effected by the change of venue from the Hotel Majestic Barriere to the Le Croisette Casino Barriere– at this point, though, it seems like nothing will come between Hellmuth and the bracelet that he’s come close (but not close enough) to winning three times already this year in Las Vegas. With so much on the line, it’s no wonder that this second day of the 2011 WSOPE events were dominated by Hellmuth– players, spectators and media alike were all focused on the action surrounding him, which you have to imagine is a little intimidating (and potentially distracting) to the other players.

Switzerland’s Guillaume Humbert, who sent Day 1 leader Flavien Guenan to the rail, is the current chip leader with 541,000 chips. Among the other 10 players who remain are David Benyamine, with 253,000; Anton Wigg, who has 201,000; and Casey Kastle, who started Day 2 as the chip leader among the Americans and now holds 119,000 chips.

In other WSOPE news, the €1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event began its first day, with three of this year’s November Niners making an appearance. Eoghan O’Dea is still in the running for the event, while Matt Giannetti and Phil Collins have been eliminated. Only 54 of the original 381 players have made it to Day 2, where they’ll join up with the players who entered on the second Day 1 of this event. Nine levels were played on Day 1A, and Australian Andrew Hinrichsen closed out the day in first place with 63,900 chips.

Coming back for another day of play are Nicholas Chouity, McLean Karr, Erik Cajelais, Randy Dorfman, and Roby Lewis, while several great names in poker won’t be returning: Tom Dwan, Erik Seidel, Jean-Robert Bellande, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Justin Bonomo, Jason Mercier, Eugene Katchalov, and Chris Moorman were all send to the rail before the close of the action.

Day 1 of the €2,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament kicked off the 2011 season of the World Series of Poker Europe, where 360 players arrived in Cannes, France to try to get a slice of the action. This event is the first of seven this year, and the turnout suggests that this will be the biggest year of the WSOPE yet, giving some credence to pundits who had theorized that the shutdown of American poker would lead to more live play and greater turnouts in tournaments, at least for the next year.

Friday saw eight levels of hour-long play, and, at the end, France’s Flavian Guenan held the chip lead, with 108,800. The only other player with more than 100k chips was Benjamin Pollack, who had been the chip leader until Guenan made a steal at the end of the day’s action that pushed him into first place. It seemed to everyone watching that the day was over after Pollack sent Nicolas Levi to the rail taking his chips and vaulting to first place. Levi opened the action pre-flop with a raise and Pollack, who held QsJs, called. The flop brought two more spades, and the river brought another, giving Pollack an Ace-high flush, enough to eliminate Levi, who had followed Pollack’s lead and gone all-in.

Only two players were left after Pollack closed out the action at his table– Flavien Guenan and Alessandro Speranza. The board showed Jc4d2s, and Speranza bet, prompting the Frenchman to check, which he did once more when the 9s arrived with the turn. Speranza bet again, and Guenan called. The Ks came with the river, and when Guenan checked for a third time, Speranza decided to bid one last time and went all-in. Guenan called and took the pot with a pair of Jacks, making him the day’s new chip leader.

While few people were around to see the action that changed the lead at the end of Day 1, players, spectators and media alike have all been commenting on the scenery in Cannes, where the Hotel Majestic Barriere has been dazzling everyone with its class and connection to the Cannes Film Festival. The 80 players that moved on to the second day of this tournament (including Phil Hellmuth, who is looking for not only his 12th WSOP bracelet but also a chance to snag the Player of the Year title away from Ben Lamb, who is currently in the lead, Vanessa Selbst, John Racener, Marvin Rettenmaier, and Daniel Negreanu) will have another day to take in the beauty of this gorgeous locale. It’s still anyone’s bet who will take home the €215,999 first place prize, but there’s no shortage of great players left in the game, so the competition will be fierce as we go into Day 2.

At the end of Day 1, the chip counts for the leaders are:

1. Flavien Guenan – 108,800
2. Benjamin Pollack – 106,425
3. Antonio Venneri – 99,575
4. Casey Kastle – 86,100
5. Peter Jetten – 71,275
6. Anton Wigg – 67,075
7. Bruno Benveniste – 64,475
8. Alessandro Speranza – 52,900
9. Luca Falaschi – 52,000
10. Tapio Vihakas – 51,000

Since the World Poker Tour first went to Paris during its inaugural year, an American has never won the title there– until this year, when US-born Matt Waxman made WPT history by snagging the title and the €518,750 prize for first place. Waxman managed to get a healthy chip lead and eliminate his competition, including Martin Jacobson, who was the most experienced poker player at the final table but busted early after coming into the game extremely short-stacked.

