Philip Sternheimer wins the $10k PLO8 Championship ($763,087).
Philip, 46, has been attending the World Series for 13 years as a wealthy amateur. As a businessman, he has even been invited to Triton tournaments several times. However, a couple of years ago, Philip left his successful career in finance to focus on the game.
– “I've been playing for almost 25 years, I would say, with increasing intensity. You know, I just love the game. I've always devoted time to it.”
After his victory, Philip immediately called his wife and very emotionally shared his joy with her.
– To be honest, the bracelet is very important to me. This morning I was going to the tournament and I was thinking that I have probably never wanted anything so much in my life. When the last card comes out and you realize that you have won, it is an unreal feeling. I have been working towards this for a very long time, and everyone who plays poker knows this.
Philip's victory was celebrated by billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya :
– My friend Philip Sternheimer won a WSOP bracelet!!!!
From Private Equity crusher to mixed game crusher.
Huge congratulations!!🎈🎊🍾🎉
Second place went to Caleb Bruno Firth, who won a bracelet in the $5k PLO event earlier in the series ($508,705).
Shaun Deeb finished 3rd ($348,304).
"It was a pretty quiet summer, I didn't even know what to tweet about," Sean shared on the eve of the final day. "But I got into 3-max PLO8 against two legends – Phil Stern and Bruno Firth. I'm the shortest, but the luckiest."
A couple of days later, Sean took 2nd place ($84,221) in the $1,500 Razz tournament, losing heads-up to Allan Le ($126,363).
Daniel Negreanu gave a behind the scenes look at the PLO8 tournament bubble in his vlog.
He offered anyone who wanted to take the fight 5,000 to 1 that Allen Kessler would make the money.
Scott Baumstein immediately agreed and handed Daniel $1.
"You better not go broke!" Negreanu walked up to Kessler.
“I have 600k,” Allen said, offended, hinting that at the 5k/10k level such a stack is completely safe.
"That's a good bet, can I have half?" Eric Wasserson suggested.
"You've got to hear this," Shaun Deeb came up to them. "He opened the first hand, he hasn't played since he got all the chips. Suddenly he opened with a raise of 20k. "Deal something," I said to the dealer, 'Please give me something good, I'm on the button.' I got a really good – with the same suit. He 3-bet, Allen went into the tank, says he folded a bad . I showed.
“Why?” Wasserson didn’t understand.
– Because it's Allen.
“Will you take another $50?” people from the neighboring tables asked Daniel.
– No, a dollar would suit me just fine.
Allen confidently made it into the money and was eliminated in 12th place.
Event #38 – $100k High Roller was won by a slightly rounded Joao Vieira ($2,649,158).
If it weren't for Phil Ivey , Joao could have been eliminated in 13th place.
In an interview after the win, Jeff Platt asked Joao about this hand.
– You got a big bluff past Phil Ivey. Was that one of the most important plays of your career?
– It was one of them. If he doesn't fold, I'm obviously not here. If I have Ace-Nine of clubs, he'll look like a genius. I'm happy the river came and I managed to bluff him off it.
Joao has four bracelets (three in Vegas and one online), all in NLH events, but he has long been considered one of the best all-rounders in poker.
– My favorite tournament is the $50k Players Championship, I want to win a bracelet in mixed games. Maybe I’ll even be able to fight for the “Player of the Year.”
Tournament results:
Rob Kuhn was outraged that Ike Haxton continues to play in a mask:
– Why the f*** is covering up your face like an LA rioter still allowed
Petition to ban all sunglasses/covering of face, it's part of the live aspect of poker.
“When we run our mega hi roller series in Vegas this fall, this will be one of the rules.,” Palihapitiya promised. “No face covering. No hats. No sunglasses.”
Patrick Leonard disagrees with this approach:
– There’s nothing that Ike could wear/not wear that would grow/not grow the game by 0.0000000001%. Nobody is deciding to come to WSOP or not come to the WSOP based on Ikes attire. Nobody is depositing online because of what he wears on streams
At worst people will think it’s strange he wears it, at best people will characterize him and he becomes more recognizable/individual.
If PokerGO/GG/WSOP want to pay players to be on broadcasts, they can then start dictating certain things like this, but atm we pay insane rake and we are the ones who put the show on for them.
Ironically, Ike probably grew the game more than most, he gave away a 6 figure sponsorship to put pressure on stars not to fuck us even harder back in the day. This created huge publicity and put big pressure on them and other ambassadors publicly.
