WSOP Day 23 recap: The Master looks for 2nd win, Elite 8 set in Heads-Up tourney

Going into yesterday the talk of the tournament was Phil Ivey, who was amongst the final 15 in the $1,500 Holdem/Omaha tournament, and had also advanced in the $10k Heads-Up Championship. Unfortunately for the Ivey fans his day ended pretty quickly on both fronts; losing his first match of the day in the Heads-Up tournament and bowing out 12^th in the Holdem/Omaha event.

But there were still a number of big happenings at the Rio yesterday, including another monster final table, and the Heads-Up tournament getting down to 8 players.

Event #32: $5,000 6-Max No limit Holdem

At the start of the day it looked as if Erik Lindgren was the pro to watch, but by the end of the day it was men “The Master” Nguyen who stole the spotlight. A man started the day on life support, with a really small stack but was able to pick his spots to stay alive, and eventually he picked up enough chips to work with.

Unfortunately Men’s rush ended one player too early -Jeffrey Papola won the tournament, and he finished in 2^nd place barely missing becoming the first multiple bracelet winner of 2010, and picking up his 8^th gold bracelet.

Event #33: $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem/Omaha

With a stacked final table it wasn’t surprising that a professional poker player won this event; with names like Rob Hollink, Victor Ramdin, David Chiu and Kevin “ImaLucSac” MacPhee all in the running -not to mention Burt Boutin, Joshua Tieman and Phil Ivey who just missed the final table! But in the end it was another pro who won the tournament and his second WSOP bracelet; Luis Velador.

Event #34: $1,000 Seniors No Limit Holdem Championship

The record setting field of 3,142 players is now down to 23 heading into the final day of play. Still sitting on a healthy chip stack is Tom Schneider, who has been at, or near, the top of the leader-board throughout the event. Pulling away from the pack is Michael Minetti, who with his showing has picked up his 7^th WSOP cash; although I’m sure he’s looking for bigger and better things!

Event #35: $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Holdem Championship

And then there were 8! The Elite Eight is set and there are some tough competitors left, who have proven their skills in Heads-Up play. The player most will be watching is 2009 NBC Heads-Up Championship runner-up Vanessa Rousso. Rousso’s competition consists of well known Poker Pros Alexander Kostritsyn, Faraz Jaka, and Kido Pham.

Event #36: $1,000 No Limit Holdem

Day 1a of the latest $1k tournament drew a total of 2,559 players, but as has been the story throughout the 2010 WSOP, Day 1b has seen attendance drop off dramatically, so we’ll have to wait and see what kind of numbers Sunday’s registration brings.

Getting off to a strong start on Day 1a were Scott Montgomery, Neil Channing, Michael Gracz and David Sands, all in the top 20.

Event #37: $3,000 HORSE

Another HORSE event got underway yesterday, drawing a fairly large field of 478 players. Quite a few big name players got off to a quick start and Darus Suharto, David Baker, Dan Heimiller, Chad Brown and Robert Williamson III are all in the top 10. There are still a number of big names a little further down the leader-board, and a lot of poker left to be played in this one, with 219 players returning to the poker tables later today.

Results courtesy of WSOP.com