Jacobson was the first player eliminated from the six-handed final table when, feeling the pressure as his short stack was eaten away by blinds, went all-in on AJ against Mikko Sundell, who held pocket Jacks. The cards didn’t hold anything to help Jacobson out, and he went home with €88,900. Despite the gain in chips, Sundell lost most of them shortly thereafter to Waxman, who left Kaverman to finish up the job. Sundell went all-in with K6 against Kaverman’s AJ with 5d5c8h showing on the board. A J on the turn and a 2 on the river meant that Sundell was the fifth place finisher with €133,330. Kaverman would be the next to go, this time at the hands of Fred Magen, who called Kaverman’s all-in bet and managed to pull a straight out of his hat. Kaverman went home with €155,550.

Spectators and players were beginning to notice a trend. Sundell had eliminated Jacobson. Kaverman then eliminated Sundell. Next, Magen eliminated Kaverman. One has to imagine that Magen, even if he’s not a superstitious kind of guy, had to feel a little nervous as the play went on, down to three players– if the trend continued, he would surely be the next one out. Magen, Lemaire, and Waxman played for quite some time before Magan tried to steal the pot by bidding too much, and Waxman went all in. He would take the pot with Ace high, and Magan would leave in third place with €211,100.

Finally, the game had come to heads up competition. Neither Matt Waxman or Hugo Lemaire had a record of substantial wins before, and it may well have been anyone’s game, had Waxman not had a substantial chip lead. The American held 7,863,000 chips, while the Frenchman had a mere 1,550,000, and Waxman would use this to his advantage to bait Lemaire and force his hand. When Lemaire was forced into a call on the third hand of heads up play, Waxman made the flush draw that he needed and sent Lemaire home with €311,100 and an entry to WPT Amneville (€3,500 value). Meanwhile, Waxman collected a new title, a moment in poker history, €518,750, and a seat in the WPT World Championship Event for 2012.

Past winners of the World Poker Tour Paris events have been Christer Johansson of Sweden (Season 1), Frenchman David Benyamine (Season 2), Brits Surinder Sunar and Roland de Wolfe (Seasons 3 and 4, respectively), Christian Grundtvig of Denmark (Season 5), and Theo Jorgensen of Norway (Season 9—the WPT bowed out of Paris in Seasons 6-8). Not only has no American won before Maxman, but the final table in this event has never been dominated by Americans, as often happens in so many other locales in this and other poker tours. The vast majority of the final table seats since the beginning of the tournament have gone to the French, the British, and the Scandinavians, with very few exceptions (noteworthy Americans who have made final tables at the WPT Paris in the past include Allen Cunningham, Erick Lindgren, and Alan Goehring). In last year’s WPT Paris, the final table saw representation from only three countries– Denmark (1 players), Sweden (2 players), and France (5 players), making Waxman’s victory this year just that much more remarkable.

If you’re looking for a way to pass the time in Europe before the World Series of Poker Europe events begin, look no further. Poker in the Park, Europe’s largest poker festival, will be held September 2nd and 3rd at Hanover Square in London. This new location is near the Oxford Circus Station, and this year’s event is absolutely free to anyone over the age of 18, so why not come out and play some poker and learn from the pros? Last year’s event drew 20,000 poker fans from all over the UK and elsewhere, with all the extras being added to this year’s lineup, the 2011 Poker in the Park will be the biggest yet!

Everything at the 2011 Poker in the Park is free (well, except for food and drinks), and the events that are planned for 2011 are definitely worth checking out. Unlike previous years, where players stood in long lines trying to get into the Poker Dome, a large tented area with sit-n-go action and space enough for 80 players, this year’s Poker in the Park has an extra two domes so that everyone can have a chance (or several) to play. The event is sponsored by PKR, Bluff, and Bodog Poker and has reached out to pubs across the UK to nab their best players, so expect to experience some real competition when you’re playing here.

If you’re wondering what kind of games you can play at Poker in the Park, we have your answer: in addition to the free tournaments that are running constantly in Poker Domes 1 and 2 during the event– there are a total of 10 on Friday and 18 on Saturday, starting every hour), you can take part in the Heads-up Marquee, where you compete on electronic poker tables in knockout tournaments for the title of Poker in the Park Heads-up Champion.

If you’re new to poker or you’re uneasy about taking your game against big names in poker just yet, fear not– Poker in the Park is more than equipped to help you learn the game or improve your playing. Swing by the Poker Pros’ Lecture Marquee for lectures (five on each day of the event) from famous poker players, or sit down with the pros at the Live Tuition Marquee and let them analyse your game and tell you what you’re doing wrong (or right!). Some of last year’s celebrity poker players included Annette Obrestad, Jamie Gold, Liv Boeree, and Peter Eastgate, and while the 2011 lineup isn’t announced yet, one thing is for certain– this experience could improve your poker game forever!

