Jason Mercier Chases Back-to-Back in H.O.R.S.E. Championship as 57 Remain
Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and the 2017 World Series of Poker for Day 2 of Event #30: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
Thursday saw 150 players take to the felt to create a prize pool of $1,410,000. The top 23 players will make the money, with a min-cash worth $15,000 and a $383,208 first-prize awaiting the eventual champion. Numbers have been down across the board at the WSOP this year, and this H.O.R.S.E. Championship was no exception as it dropped 21 players from 2016 (171), 54 players from 2015 (204) and 50 players from 2014 (200). In 2013 this event was run as a $5,000 buy-in which saw 261 players take part.
However, even with lower attendance then expected, an all-star field was still here to battle it out as Eli Elezra, Nick Schulman, Chris Klodnicki, Jennifer Harman, John Monnette, Jesse Martin, Mike Gorodinsky, Max Pescatori, Mike Matusow, Mike Leah, Todd Brunson, Jeffrey Lisandro, Chris Vitch and Ray Dehkharghani were all unable to survive the 10 levels of play.
One player who did make it through — and who was the last man standing in this event in 2016 — was Jason Mercier who slowly crept up the chip counts yesterday before rocketing to the top in the latter part of the day to eventually bag 384,500 and be in fantastic position to achieve an extremely rare feat at the WSOP of going back-to-back.
On Mercier's heels are Mack Lee (347,500), David Bach (278,500), Tom McCormick (224,500), Mark Gregorich (222,500), Ted Woolridge (210,000) and Eric Rodawig (204,000). The remaining women are led by Esther Taylor (201,500) and Maria Ho (90,000). Also still alive are multi-time WSOP bracelet winners Brandon Shack-Harris (171,500), Brian Rast (150,500), Howard Lederer (149,500), Paul Volpe (126,500), Benny Glaser (121,500), Greg Mueller (64,500), Daniel Negreanu (61,500), Michael Mizrachi (47,000) and Phil Hellmuth (33,500).
Play is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) with PokerNews providing extensive live updates of all the action as we find out who will win this year's H.O.R.S.E. Championship. So stay tuned right here for all your 2017 World Series of Poker needs!
Day 2 Seating Draw
Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brasilia | 722 | 1 | Eric Wasserson | United States | 140,000 |
Brasilia | 722 | 2 | Mack Lee | United States | 347,500 |
Brasilia | 722 | 3 | Jonathan Drane | United States | 42,500 |
Brasilia | 722 | 4 | Philip Sternheimer | United States | 70,000 |
Brasilia | 722 | 5 | Gary Benson | Australia | 55,500 |
Brasilia | 722 | 6 | Mike Sexton | United States | 74,000 |
Brasilia | 722 | 7 | Howard Lederer | United States | 149,500 |
Brasilia | 722 | 8 | David Bach | United States | 278,500 |
Brasilia | 723 | 1 | Andrew Brown | United States | 128,500 |
Brasilia | 723 | 2 | Andrey Zhigalov | Russia | 66,000 |
Brasilia | 723 | 3 | Chris George | United States | 118,000 |
Brasilia | 723 | 4 | David "ODB" Baker | United States | 132,000 |
Brasilia | 723 | 5 | Andrew Barber | United States | 74,000 |
Brasilia | 723 | 6 | Adam Friedman | United States | 82,500 |
Brasilia | 723 | 7 | Don Zewin | United States | 172,000 |
Brasilia | 723 | 8 | Thao Thiem | United States | 82,500 |
Brasilia | 724 | 1 | Jean Montury | France | 151,500 |
Brasilia | 724 | 2 | Jerry Wong | United States | 159,500 |
Brasilia | 724 | 3 | Randy Ohel | United States | 173,000 |
Brasilia | 724 | 4 | Eric Rodawig | United States | 204,000 |
Brasilia | 724 | 5 | Owais Ahmed | United States | 126,000 |
Brasilia | 724 | 6 | Andrew Kelsall | United States | 62,000 |
Brasilia | 724 | 7 | Yuebin Guo | United States | 133,000 |
Brasilia | 724 | 8 | Phillip Wallace | United States | 149,500 |
Brasilia | 725 | 1 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 61,500 |
Brasilia | 725 | 2 | Pat Pezzin | Canada | 133,500 |
Brasilia | 725 | 3 | Ben Yu | United States | 126,000 |
Brasilia | 725 | 4 | Tom McCormick | United States | 224,500 |
Brasilia | 725 | 6 | Jason Mercier | United States | 384,500 |
Brasilia | 725 | 7 | Albert Daher | Lebanon | 188,000 |
Brasilia | 725 | 8 | Benny Glaser | United Kingdom | 121,500 |
Brasilia | 726 | 1 | Felipe Ramos | Brazil | 136,000 |
Brasilia | 726 | 2 | Scott Mauer | United States | 12,500 |
Brasilia | 726 | 4 | Richard Chase | United States | 102,000 |
Brasilia | 726 | 5 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 48,000 |
Brasilia | 726 | 7 | Anthony Zinno | United States | 146,000 |
Brasilia | 726 | 8 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 47,000 |
Brasilia | 727 | 1 | Phil Hellmuth | United States | 33,500 |
Brasilia | 727 | 2 | John Racener | United States | 26,000 |
Brasilia | 727 | 3 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | 77,800 |
Brasilia | 727 | 4 | Esther Taylor | United States | 201,500 |
Brasilia | 727 | 5 | Brian Rast | United States | 150,500 |
Brasilia | 727 | 6 | Mark Gregorich | United States | 222,500 |
Brasilia | 727 | 7 | Greg Mueller | Canada | 64,500 |
Brasilia | 727 | 8 | Aditya Prasetyo | United States | 178,000 |
Brasilia | 728 | 1 | Paul Volpe | United States | 126,500 |
Brasilia | 728 | 2 | Scott Bohlman | United States | 100,000 |
Brasilia | 728 | 4 | Thomas Hammers | United States | 200,000 |
Brasilia | 728 | 5 | Greg Mascio | United States | 118,500 |
Brasilia | 728 | 6 | Richard Sklar | United States | 100,500 |
Brasilia | 728 | 7 | Brandon Shack-Harris | United States | 171,500 |
Brasilia | 729 | 2 | Ted Woolridge | United States | 210,000 |
Brasilia | 729 | 3 | Maria Ho | United States | 90,000 |
Brasilia | 729 | 5 | Aron Dermer | United States | 197,000 |
Brasilia | 729 | 6 | Craig Chait | United States | 172,500 |
Brasilia | 729 | 7 | Ryan Turner | United States | 119,500 |
Brasilia | 729 | 8 | Laurence Kantor | United States | 94,500 |