Photo Caption: Anyone who doesn’t think the official gold bracelet ceremony doesn’t matter obviously wasn’t present during Sunday afternoon’s electrifying presentation when two longtime friends from Boston -- Chris Tryba and Ronnie Bardah -- shared the stage together in receipt of their first WSOP gold bracelet victories. Unexpected moments are often the most cherished, as occurred when Tryba and Bardah embraced and shared poker’s ultimate triumph together in front of the poker world. To see more photos from the 2012 WSOP, please visit the official WSOP PHOTO BLOG.
.....................
DAILY HEADLINES
$50K Buy-In “Poker Players Championship” Underway
1,000th Gold Bracelet in WSOP History to be Awarded in Event #41
Oleksii Kovalchuk Becomes First Ukrainian Double Gold Bracelet Winner in History
………………….
OLEKSII KOVALCHUK BECOMES FIRST UKRAINIAN IN HISTORY TO WIN TWO GOLD BRACELETS
Oleksii Kovalchuk became the first Ukrainian poker player in history to win two gold bracelets, after he took the top prize on Sunday night in the Mixed-Split event at the 2012 World Series of Poker.
Glazier won the $2,500 buy-in Mixed-Split Seven-Card Stud/Omaha title – which is a combination of two popular high-low forms of poker.
This was the 42nd of 61 gold bracelet events on the 2012 WSOP schedule. The three-day competition attracted a highly-competitive field of Mixed-Split specialists. There were 393 players who started with hopes of a gold bracelet victory.
Kovalchuk’s previous victory took place last year in the $2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event. He now has seven career cashes and nearly $1 million in WSOP earnings, after a $228,014 payday for this victory. The runner up was George Danzer, from Munich, Germany. Mark Gregorich, the longtime Split-games specialist from Las Vegas, took third.
......................
STANDING THE TEST OF TIME: 2012 POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP UNDERWAY
Ask most of the top poker professionals about the victory they’d most like to achieve purely in terms of peer respect and prestige, and it’s probably winning the WSOP’s annual “Poker Players Championship.”
This exalted poker spectacle started in 2006. It immediately attracted the most celebrated superstars in poker. Fittingly, the inaugural tournament was won by the late great legend David “Chip” Reese, who defeated the venerable Andy Bloch in an epic all-night heads-up battle.
This year’s Poker Player Championship began Sunday night -- which is the event's seventh annual competition. Over 100 players have registered so far, which requires a mammoth-sized $50,000 entry fee. Up to this point, the entry fee remains as the largest buy-in amount for any WSOP gold bracelet event in history (which will be surpassed next week when the $1 Million “One Drop” Championship debuts).
This week, the world’s best all-around poker players will be playing a mix of eight games – including Limit Hold’em, Omaha High-Low Split, Razz, Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split, Deuce-to-Seven Triple-Draw Lowball, Pot-Limit Omaha, and No-Limit Hold’em. By universal consideration, it is poker’s supreme test of all-around talent and skill.
The winner will collect a seven-figure first prize, plus a WSOP gold bracelet. Furthermore, the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy is awarded to the champion, who takes temporary custody of the top golden portion of the vaulted award for an entire year. Moreover, the winner’s name is engraved on the bottom half of the trophy, etched forever as an integral part of poker history.
The list of Poker Players Championship winners reads as follows:
2006 -- David "Chip" Reese (won $1,716,000) -- 143 entrants
2007 -- Freddy Deeb (won $2,276,832) -- 148 entrants
2008 -- Scotty Nguyen (won $1,989,120) -- 148 entrants
2009 -- David Bach (won $1,276,806) -- 95 entrants
2010 -- Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi (won $1,559,046) -- 116 entrants
2011 -- Brian Rast (won $1,720,328) -- 128 entrants
....................
WSOP TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY
Question of the Day: Who is the only player in WSOP history to not appear for the final day of the WSOP Main Event Championship? Hint: He had a seat among the final nine, but did not show up.
Answer coming in tomorrow’s WSOP Daily Shuffle.
Yesterday’s Question of the Day: Which player who set the all-time record for accruing the most penalties in a single event – which was four?
Answer: Another shocker! The answer is Mike “the Mouth” Matusow. On Day One of the 2005 WSOP Main Event Championship, Matusow instigated a verbal tirade that was most certainly one of the gravest in tournament history. He was given four penalties at once, concurrently stacked 20-minutes at a time. In all, Matusow spent the next one hour and 20 minutes away from the table. The kicker to the story is that several days later, Matusow was sitting at the final table of that same tournament. He ended up finishing ninth in the 2005 WSOP Main Event Championship, which paid him $1,000,000 in prize money.
.....................
DAY 30: THE WSOP TODAY – MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012
9:00 AM
Today’s first tournament is a $75 buy-in TURBO MEGA-SATELLITE.
12:00 NOON
EVENT #46, the $2,500 buy-in NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM tournament, begins with the play of Day One. Registration will be available up through the completion of four levels, plus two breaks, which is estimated to be about 4:40 pm. Action takes place inside Brasilia. This is a three-day event. This same event on last year’s schedule drew 1,734 entries.
EVENT #46 UPDATES can be followed at WSOP.com. Coverage includes chip counts as well as written updates supplied from the tournament floor by our friends at PokerNews.com.
The official Structure Sheet for EVENT #46 can be viewed HERE.
1:00 PM
EVENT #43, the $1,500 buy-in NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM tournament, continues with Day Three – including the final table. There are 20 players remaining from the starting field of 2,770. Zach Clark is the current chip leader. Action will take place inside Amazon. The list of survivors and chip counts is available HERE.
EVENT #44, the $1,000 buy-in NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM tournament, continues with Day Two.
There are 297 players remaining from the starting field of 2,949, all of whom are in the money. Simon Welds is the current chip leader. Action will take place inside Amazon. Chip counts from the first day of play can be found HERE.
2:00 PM
EVENT #45, the $50,000 buy-in POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP (EIGHT-GAME MIX) tournament continues with the play of Day Two (of five). There are 103 players remaining from the field of 104, but registration will be open through the end of Level 6. all of whom are in the money. Matt Glantz is the current chip leader in the prestigious event.
The first DAILY DEEP STACK NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM tournament begins. The entry fee is $235. Registration is open for four (30 minute) levels, plus one break – which means until about 4:20 pm.
2:20 PM
The official gold bracelet ceremony includes two recent winners – Dung “Gomer” Nguyen (Event #39) and Oleksii Kovalchuk (Event #42) The anthems of the United States of America and the Ukraine will be played.
4:00 PM
The first MEGA-SATELLITE begins. The entry fee is $330
5:00 PM
There is no 5 pm tournament today.
6:00 PM
The second DEEP STACK NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM tournament begins. The entry fee is $185. Registration is open for four (30 minute) levels, plus one break – which means until about 8:20 pm.
8:00 PM
The second MEGA-SATELLITE of the day begins. The game is No-Limit Hold’em (Note: This event regularly features different games – so be sure and check the schedule in advance). The entry fee is $550.
10:00 PM
The third and final DEEP STACK NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM tournament begins at 10 pm. The entry fee is $135. Registration is open for four (30 minute) levels, plus one break – which means until about 12:20 am.
3:00 AM
All WSOP gold bracelet tournaments end for the night.
.......................
* Please note that all listed times are estimates and subject to change
-- by Nolan Dalla