2014 World Series of Poker Day 11: Hellmuth Deep in Event #15; Kost Wins First Bracelet

Brett Collson Chief Editor

PokerNews Staff

Jun 07, 2014 6 min read

Earlier this week, Phil Hellmuth fell painfully short of winning his 14th WSOP bracelet when he lost heads-up to Ted Forrest in Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz.

It hasn't taken long for Hellmuth to get another shot at No. 14. Hellmuth is among the 15 players who advanced to Day 3 of Event #15: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold��em. He'll be in the middle of the pack when the event recommences on Saturday, but a stacked field of accomplished pros stand in his way of reaching his second final table of this series.

At end of Day 2 in #WSOP6Max, there are 15 players left, 6 make the official final table. I have ave-ish stack #TimeToWinWSOP14 14 14 14
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth)

Only one bracelet was awarded on Day 11 of the WSOP. We'll lead off with that event here in our daily recap.

Event #14: $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low

Day 3 of Event #14: $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low began with 26 players but only one was left standing early Saturday morning. Nick Kost claimed the $283,275 in prize money as well as a priceless WSOP gold bracelet.

On the first hand of the 11th level of the day, Kost busted runner-up Kal Raichura in a three-bet pot by rivering a flush in a pot where neither qualified for a low.

Kost also had to overcome a stiff challenge from defending champion Calen "Big Wheel" McNeil, whose title defense was about as worthy as they come before being halted in fourth place. Former Main Event champion Greg Raymer also put together a final table run, but he busted in seventh. Bracelet winners Chris Tryba and Frankie O'Dell also made Day 3 appearances before falling relatively early.

Kost came in with a mere $15,815 in live cashes, but his Omaha Eight-or-Better prowess had already contributed to two of his cashes: A ninth-place finish in different Omaha eight-or-better tournament and a fourth-place finish in a seven-game tournament, both at the 2011 LAPC.

2014 World Series of Poker Day 11: Hellmuth Deep in Event #15; Kost Wins First Bracelet 101

Event #15: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold��em

On Thursday, the 2014 World Series of Poker Event #15: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold��em began with 810 players, of which 144 returned for Day 2 action on Friday. After 10 one-hour levels of play, just 15 players remained with Heinz Kamutzki best positioned to make a run at the $508,640 first-place prize with his stack of 841,000.

Another man eyeing up the title is of course Phil Hellmuth, the biggest name in the field who will take 491,000 into the final day of play. Others in contention include Davidi Kitai (815,000), Pratyush Buddiga (760,000), Gordon Vayo (483,000), Ryan Olisar (444,000), Vladimir Geshkenbein (178,000), and Tony Ruberto (98,000).

Brandon Cantu was the chip leader entering the day but was sent packing by Hellmuth late in the evening. Cantu opened for 12,000 from the button only to have Hellmuth thee-bet to 25,000 from the big blind. Cantu responded by four-betting all in and Hellmuth snap-called.

Cantu: A?J?
Hellmuth: A?A?

Cantu, who has seen plenty of Hellmuth this year (he was at the final table of Event #7 with Phil), didn't get much of a sweat as the board ran out 7?6?2?5?2?, sending him to the rail in 32nd place.

Others who bowed out before the end of the day were Joe Tehan (89th - $5,041), Michael Mizrachi (86th - $5,041), Tony Dunst (75th - $5,484), Sorel Mizzi (68th - $5,484), Jesse Sylvia (63rd - $5,970), Andrew Lichtenberger (52nd - $7,098), Paul Volpe (47th - $7,938), Bryn Kenney (41st - $9,066).

Day 3 action will see the remaining 15 players return at 1 p.m. on Saturday to play down to a winner.

PokerNews fans can grab some RunGoodGear on a discount during the World Series of Poker. Simply use the promo code ��pokernews�� for your next order and receive 10 percent off. That's right, all you have to do is type ��pokernews�� into the promo code box and 10 percent of your order goes right back into your bankroll.

Event #16: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball

After 10 levels of action on Day 2 of Event #16, only eight runners were left vying for the $124,510 top prize. Captain Tom Franklin ended the night with the chip lead by bagging up 436,000. Close on his heels is David Bell with just 10,000 fewer chips.

