The 2018 World Series of Poker is steaming into its second weekend of action, with two bracelets set to be awarded on Friday with a big payout for each.
Event #13 – $1500 Big Blind Ante No Limit Hold’em
The final six players have been determined in Event #13 that will look to battle it out for the WSOP gold and a $315,346 boost to the bankroll by the end of tonight.
30 players returned for the festivities on Thursday, with Dutch Boyd holding the edge on the field with his 748,000-chip stack. There were some other interesting names in the field, such as Shaun Deeb. Deeb, a WSOP bracelet holder, made his task a little more difficult in that he decided to play Event #13 along with the final table of Event #14, the $1500 Deuce to Seven Lowball Draw. Add in another WSOP bracelet holder in Ankush Mandavia and pros like Anthony Ruberto and Stephen Song and there were plenty of challenges on the felt.
From the start of the day’s action, the players were acting as if they had a plane to catch. Within the first 15 minutes of action, three players were eliminated to bring the action down to three tables. Boyd also acted as a wrecking ball, cracking the million-chip mark in eliminating Mark Barrett from the tournament. By the time the action was down to two tables (only slightly more than two hours in), Boyd’s lead had expanded to a half million chips.
Along with Boyd, another pro making some noise was European veteran Jan Christoph von Halle. Von Halle yo-yoed through the day’s play, doubling through Boyd but then turning around and giving a double to Romain Villar. He would then pick up another double, this time through Steven Snyder, pushing von Halle over the million-chip mark. It was enough to bring von Halle to the unofficial final table only a scant six hours into play, but it wouldn’t be enough to take him to the title; von Halle’s day ended when his A♠ J♠ turned a flush draw against Benjamin Moon’s pocket fives but was unable to find another, sending him out in tenth place.
The story was similar for Boyd. After reaching his apex over the million-chip mark, he was unable to keep the run going. On his final hand, only four hands into the final table action, Boyd was put to the test on a 6♠ Q♠ J♠ Q♦ A♠ board. Colin Robinson moved all in and Boyd tanked for a few minutes before making the call. Unfortunately for Boyd, he was behind from the start; while he had flopped a pair with his J♣ 9♠, turned two pair and made a flush on the river, Robinson had the edge with his pocket Aces all the way. Boyd left the event in ninth place, ending his dream (for now) of a fourth WSOP bracelet.
After Boyd’s departure, Moon went on a rampage. He would break the three million mark in chips on Hand 22 (taking big stacks from both Bohdan Slyvinskyi and Raymond Ho), and watched as Robinson took down Ho in eighth and Snyder took out Eric Polirer to set up today’s final table battle:
1. Benjamin Moon, 2.76 million
2. Colin Robinson, 2.66 million
3. Nhathanh Nguyen, 1.403 million
4. Romain Lewis, 1.295 million
5. Steven Snyder, 1.065 million
6. Bohdan Slyvinskyi, 590,000
Event #16 – $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship
The Final Four have been determined in the $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship, with a player who has – to this point – had one hell of a 2018 tournament poker season leading the way.
16 players came back on Thursday, all ensured of $31,086, but looking to win two more matches to reach the Final Four. Justin Bonomo, who currently sits in second place in the major Player of the Year races, ripped through Niall Farrell and Mark McGovern to punch his ticket to the Final Four. He will face off against Martijn Gerrits, who dismissed Kane Kalas and Jan-Eric Schwippert from the festivities, in the first matchup on Friday.
On the other side of the bracket, James McConnon worked his way through Galen Hall and Kahle Burns to earn his seat in the Final Four. Meanwhile, online powerhouse Juan Pardo Dominguez shot down Jason Mo and Nicolai Morris to become McConnon’s opponent in the semifinals. That match with start after the completion of the Bonomo/Gerrits battle or by 1:30PM (Pacific Time), whichever comes first.