Also new in 2011 is the Poker in the Park Main Stage, which will house stand-up comics and live music, making this event something that the entire family can enjoy– even the non-poker players! If poker isn’t your thing and you instead fancy another type of game, the Mixed Game Marquee may be for you. This area will house a wide variety of games other than poker, including backgammon, rummy, and chess.

We’re now down to the November Nine here at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event. This is the moment that everyone has been waiting for– the final table is set, and there will be, in four long months, a new WSOP champion. Because the action of the day has been so intense and every elimination counts as we moved from 22 remaining players to just nine, we’re going to give you a play-by-play of eliminations.

Lars Bonding was the first man out today, as the pocket aces he was holding met with the trip fours (two in the pocket and one on the flop) from Konstantinos Mamaliadis. He’ll go home with $302,005. Chris Moore, who started Day 8 short-stacked, was the next to hit the rail. He held pocket kings on his final hand against Makievskyi, but the flop gave the Russian a pair of aces, and the turn and river didn’t help Moore out any, sending him home with $302,005.

Mamaliadis made his second elimination of the day off Gionni Demers, who seemed simply to be tired of playing after losing some big pots early in the day. Demers went all-in on Ac5d against the South African’s pocket kings, and the 10c10h8d flop, 6s turn, and 7h river were of no use to him at all, sending him packing with $302,005. Meanwhile, one table over, another elimination was about to take place. Only two minutes after Demers fell, Aleksandr Mozhnyakov gave all his remaining chips to Sam Barnhart, who captured the pot with Ace high. Mozhnyakov, like the three players before him, went home with $302,005.

John Hewitt was responsible for the next man out– Kenny Shih failed to make a hand better than Hewitt’s once Hewitt made his flush draw, and Shih became the first person to hit the rail and take home the second prize level of $378,796. Sam Barnhart, who had already had a dazzling WSOP year as the winner of the WSOP circuit national championship as well as the Harrah’s Tunica Main Event, added another $378,796 to his wins this year as he exited the table in 17th place. Two minutes later, Ryan Lenaghan would head home with the same amount after Samuel Holden drew a flush that blew Lenaghan’s two pair out of the water.

Play began to slow after the break, with only the elimination of Andrey Pateychuk happening before ESPN called another break. With Pateychuk out, only 14 players remained, and Pius Heinz helped him on his way out with $478,174 when the German’s Jacks bested Pateychuk’s pocket AcQs when nothing useful came up on the board for either of them.

A little over an hour after the players returned, Scott Schwalich took a hit when Bryan Devonshire doubled off him (on a flop that came down as trip fours, no less), and it would cost him when he went head-to-head with chip leader O’Dea, whose Ace kicker took the pot (and the rest of Schwalich’s chips) when both players only came up with a pair of 10s. Schwalich goes home with $478,174.

O’Dea would go on to show the reason for his healthy chip lead again about an hour later, when he went up against Konstantinos Mamaliadis, who went all in with about 4 million chips with just an 8h2c in his hand. O’Dea held a pair of 7s, and when the board came up 5hJc9d6c8c, O’Dea got the straight that Mamaliadis wanted, sending the South African player home with $478,174 in 13th place. O’Dea was on a roll, though, and next, he sent Bryan Devonshire out in 12th place with $607,882, bringing his total chips up to over 39 million.

Forty minutes later, Khoa Nguyen would be the next player to hit the rail, as Martin Staszko was clearly tired of O’Dea monopolizing the eliminations. Staszko held pocket Kings while Nguyen held pocket 10s, and when the board came down with nothing to help either of them, Staszko went up to 30 million and Nguyen went home with $607,882.

It would be another five hours before the final table was determined, and it was once again O’Dea who was the determining factor at the table. John Hewitt had lost most of his chips to Badih Bounahra, and the Costa Rican, desperate to double up, went all in against O’Dea with just a pair of pocket threes. O’Dea managed to pull Broadway out of his hat, and with that, Hewitt was eliminated and went home with $607,882 and the final table was set.

The official chip counts for the November Nine are as follows:

1. Martin Staszko – 40,175,000
2. Eoghan O’Dea – 33,925,000
3. Matt Giannetti – 24,750,000
4. Phil Collins – 23,875,000
5. Ben Lamb – 20,875,000
6. Badih Bounahra – 19,700,000
7. Pius Heinz – 16,425,000
8. Anton Makievskyi – 13,825,000
9. Samuel Holden – 12,375,000

Stay tuned to Max Poker Bonus for more November Nine information!

