 Event 54 - $1,500 No Limit Hold’em
When the final day of this tournament started no one sane would name Tom Veckey as one of the favorites to take it down. However, the 30-year old managed to reach the final table holding the 5th biggest stack and took down this NLHE event. Veckey only got to the chip leader position when things were about to finish, in the heads-up. It means he was always “in the conversation”, but never at the top of the chip counts.
Veckey entered the heads-up holding half the chips Jason Wheeler had. Wheeler was the guy trying to prevent him from making his dream come true. Things started to look good for Veckey when he hit a runner-runner straight for a huge pot. Just a few minutes later he hit another straight to collect his first gold bracelet and the $673,276 first place prize. It’s the first major tournament win of his career.
Payouts and Standings:
1. Tony Veckey — $673,276
2. Jason Wheeler — $418,122
3. Joseph Chaplin — $ 276,029
4. Sergey Konkin — $195,213
5. Andrew Malott — $147,131
6. Christopher Bonita — $117,358
7. Christopher DeMaci — $98,933
8. David Jaoui — $87,855
9. Miha Remic — $81,970
 Event 55 – $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit)
I gotta say I’m a bit surprised at how many people played this event. The organization itself expected something around 150, 160 players, but instead there were 258 entries! Because it’s a 2-7 lowball game it doesn’t get a lot of love, but it’s an important event just like any other of the World Series. Abe Mosseri had a really smooth run in the final table and picked up his first career bracelet, cashing $165,521. Before this win, he had final tabled the $10,000 stud 8 event which was won by Jeff Lisandro a couple weeks ago.
According to reports, Mosseri found no real problems in the last day of the tournament. He started the final table as the chip leader and things remained the same until the very end. Despite having similar stacks to his heads-up opponent, Masayoshi Tanaka, Mosseri’s win was never in doubt. He just ran over his opponent and took down the event.
Payouts and Standings:
1. Abe Mosseri — $165,521
2. Masayoshi Tanaka — $102,313
3. Julie Schneider — $66,285
4. John Juanda — $44,941
5. Blair Rodman — $31,818
6. Brad Libson — $23,484
 Event 55 - $5,000 No Limit Hold’em (6 handed)
This event had a field of 928 players. That is really, really impressive for a $5,000 WSOP tournament. The field created a prizepool worth of over $4,360,000 and the first place prize was a whooping $1,003,163! The winner of the event was Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko, who outlasted the opposition to collect his first gold bracelet. This was also the last event of the WSOP before the highly anticipated Main Event.
The fact that it was a 6-max event opened space for some really aggressive play, so it’s one of the things that make 6handed events one of the best kinds of tournaments. We could also spot some great poker players in the last stages of the event, which was great. Another highlight was definitely Phil Hellmuth’s elimination in 24th place. Nothing really special, it’s just that it’s always great to see him being sent to rail. Blair Hinkle, who set a new record with his brother last year as the first pair of siblings to win WSOP events in the same year, was eliminated right after Phil, in 23rd place.
Hawrilenko, who is one of the instructors at Stoxpoker, actually has a history with the WSOP. He has 14 WSOP cashes in his tournament record, and has final tabled two events in this year’s edition of the World Series. Now didn’t miss the chance and won his first WSOP event.
Payouts and standings:
1. Matt Hawrilenko — $1,003,163
2. Josh Brikis — $619,609
3. Faraz Jaka — $400,526
4. Sean Keeton — $269,983
5. Jonas Wexler — $189,555
6. Matthew Waxman — $138,394
MAIN EVENT
The most anticipated tournament of the year has started. Day 1a and 1b have finished. You all know there isnt't much to talk about during these days. There are so many people that all we can do is pretty much list the "casualities", since pretty much everyone is playing the event. Some of the top guys who were sent home are Andy Bloch, Isaac Haxton, Freddy Deeb, Mike Sowers and John Phan.
Right now day 1c is being played. You can follow it through WSOP's live updates.
Among the LPers I could spot Raszi in the first page. He has 85k chips and is in good shape for day 2. GL Raszi!
Let us know in case you are playing the Main Event or if you have any news about LPers!
By Raidern
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