Andrey Zhigalov won tournament #39 – HORSE with a buy-in of $1,500.
Andrey won the same tournament in 2018. This time, 867 players participated in the tournament, and $197,923 was paid for the victory. It is indicative how the payout structure at the WSOP has changed over this time. Seven years ago, there were 731 entries, and Zhigalov won $202,787.
In the top 18 Andrey was the chip leader, he started the final table with the 3rd stack, but soon found himself with two big bets.
In one hand of razz he had to fold on 6th street.
“I had a seven paired and the stack was too short, so I couldn’t continue,” he explained later.
In one of the following hands in stud, Andrey went all in with against , on sixth street the opponent made two pair against a gutshot. The last card was one of the four outs.
At the World Series, Andrey plans to focus on cash, but does not rule out playing several bracelet tournaments in mixed games. He does not play NLH on principle, as the game seems too boring to him.
Ian Jones wins the $10k Limit Hold'em Championship ($282,455).
Ian already won this tournament in 2016, at the same series he won Andrey Zhigalov’s favorite tournament – HORSE for $1,500, and he won his first bracelet back in 2006 in the limit hold’em tournament for $3,000.
– The satisfaction of getting it done and knowing that I can come here and be competitive over so many years, just feels really good,” Ian said afterward. “When I was 18 I started playing Limit Hold’em a lot online, I just became obsessed with that game and that game only – studied forums, played a gazillions of hands, playing eight tables – like for years and years. And then when I moved on to live play I to play a lot."
Second place went to Viktor Blom ($188,295).
"Isildur played great, but he had no chance in heads-up," the winner shared.
This was Isildur's third final table at this series, and he has five cashes in total. He took the lead in the ranking of the best "dreamers".
Victor made his next final in the Big O Championship with a buy-in of $10,000, where the champion will be determined tonight.
One of the main organizers of the drafts, David Baker, won his fourth bracelet in the event of veterans (over 50) with a buy-in of $5,000. He won $646,845.
He's in the opposite situation to Joao Vieira. This is David's first NLH bracelet, having previously won 8-Game, Limit Hold'em and Razz.
– It’s hard to describe in words what I’m feeling right now. I’ve always dreamed of winning a hold’em tournament. In my first three wins, bracelets came first. It’s also very important here, because I love the WSOP, but the money this time is significant. $650k is a huge amount.
For the tournaments in which David won his first three bracelets, he received a total of $585k.
Every year during the World Series, David organizes ODB Fantasy. This time, another record was broken – 873 teams, the winner will receive $80,000.
In the previous review, we talked about the cancellation of an online tournament, for which the organizers promised generous compensation to the players.
It turned out that not all participants were happy with this decision.
– Went to WSOP online help desk and was told all compensation has been distributed, – said DJ MacKinnon . – I only got my buyin back (along with the ~$800 I cashed for blinding out). I had a top 100 stack for d2. I will be withdrawing funds & not playing on the site again (I will not use the $500 ticket)
The final table has been reached in the most expensive tournament of the series with a buy-in of $250k.
The huge chip leader is Belgian regular Thomas Boavan (he took 3rd place in the $100k tournament a couple of days ago).
Ten people made it into the money, with Biao Ding ($516,393) and Daniel Negreanu ($531,284) the first to be eliminated.
Throughout the tournament, Martin Kabrhel was his usual pushy self. He even managed to irritate the usually calm Nick Shulman, who called his opponent "pussy".
Nick's lack of restraint was not appreciated by the audience.
“Kabrhel would immediately receive a penalty for the words he hears addressed to him,” wrote one of the commentators.
Martin never shut up for a second, probably saying more words during the broadcast than all the other players combined. He only kept quiet once, when he knocked out Phil Ivey (88>44) in three tables.
Martin wasn't very talkative, however, after a hand against David Peters (one of the most silent players in poker history) on the bubble. This confrontation cost Kabrhel half his stack.
Martin opened preflop and got two calls from Negreanu with and Peters. On the flop, Martin bet 200,000, Negreanu called, Peters check-raised to 750,000, Martin reraised to 1,425,000, Daniel folded, Peters called. The turn was check-check. On the river, David checked, Martin bet 2,000,000 and folded all-in.
“Were you bluffing, David?” Martin asked. “Although, more likely, you had .
David continued to silently collect the chips.
Recording of the second day of the tournament (the hand against Peters starts at 4:49:49).