George Danzer Wins Event #38: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
Amazing! German poker pro George Danzer has won two gold bracelets in two weeks at the 2014 World Series of Poker! After nabbing his fist ever bracelet in $10,000 Seven-Card Razz Championship, he bested a field of 134 players over three days of play in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better to win his second gold bracelet!
"This is probably a similar field to the other one [that I won]," Danzer said. "These Championship-level events always draw the best players. It was never easy. It's just a different Stud variation, but the players are the same. I'd say this is just as satisfying to win as my other one."
It has indeed been an incredible summer so far for Danzer. Although it requires quite a bit of luck to win two bracelets in such a short timeframe - one must not forget that it also requires a lot of work (and skill) to win multiple WSOP events...
"I've had a very busy schedule so far, with one tournament every single day," Danzer said when asked if he plans to play more events now that he's the favorite to win Player of the Year honors. "I'm already busy enough, playing in the events I schedule for myself. So, I'm not going to overload myself too much. I'm going to grind that way I intended, just as I did before."
In total, four gold bracelets so far at the World Series of Poker have been won by players from Germany (Dominik Nitsche also won two tiles - one in the National Championship and one in a No Limit Hold'em Event). WSOP.com interviewers asked Danzer who he consider to be the best poker player of him and Nitsche.
"It depends on which variation [of poker]," Danzer said. "I'll play him for the rest of our lives in Stud if he doesn't get better. I think I'm better in those games, but if it was No-Limit Hold'em, I wouldn't play him even for a minute. So, he's the better No-Limit player and I'm the better Stud player."
Final table results:
1st: George Danzer - $352,696
2nd: John Racener - $217,935
3rd: Calvin Anderson - $98,828
4th: Brian Hastings - $77,238
5th: Jeffrey Lisandro - $61,594
6th: Chris George - $50,018
7th: David Singer - $41,277
8th: Richard Sklar - $34,550
Sean Dempsey Wins Event #39: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'Em
Las Vegas based poker pro Sean Dempsey joined the gold bracelet club on Saturday evening when he conquered the final table of the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em event. The tournament saw a field of 992 runners creating a prize pool of $2.7 million and Dempsey received the biggest slice of the cake ($548,460) as he emerged the winner after 4 days of intensive play.
"It's been a long time coming. I moved out to Vegas ten years ago, and it was the first time I had ever played in the WSOP." said Dempsey. "Ever since then I have been trying to win a bracelet."
Does the name Sean Dempsey ring a bell? Well, Tom Dwan might have heard of him before. Demsey, a 40-year-old married father of one, a doctor by trade, claims to have taught Tom "Durrr" Dwan how two play the game of Pot Limit Omaha. It would be interesting to know if there's any truth to Demsey's claim.
1st: Sean Dempsey - $548,460
2nd: Ryan Jaconetti - $339,440
3rd: Jake Schindler - $212,373
4th: Ryan Olisar - $154,148
5th:- Ryan Laplante- $113,796
6th:- Nam Le - $85,307
7th:- Layne Flack - $64,887
8th:- Takashi Yagura - $50,019
9th:- Andrew Becker - $39,078
Davide Suriano Wins the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship
136 players signed up for the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up Championship and a total of 135 matches were played over three days until a winner had been crowned. Surprisingly enough it wasn't a well-known poker pro who laid hands on the title and the gold bracelet!
25-year-old Davide Suriano from Italy defeated Scott Seiver in Round of 128, Dan Cates in Round of 64, Shane Moran in Round of 32, Serkan Kurnaz in round of 16, Ankush Mandavia in round of 8, Daniel Colman in Round of 4 and finally Sam Stein heads-up to lay hands on his first gold bracelet and a $335,554 pay day.
Suriano has had some small success in Europe in the past, including a win in a heads-up side event at EPT London last October, but nothing can be compared to the win of this event (prize money wise).
"This is the biggest thing that has ever happened to me. This victory is going to change my life," Suriano said following his win.
Final 4 results:
1st: Davide Suriano - $335,553
2nd: Sam Stein - $207,347
3rd: Daniel Colman - $111,942
4th: Scott Davies - $111,942
Robert Mizrachi Wins Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer's Choice
Robert Mizrachi, the brother of of Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, has won the first dealer's choice (a style of poker where the player on the button choose from one of 16 different games, including some never played at the WSOP like Badeucey, Badacey, and Pot Limit Five Card Draw) gold bracelet ever.
Mizrachi came into the final day of play as the chip leader stood tall as the champion only 7,5 hours later. He overcame a severe chip deficit and defeated Aaron Schaff heads-up to claim $147,092 in prize money and his second gold bracelet. Robert Mizrachi now has 32 career WSOP cashes (close to $2 million in earnings) since 2003. His first bracelet came in a Pot Limit Omaha event in 2007.
"It's tough to win. The players are getting tougher," Mizrachi told the interviewer when asked about the seven-year lapse between bracelets. "There's definitely a lot of pride in winning this event. It's a very skilled event. You not only have to know all the games, but you have to pick the games that your opponent's don't play as well."
Final table results:
1st: Robert Mizrachi - $147,092
2nd: Aaron Schaff - $90,854
3rd: Shane Abbott - $58,414
4th: Bill Chen - $38,735
5th: Daniel Idema - $26,444
6th: Frank Kassela - $18,575
Michael Drummond Wins Event #42: $5,000 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha
A field of 542 entrants were narrowed down to 13 players after 2 days of play in the $5,000 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha tournament. Michael Drummond came into the third and final day sixth in chips. With only 10 players remaining, he was the short stack. However, after a quick double up and eliminating Joseph Leung in 10th place, he was among the chip leaders. When heads-up play kicked off, he had nearly 75% of the chips in play and it only took him 12 hands to defeat Darious Studdard to nab the $541,747 first-place prize and his first gold bracelet.
"It's definitely cool to have a milestone mark." said Drummond about winning a bracelet.
Drummond, a 27-year-old poker pro originally from New Hampshire but now living in San Francisco, is relatively new to the World Series of Poker. According to WSOP.com, he is mainly a cash game player that like to play a PLO tournament once in a while. Maybe the win of this event has whetted his appetite for further tournaments?
"It's a social game." said Drummond about his love for PLO. "It's so much more about your cards that you can just look at your cards and then have a conversations at the table. PLO is just a more fun, social, gambling game."
Final table results:
1st: Michael Drummond - $541,747
2nd: Darious Studdard - $334,593
3rd: Kory Kilpatrick - $217,113
4th: Ryan Schmidt - $143,397
5th: Brant Hale - $95,598
6th: Phil Laak- $66,918
Dan Kelly Wins Event #43: $1,500 Limit Hold'em
In 2010 Dan Kelly won his first gold bracelet in the $25,000 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed tournament for a bank-busting $1,315,518. He has cashed 22 times since that victory and played five final tables.
Four years after winning his first gold bracelet, he emerged victorious in Event #43: $1,500 Limit Hold'em to claim his second gold bracelet and $195,167 in prize money! The tournament attracted 657 players and Kelly had to overcome poker stars such as Jeff Lisandro (5 bracelets) and David Chiu (5 bracelets) on the final table.
Final table results:
1st: Dan Kelly - $195,167
2nd: Yegor Tsurikov - $120,501
3rd: Brandon Shack-Harris - $78,335
4th: Sean Berrios - $57,536
5th: Jesse Katz- $42,857
6th: David Chiu - $32,338
7th: Jeff Lisandro - $24,683
8th: Bryce Landier - $19,051
9th: Ron Burke - $14,856
