WSOP Day 36: Rast Wins PPC, $25K PLO Kicks Off
Day 36 of the 2016 World Series of Poker was a big one, as one marquee event finished while another got underway. Arguably the most prestigious event on the WSOP schedule, the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, went to past winner Brian Rast. Meanwhile, the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller got underway.
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Second PPC Title for Rast
Brian Rast joined Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi as the only two-time winners of the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship. Rast defeated an elite field of 91 players, earning $1.296 million for the victory.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Rast | Las Vegas, NV | $1,296,097 |
| 2 | Justin Bonomo | Glendale, CO | $801,048 |
| 3 | Eric Wasserson | Penn Valley, PA | $545,772 |
| 4 | Michael Mizrachi | Hollywood, FL | $380,942 |
| 5 | Wil Wilkinson | Pacheco, CA | $272,558 |
| 6 | Ray Dehkharghani | Leawood, KS | $200,027 |
Mizrachi made a charge for his third title in the event, but ultimately fell short in fourth place for $380,942.
In the end, following a battle with Justin Bonomo and Eric Wasserson, Rast was able to prevail, and the significance of the win wasn't lost in him in terms of what it means for his legacy in poker.
"I take poker pretty seriously and what my legacy is or how I'm viewed by my peers is important to me as a form of professional respect," he said. "From that aspect, what I was able to do here today was obviously something really special.��
Read all about Rast's win here.
Down to 47 in the Four-Day $5K
The second day of the four-day Event #59: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em played down from 363 to 47 players remaining on Wednesday.
Marius Gierse grabbed the overnight lead as one of only two players over the one-million chip mark. Jordan Knackstedt was the other, and Yue Du finished close.
Notables still stacked included three-time WSOP bracelet winner and 888poker ambassador Dominik Nitsche. He bagged up 734,000 for the sixth-best stack going forward and will be looking for another big WSOP result.
To help secure his big stack going into Day 3, Nitsche busted Tom Middleton in the second-to-last level of Day 2. He opened to 16,000 from under the gun with the blinds at 4,000/8,000/1,000, Middleton moved in from the small blind for around 170,000, and Nitsche quickly called with the A?A?. Middleton had the J?J?, but couldn't catch up to stay alive.
Upeshka De Silva, Byron Kaverman, Ismael Bojang, Natasha Barbour, and Fedor Holz also remained in the hunt.
WSOP Main Event champs Joe Cada, Ryan Riess, and Martin Jacobson failed to advance, and were joined on the rail by Maria Ho, Liv Boeree, Sorel Mizzi, and 2016 WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Lichtenberger.
Play will resume at 12 p.m. local time on Thursday with plans to play down to a final table where an $800,586 first-place prize and a WSOP bracelet awaits the winner.
$25K PLO Draws 163 So Far
The $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller kicked off Wednesday drawing 163 players. Registration will remain open until the start of play on Thursday, so prize pool information has yet to be released.
Michael Huntress grabbed the overnight lead with 95 players bagging up chips. Ludovic Geilich and Dan Shak also bagged big.
Notables not surviving the day included Isaac Haxton, Scott Clements, Phil Galfond, Matt Glantz, and 2015 WSOP $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller champion Anthony Zinno.
Big name survivors included Phil Laak, Galen Hall, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Daniel Negreanu and two-time 2016 bracelet winner and Player of the Year frontrunner Jason Mercier.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. local time Thursday with plans to play ten more levels.
New Tag Team Event Draws Big
A new event on the schedule, Event #61: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em, drew 863 teams on Wednesday, generating a $776,700 prize pool that will pay the top 130 teams. A min-cash is worth $1,499 with $153,358 awaiting the winners.
The event played into the money before stopping for the night, leaving exactly 130 teams still in the hunt. The team of Vladimir Geshkenbein and Tobias Ziegler grabbed the chip lead, becoming the only team to bag a six-figure stack.
The Nick Yunis-Fabrizio Gonzalez pairing and Mike Leah, Thomas Taylor, and Jerry Wong combo ended the day over the 90,000 mark.
Talk show host Montel Williams teamed up with 2006 WSOP Main Event champ Jamie Gold to play for charity, but they failed to cash.
Other teams that pushed through to Day 2 included Jonathan Little and his parents and the team of Jeff Gross, Antonio Esfandiari, and Brian Rast.
Play will resume at 12 p.m. local time on Thursday.
Tough Final 14 in Event #60
Stud enthusiasts' last hurrah of the WSOP, Event #60: $1,500 Stud Hi-Low, played down to a mere 14 players on Day 2, and there are plenty of notable names among the bunch.
John Monnette (420,000), Jameson Painter (379,000), Calvin Anderson (347,000), Bryan Devonshire (243,000), Brandon Shack-Harris (95,000), and Steven Loube (92,000) all remain in contention, with two-time bracelet winner Monnette ranking second in the counts.
Everyone's looking up at David Prociak, who has a mere $5,980 in WSOP cashes but has a big lead with 701,000 in chips.
The day began with 128 players and 79 places paid. Phil Hui, Andy Bloch, Daniel Negreanu, Daniel Idema, Joe McKeehen, Chris Klodnicki, Mike Leah, and Allen Cunningham were among those cashing in the event.
The split pots resume at 2 p.m. Thursday with limits of 12,000/24,000 and a winner is scheduled to be crowned.
What's On Tap?
In addition to all the other action above, Event #63: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em is scheduled for 11 a.m. and Event #64: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low begins at 3 p.m. local time.
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