With five tournaments playing out in the Rio on Thursday, it is a grind trying to keep up with all the action. Luckily, we’re giving you a run down right here, to get you up to speed. Event #3: Heads-up No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha and Event #4: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better both awarded bracelets to Leif Force and Cory Zeidman. Daniel Negreanu made the final table of Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em. Joe Tehan, Aaron Jones, and Marvin Rettenmaier are leading the final 112 in Event #6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mix-Maxed. Last, in Event #7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud, Chau Giang and Sam Grizzle found themselves among the top 10 leaderboard for the day.
Event #3: Heads-up No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha
All eyes were on Annette Obrestad as she attempted to become the first woman to win an WSOP open event since Vanessa Selbst in 2008. In the first round of matches, Obrestad played against Jason Koon, who proved too much of a challenge. Before her final hand, she had traded in both her rebuy lammers and was sitting on nearly 405,000. She raised to 16,000, Koon reraised to 42,000, and she reraised all-in. Koon quickly called with 
and Obrestad showed down 
. The board ran out 
and her pair of tens were not enough to take her to the finals, so she left eighth place with $28,409.
Leif Force started off his day by defeating Andy Frankenberger. Force and Frankenberger got all their money in with 
and 
respectively. The board bricked out and Frankenberger was eliminated.
Force then defeated Julian Powell without even cashing in any rebuy lammers. On the last hand of the match, Force got it all-in with 
against Powell’s 
. The board ran out 
giving Force the dominant two pair and the victory.
In the final match, it wasn’t looking good for Force, but that all changed rather quickly when he doubled up twice in succession against Koon. On the final hand of the tournament, Force tried to get Koon off his hand by going all-in on a 
board. Koon didn’t fold though, and both players showed up their hands. Force was holding 
for just a pair of eights, and Koon held the 
for two pair and an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the 
to give Force a monster set of outs. The river brought the to give Force the winning flush and the bracelet.
Koon earned $126,660 for his second-place performance, and Force took home a cool $207,708 and a bracelet for first place.
To see who else Force played to make it to the finals, check out our live reporting blog.
Event #4: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better
Xuan Liu lead the remaining 23 players who returned to the felt on Thursday to battle for gold. Mike Sexton was also still in the field, and looking to improve on his second-place finish from last year. He began the day with 54,000 in chips, but couldn’t find much momentum.
In his last hand, Sexton brought in for the full 8,000. Michael Mizrachi raised to 16,000. Sexton made a hesitant call, and check-called a bet on the turn. Mizrachi took the lead on fifth street and led out, putting the pressure on Sexton and his stack of 23,500. Sexton finally committed himself and made the call. Sexton showed up 
/ 
/
for a pair of sevens and Mizrachi held 
/
/
for two jacks. Sexton didn’t improve on fourth or fifth street and was eliminated in 15th place for $6,532.
Xuan Liu also couldn’t close the deal and was eliminated in sixth place by Michael Mizrachi. Mizrachi had the bring-in, Liu raised, Mizrachi reraised, and Liu called off her last 37,000. Liu ended up with / 
/, giving her two pair that she picked up on fifth street, but Mizrachi held / 
/
for a two pair that he picked up on sixth street, and Liu hit the rail earning $29,985 for sixth.
Cory Zeidman walked away with the bracelet after Mizrachi, Bradon Shack-Harris, and Yerron Bendor were all eliminated by Chris Bjorin to get to heads-up play.
On the final hand of heads up play, Zeidman held / / against / 
/
. Zeidman’s pair of kings were able to hold up against Bjorin’s straight draw and Zeidman walked away with $201,559. Bjorin took home $124,838 for second place.
To see the rest of the action for Event #4, check out our live reporting blog.
Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em
Only 71 players from the original 639-player starting field returned on Thursday in Event #5. Among them were Terrence Chan, John Juanda, Nam Le, Antonio Esfandiari, Steve Brecher, and Daniel Negreanu. Of that group, only Negreanu remains as he attempts to win his fifth Word Series of Poker bracelet. Also still alive at the final table are Tommy Vedes and Jonathan Aguiar. Leading the way is Bryan Pellegrino with 790,000 in chips.
