World Series Of Poker 2011 – Day 29 Recap

WSOP 2011Three events came to a close on June 29th, 2011, Day 29 of this year’s World Series of Poker, while an additional three events saw their players push a little closer to a WSOP bracelet.

Final Results

Event #44- $2.5K Seven Card Razz

Ralph (Rep) Porter took the bracelet for the Razz tournament at the 2011 WSOP, making this his second bracelet– the first was in 2008 for $1.5K Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em– and increasing his lifetime WSOP earnings to very close to a million dollars. Porter beat out other former bracelet winners Robert Williamson III and Chris Bjorin for the title. Porter’s accomplishments are particularly noteworthy because his past and present wins are for games with very little in common, as Razz is based on the idea of having the worst hand, as opposed to the standard poker rules of Hold’em.

Event #45- $1K No-Limit Hold’em

Ken Griffin, an amateur poker player and full-time defense contractor from Texas, surprised everyone when he took the forty-fifth event at the 2011 WSOP and went home with both the bracelet and $455,356. This was only Griffin’s third entry in a WSOP event, and it’s not only his first win, but also his first final table and his first cash. Griffin beat out former gold bracelet winner Antonio Esfandiari, who came in seventh, for the win, as well as the other 2,888 competitors for this large event.

Event #46- $10K No-Limit Hold’em/Six-Handed Championship

Griffin wasn’t the only one to walk away with his first bracelet today– Brazilian Andre Akkari walked away with $675,117 and first place, despite odds that seemed stacked against him. In fact, at one point in the heads-up match with American Nachman Berlin, his opponent had a 3-1 chip lead against him, but Akkari rallied on Day 4 and finally moved ahead with a strong double-up, only to win the tournament shortly thereafter. This makes Akkari only the second Brazilian to win a WSOP bracelet (the first being Alexandre Gomes in 2008).

Games in Progress

Event #47- $2.5K Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better

Michael Mizrachi held the chip lead at the end of Day 2 of Event 47 with a hefty 407k. His nearest competitor, Abe Mosseri, trails with 303k. They will be joined by Gregory Jameson and his 283,500 chips at table 281 for the final day of action as Day 3 begins. Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen, and Antony Lellouche are still in the running for this event, however, and none of them trail by too much, so this event remains anyone’s game.

Event #48- $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em

Alex Bolotin of Brooklyn, NY has the chip lead after the first day of action in Event 48 of the 2011 WSOP. While two other players are within 10,000 chips of Bolotin’s 129k, he will start Day 2 of the event at table 346, where he has a minimum 3 to 1 chip lead over the other players.

Event #49- $2.5K 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit)

Jimmy Fricke leads the action in the 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball with 69,700 chips, with Eli Elezra not far behind with 57,100. Fricke will have at least a 3 to 1 chip lead over the other players at his table at the beginning of Day 3, while Galen Hall, who has already proven himself with a 2.3 million dollar first place in at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Tournament earlier this year, will have the chip lead at his table.