Wednesday was another exciting day at the 2012 World Series of Poker. The final table of Event #45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship was set, and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi leads the way. Event #46: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em saw 25 players drop until only Joey Weissman was left to collect a bracelet, his first. In Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better, 141 players were reduced to 10, and leading the way heading into the final day is Charalampos Lappas. Event #48: $3,000 Limit Hold’em was also reduced down to just the final few tables, where Chad Brown, Jonathan Duhamel, and Dwyte Pilgrim are still in the search for gold. The World Series of Poker also saw a new tournament format kick off on Wednesday — Event #49: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold’em.
Event #45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Day 4 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship began with 26 players remaining, just 10 spots short of the money bubble. All eyes were on Viktor Blom who began the day as chip leader. Falling before the bubble burst were Antony Lellouche, Phil Hellmuth, Michael Glick, David Chiu, Lyle Berman, Robert Mizrachi, Joe Cassidy, Phil Ivey and John Monnette.
Ben Yu, who lost a few key pots and ended up short-stacked just near the money, was the official bubble boy. His final hand began in stud-8 when Roland Israelashvili brought in, and Yu completed for his final 19,000 chips. Israelashvili tank-called and the dealer ran out each player’s board. Yu’s board ran out 
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giving him two pair and an 84 low, but on Israelashvili’s board came 
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, and on seventh street, he made a seven-high straight and a seven-six low for the complete scoop. Yu hit the rail in 17th place and the remaining field was in the money.
Players continued to play past the money bubble and the eliminations mounted including Brett Richey, Mike Wattel, Jeff Lisandro, John Hennigan, Daniel Alaei, and David "ODB" Baker. Viktor Blom also hit the rail after the money bubble burst in a hand against Luke Schwartz in the stud-8 round. On third street with the showing, Blom completed and Schwartz called with the 
. On fourth street, Blom bet and Schwartz called. On fifth street, Blom bet, Schwartz raised, and Blom moved all-in, only to have Schwartz call. Blom had 
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for a seven-high straight and a low. That was enough to send Blom to the rail in 14th place, good for $105,235.
David Oppenheim earned the title of final table bubble boy when he was eliminated in ninth place during the no-limit hold’em round. Oppenheim was down to 1,000 in chips and was forced to put them in as an ante. Mizrachi raised to 50,000 and Schwartz called from the big blind. The flop fell 
and Mizrachi went to bet, but Schwartz snap folded. Oppenheim tabled 
for two overs and a straight draw against Mizrachi’s . The board ran out 
and , not helping Oppenheim, hit the rail in ninth place, collecting $142,197 as his prize.
On Thursday, the final eight will return at 1400 PDT (2200 BST) and play until a winner is determined. Michael Mizrachi, Andy Bloch, and Bruno Fitoussi are making their second $50K PPC final table.
Here’s a look at the chip counts going into the final day:
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Chen | 1,293,000 |
| 2 | Luke Schwartz | 1,494,000 |
| 3 | Andy Bloch | 3,598,000 |
| 4 | Stephen Chidwick | 2,026,000 |
| 5 | Michael Mizrachi | 3,648,000 |
| 6 | Chris Klodnicki | 3,276,000 |
| 7 | Bruno Fitoussi | 188,000 |
| 8 | Roland Israelashvili | 694,000 |
Make sure you don’t miss a single hand from the exciting conclusion of the Poker Players Championship. Check out the live reporting blog for all the action.
Event #46: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Twenty-six players began the day on Wednesday, all eyeing the gold bracelet and first-place prize in Event #46. At the end of the day, Joey Weissman was able to take down the gold and bring home his first bracelet, as well as the top prize.
Vanessa Selbst didn’t last too long and was eliminated early in the day in 24th place in a hand against Weissman. On the fateful hand, Selbst five-bet shoved all-in with 
only to be snap-called by Weissman’s 
. The board ran out 
, eliminating Selbst, who pocketed $20,327.
Weissman came into the final table with the monster chip lead and never looked back, riding the lead all the way to victory. On his way to heads-up play, he eliminated five of the seven players at the final table: Joshua Pedraza in eighth place, Michael Gagliano in seventh, Bradley Lipsey in fifth , Philip Meulyzer in fourth, Fernando Brito in third, and Jeremy Quehen in second.
On the final hand of heads-up play, Weissman raised to 240,000 and Quehen made the call. When the flop fell , Quehen decided to take the lead with a bet of 350,000. The bet took Weissman by surprise, but he called anyway and the turn brought the . Quehen then led with a bet of 800,000, which Weissman called. The river was the 
, and this time, Quehen bet 2 million. A nervous-looking Weissman decided that it was his time and moved all-in. Quehen snap-called, and Weissman wasted no time turning over 
for the nuts. Quehen never showed his hand. With that, Weissman was able to collect the $694,609 first prize and gold bracelet.
Results from Event #46
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joey Weissman | $694,609 |
| 2 | Jeremy Quehen | $429,535 |
| 3 | Fernando Brito | $282,676 |
| 4 | Philip Meulyzer | $203,781 |
| 5 | Bradley Lipsey | $149,162 |
| 6 | Joe Gualtieri | $110,775 |
| 7 | Michael Gagliano | $83,428 |
| 8 | Joshua Pedraza | $63,686 |
| 9 | Konstantin Puchkov | $49,245 |
To read more action from the final table or earlier in this tournament, you can check out the live reporting blog.
Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better
It only took 10 levels of play to whittle the field from 141 to the final 10 in Event #47. By the end of the day, the money bubble had burst and Charalampos Lappas, who bagged up 994,000 in chips, was on top of the counts. Right on Lappas’ tail is Steven Loube with 947,000 chips. Also, making his second final table of this year’s WSOP is Timothy Finne, who will come into Day 3 with 455,000 in chips.
Only 24 players needed to be eliminated before the money was reached. Neil McFayden became the bubble boy after a hand with Steve Jelinek in which McFayden reraised all-in after Jelinek opened. McFayden held 
against Jelinek’s 
. The board ran out 
giving Jelinek an eight-high straight and the only low for a scoop. McFayden was the last player to walk away empty-handed.
Several notables hit the rail on Wednesday including Andy Frankenberger, James Dempsey, Joe Tehan, David Bach, Allen Kessler, Barry Greenstein, and Terrence Chan, who made his ninth cash at this year’s WSOP.
Loube collected most of his chips from Noomis Jones on one of the last hands of the night. With the board reading , Jones and Loube got all the chips in. Jones held for a set of queens but was crushed against Loube’s 
for a set of aces. The turn was the , the river was the , and Jones didn’t improve. He was eliminated in 14th place for $12,094, and Loube became the first player to crack the million-chip mark.
Thursday at 1300 PDT (2100 BST) the final 10 will return and play until only one remains. Here’s a look at the chip counts:
| Place | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charalampos Lappas | 994,000 |
| 2 | Steven Loube | 947,000 |
| 3 | Roch Cousineau | 505,000 |
| 4 | Cameron Mckinley | 477,000 |
| 5 | Timothy Finne | 455,000 |
| 6 | Sonu Sharma | 300,000 |
| 7 | Kyle Carlston | 277,000 |
| 8 | Paul Ewen | 234,000 |
| 9 | Paul Taylor | 180,000 |
| 10 | Viatcheslav Ortynskiy | 27,000 |
To make sure you don’t miss any of the exciting action from tomorrow’s final table, check out the live reporting blog.
Event #48: $3,000 Limit Hold’em
On Wednesday, 126 players began Event #48, but at the end of the day, only 20 remained. Leading the way at the end of play on Day 2 was Paul Berende, who finished with 331,500 in chips. Team PokerStars Pros Chad Brown and Jonathan Duhamel, as well as Dwyte Pilgrim, are among those returning on Thursday.
Sam Barnhart began the day as the chip leader, but was eliminated short of the money. The money bubble burst in Level 16 after an hour and 20 minutes of hand-for-hand play. Jesse Martin earned the distinction as bubble boy when he was all-in with and was called by Cary Marshall and Chek Shen. With the board reading , Shen forced Marshall out with a bet, and showed 
for ace high. When the river brought the , though, ace high was still the best hand, and Martin left empty-handed.
On Thursday, the final 20 players will return and play down to a winner. Play will kick off at 1400 PDT (2200 BST) in the Amazon room.
To make sure you don’t miss any bets from Thursday’s tournament, check out the live reporting blog.
Event #49: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold’em
The World Series of Poker introduced its first ante-only no-limit hold’em tournament as a bracelet event on Wednesday. The event attracted 939 players, and at the end of the day, players had already broken through the money bubble and only 110 remained. Leading the way at the end of Day 1 is Sameer Al Janedi who bagged up 177,000 in chips. Also near the top of the chip counts are Jon Turner with 97,800 chips, Erick Lindgren with 71,400, Mike McDonald with 68,500 and Byron Kaverman with 64,500.
Action for this tournament was quite different. The bring-in bet was the smallest denomination chip in play, and the antes moved up every level. For example in Level 9, there was a 300 ante, and 100 chip bring-in.
The money bubble burst toward the very end of the night when Morgan Machina hit the rail. With the board reading one player shoved all-in, and Machina called with a lesser stack. Machina showed but was already drawing dead against his opponent’s flopped flush with . Machina was sent home as the last player without a paycheck.
Tomorrow, the final 110 players will play down in an attempt to reach the final table. Action will begin at 1300 PDT (2100 BST) in the Amazon room.
To make sure you don’t miss an ante, make sure you check out the live reporting blog for up to the minute updates.
On Tap
Thursday will be an action-packed day at the World Series of Poker. Three bracelets will be awarded: one in Event #45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship; another in Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better; and last but not least in Event #48: $3,000 Limit Hold’em.
Event #49: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold’em will play down from 110 players toward the final table. One new event will also begin on Thursday — Event #50: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
To make sure you don’t miss a thing, make sure you check out the live reporting blog for all the updates.
Video of the Day
It’s already Week No. 4 here at the World Series of Poker, so Kristy Arnett has brought out another edition of The Straddle. In The Straddle, Arnett talks about Beth Shak’s shoe collection, we get a second edition of “What the Muck,” and Arnett and Ryan D’Angelo do some suggestive dancing. To see all that and more, make sure you watch the video below.
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