One of the most important hands of the day for Negreanu happened against Pellegrino. Pellegrino raised to 23,000 from middle position, Negreanu reraised to 63,000 from the cutoff. Pellegrino potted and Negreanu quickly moved all-in for 146,000. Pellegrino called, and unfortunately for Negreanu, Pellegrino held . Negreanu was still live holding 
and the board ran out to give Negreanu a miracle king on the turn to double up.
The biggest pot of the tournament so far happened between Pellegrino and Thom Werthmann near the end of the day. With the board reading Werthmann and Pellegrino raised, and potted until all the chips were in the middle, creating a pot worth 750,000. Pellegrino showed and Werthmann showed . Werthmann was ahead, but the on the turn changed everything, leaving Werthmann drawing dedad. After that hand, Werthmann was down to just 12,000 chips, and Pellegrino was the chip leader. In the final two hands of the night, two players were eliminated. James Mackey was sent to the rail in 11th place, and then Werthmann was dispatched in 10th to end the night.
Action will resume Friday at 1400 PDT (2200 GMT), and we’ll be watching this event intently as Negreanu goes for his fifth gold bracelet.
To see all the action as it goes down, make sure to follow our live reporting blog.
Event #6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mix-Max
Day 1 of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mix-Max event was a moving day. Over 409 players register for a shot to win the $480,564 first prize, and on Friday, only 112 will return. Among them is Joe Tehan, who leads the way and has Aaron Jones and Marvin Rettenmaier[/B] close behind. Also still alive in the event is Daniel Negreanu, whose double-dipping ways have him coming back with 8,400 chips.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Andy Frankenberger, Jason Mercier, and Jean-Robert Bellande were among those who did not make it to Day 2.
Ivey was eliminated when his pocket nines couldn’t hold up against 
. Ivey got it all-in and the flop rolled off 
. The turn and river bricked for Ivey and his tournament ended.
Hellmuth hit the rail after his pocket aces were cracked. In the hand, Hellmuth raised to 1,300. Hiren "Sunny" Patel reraised to 2,850, then Hellmuth popped it to 4,850, and Patel jammed, forcing Hellmuth to call off the remainder of his stack. Patel showed jacks and Hellmuth and his aces were way ahead until the flop where a jack hit. Hellmuth couldn’t find any help on the remaining board and was eliminated.
To see who else is still playing for gold, and who didn’t make it, as well as continuing live coverage, check out the live reporting blog.
Event #7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud
A field of 367 entered the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event on Thursday. After the damage and destruction of Day 1, Chau Giang and Sam Grizzle emerged in the top 10, both with over 30,000 in chips.
Barry Greenstein, Fabrice Soulier, David Williams, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Jonathan Duhamel[/B] have also moved on to Day 2. It took two hours for the first player to be eliminated from the event, then the eliminations began to occur at a much faster rate. Among those to hit the rail were Matthew Hawrilenko, Frank Kassela[/B], Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, Chip Jett, Cyndy Violette, Richard Ashby, Owais Ahmed, Dan Kelly, and David Bach.
The chip leader going into Day 2 is Rogerio Sousa. He amassed 41,000 in chips over the course of the day and will look to continue his reign at the top when the players restart 1400 PDT (2200 BST) on Friday.
To see all the action as it happens be sure to stay tuned in to our live reporting blog.
On Tap
On Friday, Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em will play down to a winner, Event #6: $5,000 No-Limit Mix-Maxed will play down to heads-up play and Event 7#: $1,500 Seven Card Stud will attempt to reach a final table. The new event on the docket is Event #8: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better, which will begin at 1200 PDT (2000 BST).
To make sure you don’t miss any of the action, check out all the major hands from all the events in our live tournament reporting blog.
Video of the Day
Kristy Arnett caught up with Xuan Liu on Thursday and called the clock on her. What does Liu know about Diablo III? What’s her favorite book? Find out all that and more in the video below.
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