WSOP Day 9: Cunningham in the Hunt for Bracelet #6 in the BIG 50; Shorr Leads $5K NLHE

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Jun 06, 2019 10 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Yesterday's Day 8 of the World Series of Poker featured eight events with two bracelets awarded.

Jeremy Pekarek won the first bracelet of the day after finishing on top of a massive field of 6,151 entries in Event #9: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack to win the $398,281 top prize. Later in the evening, Scott Clements won his third career bracelet in Event #10: $1,500 Dealers Choice to claim the top prize of $144,957.

In addition to the six continuing events on Day 8, two new events will bring a fresh start to many and make it another busy day at the Rio Convention Center.

Here's what's on tap today, in the daily What to Watch For on PokerNews, sponsored by 888poker.

Event #3: BIG 50 - $500 No-Limit Hold'em

There is an end in sight for the BIG 50, which began last week on May 30. The four opening flights attracted a record field of 28,371 with 1,597 coming back for yesterday's Day 3.

The field was trimmed down to just 126 players after 12 levels of play with each player guaranteed at least a $7,169 payout. All players have their eyes on the $1,147,449 top prize for a massive return on their $500 investment to enter the event.

Today kicks off at 11 a.m. PST and could be another long one for some players as they battle it out during the penultimate day of the tournament until just six players remain. The six-max final table will be streamed live at CBS All Access in the United States and at PokerGO in the rest of the world on Friday, June 7.

Venezuela's Amer Torbey leads the way entering Day 4 with a huge stack of 32,500,000. Others entering the day with at least 30 million in chips include American David Rasmussen (32,125,000), Portuguese bracelet winner Diogo Veiga (30,700,000), Belarussian Andrei Konopelko (30,200,000), and American John McAvoy (30,000,000).

The big story of the tournament could be that Allen Cunningham is in the hunt for his sixth WSOP bracelet. He began the day with around 500,000 in chips and went on an amazing run to bag 20,575,000 in chips.

Cunningham joked that he was disappointed with his day before getting realistic.

"Today I've gone from 500,000 to 20 million!" said Cunningham. "Which is kind of bad as I wanted 40! I didn't really expect anything out of this tournament, obviously with 28,000 people. But I just played one day at a time, hand after hand and suddenly sometimes you have like a zillion times what you started with."

Cunningham is used to marathon events thanks to deep runs in the past at the WSOP Main Event and shared he's been enjoying the atmosphere at the tables.

"It feels like the Main Event! You start with so many chips and it plays so long, I feel like I'm in some kind of big one! I look up and see $7,000 and I was expecting $700,000 by now."

Event #11: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em

Yesterday witnessed 137 players out of the 400 entrants in the field battle it down to just six players. Today's final day of action will kick off at noon PST and will be live streamed starting at 1 p.m. PST at CBS All Access for viewers in the USA, Canada, and Australia and at PokerGO in the fest of the world. Of course, it goes without saying that PokerNews will also provide extensive hand-by-hand coverage by our live reporting team.

The penultimate day of this event was in the books after the eliminations of American Maria Mcalpin (seventh - $48,377), Finnish Day 2 chip leader Pauli Ayras (eighth - $36,323), and Australia's Michael O'Grady (ninth - $27,878).

Although the final table is loaded with top poker talent, regardless of who wins the event today it will be for their first bracelet. Shannon Shorr has more than half the chips in play with 6,020,000 and more than triple that of his nearest competitor with Serbia's Ognjen Sekularac entering today's action with a stack of 2,000,000.

Also in contention are Ali Imsirovic (1,955,000), Maria Ho (720,000), Daniel Strelitz (705,000), and Arsenii Karmatckii (510,000).

Event #11: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Seat Draw

Event #11: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Each of the six remaining players is guaranteed to walk away tomorrow with at least $65,764 with the winner slated to be awarded a $442,385 top prize. Blinds will begin where they left off at 20,000/40,000 with a big blind ante of 40,000 and the action will play down until there is one player left with all of the chips.

Event #13: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw

Yesterday's $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw witnessed 63 players from the original field of 296 entrants battle it out until just six players remained. The final six will compete at the final table starting at 2 p.m. PST today until a winner is crowned. Regardless of who wins, it will be their first WSOP bracelet as none of the remaining players have had their flag raised at the WSOP before.

Ajay Chabra is in pole position with a huge stack of 1,031,000 in chips, nearly double the stack of his nearest competitor Jerry Wong with 535,000. Also in contention are Day 1 chip leader Steven Tabb (522,000), Yuval Bronshtein (378,000), Michael Sortino (350,000) and Bjorn Geissert (170,000).

Event #13: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Final Table Seat Draw

Event #13: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Final Table Payouts

The final six players are each guaranteed a $13,892 payout with the winner walking away with the gold bracelet along with the $96,278 top prize.

Event #15: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship

This event attracted 112 players which came close to the 114 entrants battling it out last year when Justin Bonomo shipped the event for $185,965. Many of the players received half their buy-in back by playing in a $5,000 satellite in a "play-in" round creating a prize pool of $572,800 or larger than the $571,600 prize pool this event awarded last year.