Many of the professional players left in this year’s WSOP were eliminated on Day 7, but the remaining competitors are not short on talent. Hitting the felt on Day 7 were Sebastian Ruthenberg, JP Kelly, Erick Lindgren, Andrew Brokos, Tony Hachem, last-woman-standing Erika Moutinho, and Steve Brecher.

Eoghan O’Dea has quite a legacy to uphold– he’s the son of professional Irish poker player, 1998 bracelet winner, and former Olympic swimmer Donnacha O’Dea and grandson of actors Denis O’Dea and Siobhán McKenna– and he’s currently doing a good job of making quite a name for himself, as he sits in second place in chips with 19,050,000 after steadily climbing over the past few days of play. He made over 8 million of his chips in a single hand against Andrew Hinrichsen. The board ran out in all hearts and O’Dea held the Kh in his hand, while Hinrichsen’s AdKc was rendered useless, giving O’Dea the king-high flush and a big gain right in time for bagging.

Only one player is ahead of him– Anton Makievskyi holds the lead with 21,045,000 chips, many of which were gained in a single pot worth 20 million. He went head-to-head with Christopher Moore, who held trips, raising until all of Makievskyi’s money was in the middle; Makievskyi held a full house and took a large chunk of Moore’s money. Although Moore is still in the running for the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet, he’ll be starting Day 8 with only 3.04 million, the smallest stack remaining in the game. With Moore at the bottom of the list with stacks under 5 million are Sam Barnhart, winner of the WSOP circuit National Championship (4,935,000); Samuel Holden, the only Brit left in the tournament (4,740,000); Gionni Demers (4,655,000); Kenny Shih (4,530,000); Lars Bonding, who is on his fifth money finish at the WSOP this year and, until today, managed to stay near the lead (4,140,000); and Bounahra Badih (3,385,000).

Rounding out the top ten are Khoa Nguyen, Canada’s last hope for a WSOP Main Event bracelet this year, with 16.435 million chips; Russian Andrey Pateychuk, sitting strong with 16,245,000; Ben Lamb, who is currently in the lead for the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year race, having ousted Phil Hellmuth just two days earlier, with 14.69 million; Phil Collins, who is tired of being referred to as “not the guy from Genesis,” with 13,805,000; John Hewitt of Costa Rica, with 13.265 million chips; Day 6 leader Ryan Lenaghan, who has lost a couple million chips since yesterday and now rests with 10.415 million; Matt Giannetti, at 8.92 million; and Konstantinos Mamaliadis of South Africa, with 8.195 million.

Matt Giannetti was the topic of some talk early in Day 7 as he made considerable gains that would leave him in position 9 at the end of the day. Giannetti managed to take the chip lead at one point, thanks to Hilton Laborda, who allowed him a double up once, followed by a bust which gave Giannetti the rest of his chips. This isn’t the remarkable part, however. On both hands, Laborda held a decent hand– a flush. Both times, he was beaten by Giannetti, who managed to have a flush. Two hands that played out exactly the same way cost Laborda his spot and gave Giannetti some much-needed chips.

Once again, the chip leaders have changed drastically since the day previous. With only 22 players left in the running for the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet, the tables can’t turn too much more– but tune in tomorrow to see how the drama unfolds in Las Vegas.

Day 6 of the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event has been a nail-biter, offering up more excitement than any of the previous days during this event. We went from 142 players to 57 on this most recent day of action, and with these eliminations came several levels of increases in payouts– while the players who went home today may be disappointed that they didn’t nab the bracelet, most will be poud that they managed to make a substantial money finish in the world’s largest poker competition.

Ryan Lenaghan is now the chip leader (where did he come from?) with 12,865,000 chips, a healthy lead over the rest of the competition, although he wasn’t the first player to break 10 million during this event– that distinction goes to Phil Collins (again, not the frontman for Genesis), who dominated the action today and sent multiple players to the rail. His first victim was Giuseppe Pastura, who didn’t make his flush draw and gave Collins another 2.1 million. After defeating Matthew Mantman, Collins had almost 7 million and was ready to take down Joseph Cheong, who vaulted Collins to 8.5 million. Thirty minutes later (you would think that players would keep away from Collins at this point, but apparently not), Collins bested Lance Steinberg with a straight and hit the 10 million chip mark. At the end of the day, Collins settled into fifth place with 7,240,000 chips and a good chance to be one of the eight players who cashes at over a million dollars today.

