Arieh Seeks Third Bracelet; Henson and Ferguson Piling Up More POY Points
Just 15 players remain in contention in Event #51: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, and storylines abound as the tournament heads to Day 3.
First off, there's Josh Arieh, who bagged the chip lead with a massive 1,695,000, giving him a wide lead over second-place Bruce Yamron (1,040,000).
Most famous for his third-place finish in the WSOP Main Event in 2004, Arieh already has two bracelets. He took down a $3,000 Limit Hold'em in 1999 and a $2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha in 2005. He's in prime position for his third after bagging more than 15 percent of the total chips.
Then there's Chris Ferguson, who finished with 486,000. The man once known as "Jesus" to the poker world has spent the past few years as persona non grata, only daring to show his face at the WSOP again in 2016. Ferguson put forth a strong effort that year and has followed it this year by piling up more cashes.
Those cashes have put him squarely in the WSOP Player of the Year race, where he sits in seventh at the time of writing, but the man atop the leaderboard also remains in this event. Ray Henson, who has a slight lead over Ryan Hughes — Hughes soft bubbled this tournament on Day 2 after a tough beat at the hands of Mark Herm — bagged a roughly average stack of 588,000.
The money bubble eventually did burst, but it took an extended level and some time putting off a break. Eventually, Ben Lamb went down in 33rd. Start-of-day leader Dario Sammartino, Phil Hui, John Monnette, Scott Clements and Fabrice Soulier were some of those making it into the money but failing to see bagging time.
The remaining players return to Brasilia Room at 2 p.m. Wednesday for Day 3, and a winner will be crowned who will take home over $500,000. Come back to PokerNews to see who it will be.
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasilia | 722 | 1 | Viatcheslav Ortynskiy | Russia | 457,000 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 2 | Kate Hoang | United States | 991,000 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 3 | Damjan Radanov | United States | 569,000 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 5 | Bruce Yamron | United States | 1,040,000 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 6 | Josh Arieh | United States | 1,695,000 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 7 | Chris Ferguson | United States | 486,000 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 8 | Christopher Roth | United States | 278,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 1 | Jeremy Joseph | United States | 559,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 2 | Andrey Zaichenko | Russia | 339,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 3 | Quentin Krueger | Canada | 931,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 4 | Raymond Henson | United States | 588,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 5 | Sean Remz | United States | 409,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 6 | Tyler Groth | United States | 860,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 7 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 729,000 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 8 | Mark Herm | United States | 518,000 |