After the "play-in" round and two official heads-up matches, the field was trimmed down to just 16 players. Although Bonomo didn't make the cut for a chance to repeat, 2015 champion Keith Lehr, who also has won a second bracelet in a different event, will have a shot at becoming the only two-time champion in this event as he advanced to today's penultimate day.

Lehr will be joined by other former WSOP champions including four-time bracelet winner Brian Rast, three-time bracelet winner Ben Yu, two-time bracelet winner Kristen Bicknell, and bracelet winner Cord Garcia.

Event #15: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship Payouts

Today's action will kick off at noon PST with the first match determining who will make at least a $31,151 min-cash. The tournament is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, June 8 with a live stream on PokerGO to determine who will win the $186,356 top prize.

Event #14: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

This event was a huge success with 751 players battling it out in a rotation of games including Limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better. This is an increase from the 731 players that entered last year when Russia's Andrey Zhigalov claimed his only WSOP bracelet after winning the event for $202,787.

• Limit Hold'em
• Razz
• Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• Seven Card Stud
• Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

After ten levels of play, Mark Castagnini emerged as the chip leader and will begin today's Day 2 with 74,700 in chips. Also bagging big stacks were WSOP bracelet winner Jean Gaspard (second - 72,100), Clayton Mozdzen (third - 71,500), bracelet winner Chris Klodnicki (68,500), and Laurent Manderlier (fifth - 65,900).

Today will witness ten more blind levels played starting at noon PST. In addition to Gaspard and Klodnicki, many other former bracelet winners are near the top of the chip counts including David "ODB" Baker (65,100), two-time champion Tony Ma (60,800), Michael Moore (58,200), Chris Tryba (56,200), Andre Akkari (54,500), and two-time champion Jesse Martin (51,300).

Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed

This three-day short-handed event witnessed 1,852 entrants yesterday battle it out. This represents a sizeable increase of the 1,663 entrants last year when Bulgaria's Ognyan Dimov shipped the event for $378,743.

After 14 blinds levels of 40 minutes each, the field was down to just 289 players. Players will return today at 2 p.m. with longer 60-minute blind levels near the bubble with 272 players guaranteed at least a min-cash of $2,252. The action will continue for ten blind levels today with the final day to be played out tomorrow when it will be determined who will win the gold bracelet and the $407,739 top prize.

United Kingdom's Richard Hasnip will enter the penultimate day in excellent shape with a chip leading stack of 559,000. He is followed by Bruce Uselman (490,000), Johan Guilbert (476,000), Alex Lee (475,000), Kainalu Mccue-Unciano (444,000), and Uri Reichenstein (424,000).

Notable WSOP bracelet winners hunting for another gold bracelet include 2018 WSOP player of the year Shaun Deeb (269,500), Jeff Madsen (264,000), and Ryan Leng (202,500).

Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout

The first of two shootout events begins today at 11 a.m. where the goal is to be the last survivor of each table before advancing to compete against other table winners. This event features a lower $1,500 price tag compared to the $3,000 buy-in the later shootout event on the schedule features.

Today's first round will witness players starting off with 25,000 in chips with blinds beginning at 100/100 and increasing every 40 minutes. Late registration will be permitted during the first three blind levels or earlier if the event is deemed to be sold out. Today's survivors will compete in additional shootout matches for two more days on June 7-8 until a winner is crowned.

This event attracted 908 entrants last year for a $1,225,800 prize pool. After all the dust was settled, American Preston Lee claimed his first WSOP bracelet and took home the top prize of $236,498.

Event #18: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

The four-day event commences at 3 p.m PST with players starting off with 50,000 chips and blinds at 300/500 with limits of 500/1,000. The action will continue for ten hour-long levels before players bag chips to tomorrow's Day 2 when blind levels increase to 90-minutes in length.

The final field size won't be known until tomorrow as late-registration will remain open until the cards are in the air on Day 2.

Last year witnessed Paul Volpe shipping his third WSOP gold bracelet after he outlasted a field of 169 entrants to claim the $417,921 top prize.

2019 WSOP Bracelet Winners

The American dominance at the early stages of the 2019 WSOP continued with two more Americans winning bracelets yesterday in Jeremy Pekarek and Scott Clements leaving just United Kingdom's Ben Heath as the sole player outside the United States to find WSOP gold out of the ten players awarded bracelets.

Clements thus far is the only winner not to experience a new feeling when shipping a bracelet as the recent win gave him his third bracelet; the other nine winners to date entered the winner's circle for the first time. Here's a look at all of them:

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• Tags 7 card Stud 888poker Allen Cunningham Andre Akkari Brian Rast Chris Klodnicki Chris Tryba Jeff Madsen Justin Bonomo Maria Ho Scott Clements Shannon Shorr Shaun Deeb Team PokerNews Women Poker WSOP World Series of Poker
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