Captain Tom will be looking for his second career World Series of Poker bracelet. Franklin won a $2,500 Limit Omaha event in 1999. He has 39 cashes at the WSOP and over $1,000,000 in career earnings.

Still in the hunt for a bracelet are Vladimir Shchemelev, Todd Bui, Kevin Iacofano, Aaron Steury, David Gee, and the shortest stack Ismael Bojang who is on life support with less than one big bet.

Day 2 began with 54 hopefuls seeking WSOP gold. Only 36 of the remaining players would make the money and it did not take long to narrow down the field. Some players falling short of a cash were Jason Mercier, David Baker, Joseph Cheong, Jason Mercier, Ronit Chamani, Cathy Dever, and Nacho Barbero.

Those fortunate to bust with some conciliation included Day 1 chip leader Mike Leah, Dan Smith, Stephen Chidwick, Daniel Idema, Dan Kelly, Andrey Zaichenko, Todd Brunson, and Layne Flack.

Join us on Saturday for Day 3 action as we provide updates until a champion is crowned. Play will resume at 2 p.m. in the gold section of the Amazon room.

Event #17: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship

The $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship eclipsed 4,000 runners for the third year in a row, and once again the event set a new attendance record on Friday. A total of 4,425 took their seats in this year's event, eclipsing the previous record attendance of 4,406.

After 11 levels of play only 486 players survived, all of whom will be chasing the $627,462 top prize. Among the leaders heading into Day 2 is Ronald Bradway, who bagged 125,100 in chips at the end of the night. Other big stacks include Mary Totzke (115,100), high-stakes legend Sam Farha (89,600), Marcee Topp (78,900), Donna Rosenthal (70,400), James Traber (70,700) and Terry Timmins (67,000).

Day 2 begins at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Amazon Room and it won't be long before the money bubble bursts as the top 468 places will receive a minimum cash of $1,752.

Event #18: $10,000 Seven-Card Razz Championship

Day 1 of Event #18: $10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship came to a conclusion early Saturday morning with Thomas Butzhammer leading the field.

The tournament was not only the biggest buy-in Razz tournament in WSOP history, but not since 2003 had the series offered one over the $5,000 buy-in mark. More amazingly is that Friday's event marked the first time in WSOP history that more than two Razz tournaments have been run in the same series.

A better-than-expected field of 112 players formed a $1,052,800 prizepool that ensured $294,792 and a WSOP gold bracelet was reserved for the victor. As the likes of Michael and Robert Mizrachi, Billy Baxter, Todd Brunson, Chris Tryba, Calvin Anderson, Josh Arieh, Shawn Buchanan, John Hennigan and Phil Ivey all hit the rail, approximately 74 players survived with Thomas Butzhammer bagging an impressive 141,300 in chips.

Snapping on his heels include Todd Dakake (136,400) while Brian Hastings (92,700), Eric Rodawig (81,700), Dan Shak (73,100) and Wade Townsend (72,200) are also amongst the chip leaders. Matt Glantz (69,400), Daniel Negreanu (66,100), Brandon Shack-Harris (70,900), Ted Forrest (30,300) and Doyle Brunson (27,500) were just a few that have survived into Day 2.

Play is set to resume at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) on Saturday afternoon with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team providing extensive coverage live from the Amazon Room.

On Tap

Action at the Rio begins at 11 a.m. Saturday with the restart of Event #17: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold��em Championship. Meanwhile Events #15 and #16 will play down to winners, and Event #18 will resume in the Amazon Room. Two new tournaments will get underway: Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em at noon, and Event #20: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout at 4 p.m.

Here��s the full schedule for Friday (all times PDT):

11:00 a.m. �� Event #17: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold��em Championship (Day 2 of 3)
12:00 p.m. �� Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em (Day 1 of 3)
1:00 p.m. �� Event #15: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold��em (Day 3 of 3)
2:00 p.m. �� Event #16: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Day 3 of 3)
2:00 p.m. �� Event #18: $10,000 Seven-Card Razz Championship (Day 2 of 3)
4:00 p.m. �� Event #20: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (Day 1 of 3)