Roberts Leads the Final 17; Elezra Hunts For Sixth Bracelet in the $1,500 Stud Eight or Better
Bring-In: 10,000
Completion: 40,000
Limits: 40,000-80,000
A total of 157 players returned to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas today in hopes of winning Event #69: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better at the 2024 World Series of Poker. Among them were bracelet winners, first time hopefuls, and players from all over looking to play one of the most popular split-pot variants. Only 92 players were able to get a piece of the $815,685 prize pool, with only 17 still in the hunt for the gold bracelet and the $153,730 to first place.
Leading the way is Christian Roberts, who bagged 2,380,000. The bracelet winner came into the day as the third biggest stack, but eventually dropped to one of the shorter stacks with four tables left. A key double up kept him alive and he won a couple of sizable pots off of Gregory Yohn (190,000) late in the night to put him up towards the top. Roberts’ other bracelet is in no-limit hold'em, but he has cashes in mixed-game tournaments dating back many years. He looks to put some variety into his bracelet collection with his run here.
Sitting behind him is Jon Turner, who ended the day with 1,730,000. Like Roberts, Turner’s day was not all smooth sailing, as throughout most of the day he hovered around the shorter stacks, despite coming in with the chip lead. Fortune smiled on the talented player as he looks to take home his first bracelet and add to his impressive $3,889,575 in lifetime earnings.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chip Count | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian Roberts | 2,380,000 | Venezuela |
| 2 | Jon Turner | 1,730,000 | United States |
| 3 | Dekel Balas | 1,620,000 | United States |
| 4 | Thomas Taylor | 1,400,000 | Canada |
| 5 | Yuval Bronshtein | 1,135,000 | Israel |
| 6 | Joey Couden | 970,000 | United States |
| 7 | Nikolay Ponomarev | 915,000 | United Kingdom |
| 8 | Kenneth Kemple | 880,000 | United States |
| 9 | James Cheung | 800,000 | Scotland |
| 10 | Daniel Blum | 735,000 | United States |
Bracelet winners Yuval Bronshtein (1,135,000) and Joey Couden (970,000) shot their way up the leaderboard towards the end of the night in their hunt to get more jewelry. Some interesting implications are in play as both are on teams in the $25k Fantasy Draft.
Five-time bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra (450,000) also remains in the hunt to take home his sixth bracelet and add more to his already deeply decorated career. Others that found bags included Dekel Balas (1,620,000), Thomas Taylor (1,400,000), last year’s fourth place finisher James Cheung (800,000), and mixed game phenom and bracelet winner Ryutaro Suzuki (375,000).
Day 2 Action
The first two levels saw a quick flurry of eliminations as many names fell short of cashing. Among them were Brian Hastings, Matt Grapenthien, Mark Gregorich, and Patrick Leonard. Eventually the players reached the hand-for-hand portion of play, and only one hand was played. That saw the elimination of Russell Hudson after his queens up could not hold up against James Hoeppner’s three tens. The bubble burst and the final 92 players all secured a minimum of $3,020.
After that, eliminations came fast. Players like David “Bakes” Baker (88th), Phil Hellmuth (87th), Max Pescatori (86th), Adam Friedman (84th), and Phil Hui (83rd) all collected the minimum of $3,020. Others that fell throughout the day include bracelet winners Tom Koral (48th-$3,407) and Barry Greenstein (34th-$4,240). Jon Kyte (25th-$4,904) fell short of another split-pot final table as he finished just outside of the three table redraw.
Once down to the final three tables, eliminations sped up. Michael Candeloro (24th-$4,904), Barry Grime (23rd-$5,807), William Kakon (22nd-$5,807), Martin Engels (21st-$5,807) and last woman in the field Mojgan Stringham (20th-$5,807), all busted within the same level.
The final elimination of the night was Vincent Calicchia, who got all of his chips in with three ace-high spades, only for Jon Turner’s set to take down a sizable pot as the night came to a close. Calicchia collected $5,807 for his run and the remaining 17 players bagged up for the evening.
Players will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. to the Horseshoe. They will come back to Level 26 with a 10,000 ante, 15,000 bring in, with limits at 50,000-100,000. Play will continue until a winner is crowned so stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates on the 2024 WSOP.