The 21st of June is the Summer Solstice, and on the longest day of the year, we saw some pretty impressive poker. It seems poker players are more likely to be sat in the Amazon Room of the Rio Casino rather than our on a hill top, dancing naked to celebrate the height of the Sun’s power. Who would have guessed it?

Event #35

The $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Event #35 has a winner in the shape of former WSOP Player of the Year, Jeff Madsen. This is his third bracelet, but his first since 2006. This win was worth $384,420, and we’ll have a full report on how Jeff won the final table coming up later. The payouts for the final table were as follows:

  1. Jeff Madson – $384,420
  2. Douglas Corning – $237,374
  3. Michal Maryska – $154,312
  4. Danny Hannawa – $113,340
  5. Scott Clements – $84,424
  6. Ryan Chapman – $63,702
  7. William Black 0 $48,624
  8. Joni Jouhkimainen – $37,529
  9. Jason DeWitt – $29,265

Event #36

The second day of the $1,500 NLHE Shootout Event #36 saw 120 players spread over 12 tables, play down to just 12 winners, to head into Day 3. Each of the 120 making Day 2 had already locked up $5,556 for winning their first table. Everyone heading into Day 3 has improved that figure to $18,407. Players included in this are Mike Watson, Nacho Barbero and Tobias Wenker. Players who couldn’t string two wins together included Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Gavin Smith, Max Lykov and Erik Seidel.

The players will be back in action at 1pm in the Amazon Room to play down to a winner.

Event #37

The $5,000 Limit Hold’em Event #37 burst it’s bubble on Day 2, and 18 players booked a minimum $11,337 win. with 12 players left, it doesn’t leave much room for big poker names, but we do get t see Justin Bonomo back in action in Day 3. Players who didn’t make either the money of Day 3 include Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Sorel Mizzi and Barry Greenstein.

The big stacks in the room are going to be:

  1. Todd Witteles – 442,000
  2. Ronnie Bardah – 425,000
  3. Michael Morre – 387,000
  4. Justin Bonomo – 258,000
  5. Dom Denotaristefani – 225,000
  6. Greg Mueller – 216,000
  7. Brain Aleksa – 164,000
  8. Steve Landfish – 142,000
  9. Gabriel Nassif – 141,000
  10. Jan Sjavik – 70,000

The players will be back in the action at 2pm, and will be playing down to a winner.

Event #38

Day 1 of the $2,500 4-Max NLHE Event #38 saw a remarkably small field of 566, which was ruthlessly culled down to just 75. Players left looking for something else to do included Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, David Williams and Jennifer Tilly. The bubble still hasn’t burst, and Day 2 will see 64 players pocket at least $4,223. Players hoping to play through the bubble include Chris Moorman (7,500), Adam Levy (11,500), Matthias De Meulder (18,500) and John Juanda (67,200).

The big stacks heading into the second day of action are going to be:

  1. Nick Schwarmann – 193,500
  2. Goran Filipovic – 173,800
  3. Ivan Demidov – 149,500
  4. Scott Baumstein – 128,800
  5. Jonathan D’Souza, 118,000
  6. David Pham – 115,700
  7. Jamie Rosen – 86,000
  8. Raymond Dandrea – 83,500
  9. Mike DeGilio – 80,000
  10. Stephen Chadwick – 71,000

The players will be back in their seats in the Rio at 13:00pst, and will be playing through the money bubble, heading towards the final winner.

Event #39

The $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better Event #39 saw 558 players sign up during Day 1, and only 155 of them made it into Day 2. Players to be separated from the herd included Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, George Danzer, Jake Cody and Nick Schulman. The field isn’t devoid of well know players as Phil Ivey (14,000), Jason Mercier (10,500), Phil Hellmuth (40,200), Daniel Negreanu (14,500) and Barry Greenstein (12,000) all made it through the slaughter and will try to at least make the 56 player cash bubble. The players with the most coloured circles are:

  1. Raul Paez – 58,400
  2. Phil Hellmuth – 40,200
  3. Matt Vengrin – 31,600
  4. Mike Leah – 31,600
  5. Layne Flack – 28,000
  6. Joe Hacham – 24,000
  7. Tom Koral – 23,200
  8. Aaron Steury – 22,900
  9. Reza Golestani – 20,700
  10. Yuval Bronshtein – 20,000

The players will be back in action at 14:00 Las Vegas time, and will be trying to get as near to a final table as possible.

Player of the Year

The 2013 WSOP Player of the Year race has been led by Daniel Negreanu since the series started in Las Vegas, and that’s still the case, but more players are closing in on “Kid Poker.” Unless he starts to put up some serious PoY points, Negreanu isn’t going to stay on top for long.

WSOP Event 29 gold bracelet winner Tom Schneider

Tom Schneider Closing in on Negreanu

  1. Daniel Negreanu – 459.28
  2. Tom Schneider – 438.51
  3. Daniel Kelly – 344.70
  4. Jason Duval – 328.85
  5. Erick Lindgren – 323.51
  6. Scott Clements – 303.50
  7. Matthew Waxman – 300.00
  8. Benny Chen – 300.00
  9. Mark Radoja – 292.50
  10. Matthew Ashton – 289.75

The 22nd isn’t going to see much in the way of naked dancing (unless you go to some of the Vegas Showgirl spectaculars) but it is going to see the conclusion of Events #36 and #37, as well as the continuation of Events #38 and #39. We’re also going to see the start of the $1,500 NLHE Event #40 and the $5,000 6-Max PLO Event #41. As usual, we’ll have the action for you in our final table write ups, and our daily coverage.