WSOP: Danny Tang Wins Final Fifty, Dan Zack Retakes POY Lead
The World Series of Poker bracelet train keeps on rolling, even as the Main Event dominates the attention of the poker world. Six more bracelet events were in action on Wednesday, with just one of them playing down to a champion. Through all of that, the WSOP Player of the Year has a new leader who is actually the old leader.
High Roller Newcomer Danny Tang Ships $50K Final Fifty
The $50,000 buy-in Final Fifty event was designed for a particular subset of the poker world: the high roller regular. Danny Tang wanted no part of that narrative, however. Tang overcame a final table that included Brandon Adams, Sam Soverel, Adrian Mateos, and Ali Imsirovic to win $1,608,406 and the first bracelet of his career.
It’s not his first big score though. In May he finished runner-up to Bryn Kenney in the Triton Poker Main Event in Montenegro. Tang says playing events with a buy-in this high is only possible because of the people who believe in him.
“After I graduated and decided to turn pro I moved back to Asia and met a load of good people. People who trusted me, people who were willing to invest in me, buy pieces – their support was just unreal,” Tang said after his win. “Without them investing, I would never have had the opportunity to move up in stakes eventually and play this tournament.”
Tang will look to continue his high roller hot streak in the $100,000 Super High Roller event that begins Thursday.
Soverel finished runner-up for $994,072 to pair with his third-place finish in the $50,000 high roller event in the first week of the WSOP. Australian Michael Addamo finished third for $697,375.
Final Table Payouts
- Danny Tang – $1,608,406
- Sam Soverel – $994,072
- Michael Addamo – $697,375
- Brandon Adams – $500,282
- Adrian Mateos – $367,186
- Keith Tilston – $275,874
- Ali Imsirovic – $212,292
- Seth Davies – $167,420
Mike Dentale Leads Little One for One Drop
Just 48 players remain from a field of 6,248 in the $1,111 Little One for One Drop and Mike Dentale sits atop the chip counts. Dentale started the day with 628,000 and turned that into 13,400,000 as 364 players were sent packing on Wednesday.
Pierre-Paul Paulin finished with the second biggest stack after turning 865,000 into 11,285,000. Zachary Donovan is right behind him with 11,130,000.
Former #1-ranked online poker player Michael Wasserman ended up in the top 10 with 8,715,000.
Shaun Deeb, who started Day 3 with the chip lead was eliminated in 118th place. He added $4,521 to his summer earnings and picked up an additional 248.2 WSOP Player of the Year points. Other notables who busted on Day 3 include Victor Ramdin, Loni Harwood, Mike Sexton, Dara O’Kearney, Lexy Gavin, Ryan Laplante, Felipe Ramos, and Cliff Josephy.
Action resumes at 1 PM PT and could play down to a winner.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Mike Dentale – 13,400,000
- Pierre-Paul Paulin – 11,285,000
- Zachary Donovan – 11,130,000
- Jacques Mauron – 10,495,000
- James Anderson – 9,565,000
- Liran Betito – 9,280,000
- Nick Shkolnik – 9,090,000
- Michael Wasserman – 8,715,000
- Jaime Lewin – 7,700,000
- Shalom Elharar – 7,110,000
Former #1 Andras Nemeth Atop $3K No Limit Hold’em
Just 14 players stand between Andras Nemeth and a gold bracelet. Nemeth, who has just two WSOP cashes to his credit, finished Day 2 of the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event with 2,895,000 and the chip lead.
David Gonzalez sits second with 2,135,000 and Jonas Mackoff has 2,125,000.
Nemeth isn’t the only former #1-ranked PocketFiver still in contention. Patrick Leonard starts the final day the third shortest stack.
Dan Zack picked up a small cash but added 53.9 POY points to his total. Zack was multi-tabling on Thursday after bagging stacks in this event and the $1,500 PLO Bounty event.
Other notables who cashed include Asher Conniff, Rainer Kempe, Kristen Bicknell, and Justin Bonomo.
