The $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship, one of the most prestigious events of the WSOP, drew a field of 91 players this year. It took five days and nights of playing a wide mix of games until the final hand was dealt on the ESPN main stage at the Rio on Thursday.
The fifth and final day of this event started with a final table of eight. Jonathan Duhamel was one of the two big names on the final table, but, unfortunately, he was eliminated already on the fourth hand. The 2010 Main Event champion was all in with kings and an open-ended straight draw against George Danzer's two pair, but failed to improve.
The second day of Event #55: The Poker Players Championship ($50,000 buy-in) came to an end a few moments ago. David Benyamine will lead the final 78 out of 132 players into Day 3 of the tournament with a stack of 729,000, and Jonathan Duhamel (Day 1 chip leader) is not far behind with 666,100 chips.
Besides Benyamine and Duhamel, there are lots of poker stars among the remaining squad of players. However, the most notable one has to be Mr. Doyle Brunson! That's right! The godfather of poker is playing his first (and most probably only) event at the 2013 World Series of Poker. He will bring 265k to Day 3 and, according to his twitter, there are several side bets on how well he will do it in the tournament. So far it's looking pretty good. It will be interesting to follow him during Day 3!
What a comeback by Brian Rast! He was down to about 2 million and almost out of the tournament a while ago. Now, about 10-15 minutes later, he's the champion and $1,720,328 richer! This was his second bracelet at the 2011 WSOP! Very impressive!
This is how the last 2 hands were played out.
Hand #216 Brian Rast had the button and raised to 240k. Phil Hellmuth called. The flop fell Q[s]7[h]8[h], and Hellmuth bet 300k. Rast called. The turn was the 4[c], Hellmuth checked, and Rast checked as well. The river was the 4[d] and Hellmuth betted 300k. Rast folds, and Hellmuth won the pot.
There are now only 2 players remaining in the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship. Phil Hellmuth is in the lead with 13,940,000 chips against Brian Rast's 5,260,000 stack. We might be only minutes away from the final hand being played. In fact, Rast was almost out of chips a while ago, but then he doubled up though Hellmuth. Anyhow, Phil Hellmuth has fantastic chance of winning his 12th WSOP bracelet and also take home the biggest win of his entire poker career.
The Event #55: The Poker Player's Championship final table is running at the moment. There are 3 players left: 11-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Brian Rast, and Minh Ly. Brian Rast is in the lead with 9,5 million chips, Phil Hellmuth is in second place with 6,8 million, and Minh Ly has about 2,8 million.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's getting extremely exciting! All players are guaranteed at least $665,763 each. The winner will get $1,720,328 and the coveted gold bracelet, and the runner-up will get $1,063,034. Personally, I hope that Phil Hellmuth will win his 12th bracelet and take home the biggest cash in his career.
We will return with an update as soon as a winner has been crowned! Stay tuned!
There are only 10 players left in the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship and we are probably only a few moments away from the final table. Next player to leave the tournament gets $152,739 and the remaining players will fight for the really big money. In the lead is Robert Mizrachi with 3,125,000, closely followed by David Baker with 3,095,000.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is going to be an amazing final table (no matter who's going out next) in WSOP's most expensive tournament. Most remarkable about the remaining field of players has to be that both the brothers Robert and Michael Mizrachi are still in the tournament.
The $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship, one of the most prestigious events of the WSOP, drew a field of 91 players this year. It took five days and nights of playing a wide mix of games until the final hand was dealt on the ESPN main stage at the Rio on Thursday.
