As it did in 2013, the $1500 “Millionaire Maker” – Event #8 on the 2014 World Series of Poker calendar – rewrote the record books in the barely week-old 2014 WSOP. Not only did the tournament bring in the largest number of entries for a non-Championship Event tournament, it also has seen a rarity in the tournament poker world, two players tied atop the leaderboard as they head to Day Three play on Monday.
From the start of action on Saturday, everyone knew the “Millionaire Maker” (which guarantees a $1 million payday to its eventual champion) was going to be big, it was just how big. The stampede of players began with the 11AM flight and the player numbers on the tournament clock spun like the dials on a pinball machine. By the time the late registration period had ended, the first flight had drawn 4722 players, putting it easily within the level of cracking last year’s record of 6343. As those players eliminated from the first flight – joined by some fresh-faced newcomers – kicked off the second flight, another 3255 entries were received.
The total of 7977 players for the “Millionaire Maker” not only blasted past the record for 2013 (and set the official first place prize at $1,319,587 out of the $10,768,950 prize pool), it had etched its place in WSOP history. The ONLY tournament to have a larger number of entries than the “Millionaire Maker” is the pre-UIGEA 2006 WSOP Championship Event, which drew an 8773 player field. Even though the “Millionaire Maker” is aided by the re-entry factor, the turnout is one of the true success stories of the first week of the WSOP.
With that said, the 1466 players who returned on Sunday for Day Two of the “Millionaire Maker” still had a load of work to do. 819 players would be the fortunate souls who would take their piece of the prize pool and, after two levels of play, that number was within reach as nearly 600 players headed to the rail with nothing to show for their time. Another 30 minutes of action would pop the money bubble as WSOP bracelet winner Anthony Harb and Jeff Dumas were eliminated simultaneously to bring the players to the money.
The carnage would continue as the cashiers’ cage was flocked with the knockouts following the end of the money bubble. Making his fourth cash of the 2014 WSOP, Humberto Brenes was joined by such players as Amit Makhija (min-cash of $2692 for his 791st place effort), Gillian Epp, Layne Flack (making the money jump to $3015 for 720th), Dani Stern, Scotty Nguyen ($3446, 644th), and Tony Cousineau ($3984 for 518th, extending his dubious record for most cashes without a WSOP bracelet to 59). The upper reaches of the pay ladder included such names as John Myung ($7430, 248th place), Darryll Fish (223rd place, same money), Bernard Lee (213th place) and Dan O’Brien (183rd place) as the action closed for the day.
After the bagging and tagging was complete, one of the rare occurrences in tournament poker was discovered. Going into Day Three this afternoon, two men – Jonathan Dimmig and Yuliyan Kolev – had identical chip stacks to hold the lead. They will lead the charge of the 178 players remaining as the “Millionaire Maker” resumes at 1PM (Las Vegas time):
1. Jonathan Dimmig, 632,000
(tie) Yuliyan Kolev, 632,000
3. Bart Lybaert, 615,000
4. Andrew Oh, 593,000
5. Ron Jenkins, 584,000
6. Sean Prendiville, 520,000
7. David Fong, 393,000
8. James ‘mig.com’ Mackey, 387,000
9. Colby Burleson, 385,000
10. Roland McGinnity, 378,000
Notables that still have a chair in the “Millionaire Maker” include Curt Kohlberg (11th, 372K), Athanasios Polychronopolos (23rd, 220K), John Racener (24th, 218K), Chris DeMaci (29th, 195K) and Allen Kessler (30th, 183K).
Regardless of the eventual champion, the “Millionaire Maker” has probably cemented its place on future WSOP schedules. There are plans to play the tournament down to a champion today but, with such a large field still remaining, it is probable that the tournament will be concluded on Tuesday.
