Brunson Leads Final Nine; Hellmuth Chases 14th Bracelet
Day 2 of Event #61: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship from the 2014 World Series of Poker has come to a close. The field returned with 58 players from the original 122, but that has since been whittled down to the final nine. Leading the pack is Todd Brunson with 980,000 in chips, and the gold bracelet winner will be joined by a packed final group on Thursday.
Second in chips behind Brunson is Steve Landfish, and then 13-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth sits in third. Matt Grapenthien, Ben Yu, James Obst, Jesse Martin, Henry Orenstein, and Henrik Hecklen round out the pack.
Hellmuth's quest for number 14 will surely be the talk of the town on the final day of action, but the run that Orenstein is making is one for the ages. The 90-year-old creator of the hole-card camera holds a very significant place in poker history, and he'll be returning to chase his second piece of WSOP hardware after winning one in seven-card stud back in 1996. Orenstein is also a Holocaust survivor and the holder of about 100 patents.
Martin, who sits seventh in chips, will also be looking for his second gold bracelet after winning one last year, and he'll be eclipsing the $2 million cash mark after his run is complete.
Yu, who sits right in the middle of the pack in fifth place with 247,000 in chips, is making his seventh cash of the summer, while Obst, the Australian young gun, is putting up another solid performance in his first time at the Series.
Action is scheduled to resume on Thursday at 2 p.m. local time in Las Vegas, and this is surely a final table you won't want to miss. That said, we'll see you right back here in less than 11 hours for the conclusion of the 61st gold bracelet event of the summer.