Play resumes at 2 PM PT and will play down to six players.
Final 14 Chip Counts
- Andras Nemeth – 2,895,000
- David Gonzalez – 2,135,000
- Jonas Mackoff – 2,125,000
- David Dibernardi – 1,050,000
- Dennis Brand – 960,000
- Ivan Deyra Le Teich – 735,000
- Michael Tureniec – 710,000
- Guillaume Nolet – 675,000
- Karen Sarkisyan – 545,000
- Will Givens – 390,000
- Allan Berger – 380,000
- Patrick Leonard – 310,000
- David Weinstein – 295,000
- Diego Zeiter – 130,000
Kazuhiko Yotsushika Chasing $1,500 PLO Title
Japan’s Kazuhiko Yotsushika just might be on the way to winning the first bracelet for his home country after finishing Day 2 of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Bounty event with the only stack greater than 2,000,000.
Yotsushika ended with 2,148,000 which put him comfortably ahead of former #1 PocketFiver Joao Simao (1,855,000) and Joseph Liberta (1,371,000).
Also among the 42 survivors were Jesse Sylvia, Bryce Yockey, Toby Lewis, Jeff Lisandro, Denis Strebkov, and the shortest stack of all, Daniel Negreanu.
Dan Zack also cashed in this event, finishing 44th for $3,553 and 105.4 POY points to take over the WSOP POY lead from Robert Campbell.
Action resumes at Noon and will play down to a winner.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Kazuhiko Yotsushika – 2,148,000
- Joao Simao – 1,855,000
- Joseph Liberta – 1,371,000
- Michael Amato – 1,181,000
- Jesse Sylvia – 1,114,000
- Qinghai Pan – 1,110,000
- Toby Lewis – 1,062,000
- Bryce Yockey – 1,003,000
- Timothy Chung – 929,000
- Joseph Mobley – 836,000
Nikita Luther Leads Day 1 of $1,500 Bracelet Winners Only
As part of the celebrations around the 50th annual WSOP, officials added the $1,500 Bracelet Winners Only event to the festivities. Day 1 saw 143 players enter with registration still open until the start of Day 2.
Nikita Luther, who won her bracelet in the tag team event in 2018, finished with the best stack out of the 51 Day 1 survivors. Luther ended with 538,500. No other player even cracked the 400,000 mark.
New Jersey online poker grinder Michael Gagliano sits second with 354,000. His roommates, Daniel Strelitz and Niall Farrell, were two of the earliest casualties on Thursday.
Yuval Bronshtein ended with 277,000 for the third biggest stack.
Action resumes at 2 PM PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Nikita Luther – 538,500
- Michael Gagliano – 354,000
- Yuval Bronshtein – 277,000
- Haixia Zhang – 264,500
- Blair Hinkle – 259,000
- Shankar Pillai – 242,000
- Chris Ferguson – 224,500
- Ben Ponzio – 224,000
- James Mackey – 220,000
- Fred Berger – 204,500
Corey Wright Leads $1,500 Mixed NLHE/PLO
A little bit of this and a little bit of that. The $1,500 Mixed No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha event brought out 1,250 runners with just 340 of them making it through 10 levels of play on Day 1.
Corey Wright finished with 332,500 to edge out Ramali Kusnadi (298,200) and Chance Kornuth (284,500) for the chip lead. Shaun Deeb continues to chase POY points and ended up with the seventh-best stack on the day.
Mike Leah, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Calvin Anderson, Sylvain Loosli, Brian Hastings, and Kenny Hallaert also moved on to Day 2.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Corey Wright – 332,500
- Ramali Kusnadi – 298,200
- Chance Kornuth – 284,500
- Pierce Mckellar – 274,100
- Shalom Turgeman – 272,400
- Robert Mizrachi – 265,400
- Shaun Deeb – 257,400
- Jerry Odeen – 253,900
- Michael Policastro – 253,000
- Anderson Ireland – 246,100