Behind Lenaghan in the race for first is Ben Lamb with 9,980,000. Ben Lamb has captured first place in another race today– he’s officially overtaken Phil Hellmuth’s lead for the 2011 World Series of Poker Player of the Year race. The Poker Brat will have to head to WSOP Europe for the seven events held there later this year if he wants a shot at PoY this year– but no doubt Ben Lamb will be there, too, fighting just as hard. After Lamb are Matt Giannetti (7,940,000), Andrey Pateychuk (7,255,000), Phil Collins, who is surely tired of every media source commenting on his name for the last two days, Hilton Laborda (7,160,000), Nelson Robinson (6,420,000), Tri Hunyh (6,295,000), and Aleksandr Mozhnyakov, who once held a chip lead and is still holding out to round off the top nine with 6,070,000. If you’ve been following the WSOP action, you know that there have been a lot of changes to the chip leaders from day to day– only three of the players currently in the top ten were there yesterday.

After the dinner break, both Erick Lindgren and Ben Lamb came back to find that WSOP and ESPN had moved them to the featured table– when they counted their chips, both players believed that they were short. WSOP officials report watching the video to make sure that all the chips transferred correctly, but Lindgren was less than happy about the situation and tweeted that they shouldn’t move someone’s chips without the individual present.

Some impressive players hit the rail today, including two of the three remaining female players: Amanda Musumeci left with $130,997, and Claudia Crawford took home $76,146. Erika Moutinho is the one remaining female player with around 2.1 million chips, and she will head off against her boyfriend, David Sands, who holds 2.7 million chips at the end of Day 6. Other notables no longer in play are Jean-Robert Bellande and Allen Cunningham, who both left with $108,412, Sorel Mizzi ($64,531), and Eli Elezra, with $54,851.

Day 5 of the 2011 World Series of Poker was the first day that all of the players are guaranteed a cash finish, and the action on Day 46 of the WSOP was vicious, with only 142 players still standing at the end of the day. 378 players had started out the day, and the chips switched hands over and over again until the leaders list saw some rearranging. There are now five players above the four million mark, with another seven right behind with over three million. Many familiar names top the list of those still standing, but on Day 5, we’ve had to say goodbye to yet more of our favourite players.

Max Heinzelmann, who started the day in tenth place after taking Shaun Deeb’s chips on a bad beat in Day 3, made yet another noteworthy hand on Saturday, although this time, he was on the wrong end of it. Heinzelmann held pocket aces (AsAh) against David Bach’s pocket kings (KsKd). Heinzelmann went all in pre-flop, but the flop didn’t help him with the Q, 7, 4 all in diamonds. The turn showed a 6h, not helping either player, but the river’s 3d gave Bach an unlikely flush and knocked Heinzelmann out of the game in 151st place, helping to vault Bach into the lead position, where he would sit at the end of the day with 4,706,000 chips.

Other well-known players who hit the rail today (and their final positions in this year’s main event) include Freddy Deeb (358), John Cernuto (345), Jon “Pearljammer Turner (344), Carter King (247), Peter Jetten (244), Kevin Saul (216), Daniel Negreanu (211), Matt Stout (186), Joe Tehan (185), Mark Newhouse (182), and Garry Gates (173). Robert Iler of The Sopranos fame was the last celebrity playing in the event after The Simpsons creator Sam Simon left the field yesterday. Iler walked away with $40,654 and finished in position 275.

Behind Bach in the fight for first place are Pius Heinz (4,699,000), Kyle Johnson (4,654,000), Phil Collins (not the drummer/vocalist from Genesis) at 4,109,000, and Ben Lamb (4,032,000), who is only about 30 spots away from taking Phil Hellmuth’s position in the lead of the Player of the Year race. It looks like this year’s PoY will come down to the seven events in WSOP Europe later this year. Also in the running for this year’s bracelet (in truth, everyone is still in the running, regardless of the size of their stacks) are Aleksandr Mozhnyakov, who held the chip lead earlier in the tournament and has managed to stay pretty high in the list throughout; Sebastian Ruthenberg, everyone’s favourite unflappable German who is keeping his healthy position with 3,354,000 chips; Lars Bonding (3,352,000); and Bryan Devonshire (3,292,000).

One familiar name from the list of chip leaders that you won’t be seeing anymore this year is Manoj Viswanathan, who held an impressive amount of chips going into Day 5 and lost them all, mostly to David Barter, who ended up busting Viswanathan after whittling down his stacks. Viswanathan’s dethroning reminds players and spectators alike that having a lead doesn’t always mean having a win– the chips can change hands in a second, and only one person can walk away with the bracelet and $8.7 million prize.