WSOP Day 13 recap: Carter Phillips and Steven Gee win, Dwan tries again

Yesterday was one of the busier days at the 2010 World Series of Poker with 5 tournaments in action, 2 winners crowned, and another $10k Championship Event beginning.

Event #13: $1,000 No Limit Holdem

After 30 years of grinding away in California card-rooms, Steve Gee has finally put a feather in his cap after winning his first WSOP bracelet. Gee has witnessed first-hand the changes in poker as he watched Draw morph into Holdem, and supplant his beloved Lowball as the game of choice.

Finishing in second place was Matt Vance, who picked up his 3^rd cash at the 2010 WSOP, although the $292k he won for his second place finish are a little bit more than his other cashes; a couple of $3,000 scores in $1,500 NLHE events.

Event $16: $1,500 6-Handed No Limit Holdem

21 year-old Carter Phillips doesn’t have a lot of cashes, but he sure makes them count when he gets them! Phillips won the EPT Barcelona event last year and has followed that up with his first WSOP win in event #16. In just nine short months Phillips has amassed an astounding $1.6 million in earnings!

The event will go down as the largest 6-handed poker tournament in history, attracting a field of 1,663 players. The tournament also comes in at #2 for the youngest final table in history, with an average age 22.8 years.

Event #17: $5,000 No Limit Holdem

With 18 players remaining the $5,000 No limit Holdem tournament there are some big names still vying for the title. Leading the field is poker pro Jason DeWitt, who had two near brushes with a bracelet in the 2009 WSOP finishing 2^nd in the $3,000 NLHE and 3^rd in the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem event.

Lurking behind DeWitt are a number of top poker players including online poker sensation Amit Makhija; Antonio Esfandiari who is looking for his 2^nd WSOP bracelet and first since 2004 -this is Antonio’s deepest run in a WSOP event since 2005; Perry Friedman whose WSOP bracelet drought is even longer than Esfandiari’s; Friedman won an Omaha 8 bracelet back in 2002; and another online poker sensation David Benefield who is in search of his 1^st WSOP bracelet.

Event #18: $2,000 Limit Holdem

One of the two tournaments to begin yesterday was the $2,000 Limit Holdem which attracted 476 competitors. Among the chip-leaders is Matt Matros who won his first WSOP bracelet earlier in the 2010 WSOP in the $1,500 Limit Holdem tournament. Also in the top 30 are Matt Glantz, Eric Buchman, Joe Serock, and Jeff Shulman.

Event #19: $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball World Championship

Among the 101 entrants in the 207 Championship were some of the biggest names in the poker world, and one player everyone will be keeping their eye on is Tom Dwan, who finished the day 6^th in chips. Mr. Lowball, as John Juanda called Billy Baxter yesterday, is currently sitting in 8^th place. And what would a $10k Championship event be without mentioning Vladimir Schmelev, who is currently in the middle of the pack in 42^nd place -there are 74 players left in the field.

Results courtesy of  WSOP.com