2017 WSOP Fantasy Poker "Steve Ball challenge".. Staker game

[MintTrav]

I think I have Mr. D'Angelo

Damn. My print sheet has everyone's name and looks up their points on each tournament, and I sort it and hide the rows for whoever scored zero. Hid too many rows. Fixed it now.

[MintTrav]

Event 51: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low 8/b Championship

Winner	Bryce Yockey
Runners	207
Paid	32
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Chris Ferguson	4	12
John Monnette	16	1
Scott Clements	30	1
Fabrice Soulier	32	1

Selector	Points
Irish Tom	13
Stephen	2
Barrie	1
Carl	1
Chris B	1
Ian	1
Jo	1
John	1
Paul R	1

Yockey had a big lead near the end of the Millionaire-Maker, but just came in fifth in the end. This was the opposite, in that he got short on the final, but ended up winning. "It's different than winning a $1,500 tournament. There's a lot of tough pros to get through" he told us, repeating the mantra that all the small-field $10k winners want us to believe.

Chris Ferguson continues to cash in every tournament. This was his 12th cash, but only his first final table. There was a possibility of a rerun of a historic heads-up when Josh Arieh beat Ferguson for a bracelet twelve years ago (when Dave Colclough was also on the FT) but it wasn't to be, with them finishing third and fourth.

Kate Hoang, who finished 8th, is something of an O8 specialist. She has five WSOP cashes - a 34th in 2015, a 2nd and 15th last year and now a 20th and an 8th this time, all in various forms of Hi-Lo.


Kate Hoang - specialises

[MintTrav]

Event 52: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

Winner	Mohsin Charania
Runners	1580
Paid	237
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Jason Mercier	17	1

Selector	Points
Adam	1
Barrie	1
Carl	1
Craig	1
Debbie	1
Del	1
English Tom	1
Gareth	1
Glenn	1
Irish Tom	1
Jo	1
John	1
Karen	1
Luca	1
Paul R	1
Paxo	1
Richard	1
Simon B	1
Stephen	1
Vince	1

Heads-up involved pin-up Charania against Cary Katz. Never heard of Katz? He is one of the most successful players around, 6th in the all-time winners list for Nevada, which is something when you think of all the star players based in Vegas. 2016 finished well, 5th in the Monte Carlo €1m buy-in being followed by winning the Aria $100k Super High Roller. He is not your typical poker pro, being ex-CEO of a loan company and current President of a school amongst various other pursuits. Despite being ridiculously wealthy, he always looks tense at the poker table. Here is a HM to drool over: http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=26721#. With $11m in tournament winnings, it is bizarre to see 2nd place in a $100k being followed by a 1st in a $100 event.


Charania and Katz in typical pose

This win made Charania the first player for five years (and only the sixth ever) to complete the Triple Crown of winning WSOP, WPT and EPT titles.

[MintTrav]

Event 53: $3,000 Limit Hold'em (6-handed)

Winner	Max Silver
Runners	256
Paid	39
Final Table	6

Player	Position	Points
Max Silver	1	25
John Racener	13	1
James Obst	25	1

Selector	Points
Debbie	26
Simon B	26
Leigh	25
Paul H	25
Adam	1
Barrie	1
Craig	1
English Tom	1
Jo	1
Luca	1
Simon L	1

Another British winner - well done to Max Silver (surely also a worthy entrant in our best names classification). Silver did it wire-to-wire, as they say, ie coming to the final table in the lead and holding it through to the end to close out the win.




Silver's heads-up opponent, Guowei Zhang, seemed to have heard about the "rain stops play" occurence in 2015, when torrential rain flooded the Brasilia Room.

[Zozzy]

Mint Trav updates very entertaining. Nice one John.
One year I would like to be there at the WSOP amongst the players earning the points instead of being at home predicting which players will make the most points. These pics and updates inspire me to get something done and be good enough to join them. Keep up the good work.

[PokerPax]

I have given up for this year, unless some miracle happens and the one or two unique players I have, manage to snag a few bracelets between them!

I have however, picked my team for next year, can this year hurry up and finish so we can get it started!? 

[MintTrav]

Event 54: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-handed) Championship

Winner	Tommy Le
Runners	428
Paid	65
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Scott Clements	4	12
John Monnette	14	1
John Racener	17	1
Mike Gorodinsky	23	1
Brandon Shack-Harris	45	1
Stephen Chidwick	52	1

Selector	Points
Stephen	14
Chris B	12
Irish Tom	12
Carl	3
Barrie	2
Chris H	2
Craig	2
Jo	2
John	2
Luca	2
Paul R	2
English Tom	1
Gareth	1
Karen	1
Paul H	1
Richard	1
Simon B	1
Vince	1

The success of the Le family continues. Tommy got the bracelet he undoubtedly deserves on his sixth PLO final table, having reached three last year (2nd, 3rd and 5th) and two previously. His brothers Allan and Nam have both already reached WSOP final tables this year, with Allan finishing third. They have all won millions - Nam has banked $7m so far and this win takes Tommy to $3m, just ahead of Allan. As Allan won a bracelet last year, Nam is now the only one without one (his best is third), but he can console himself with his WPT title. They are also connected with Tuan Le, the first player to retain a non-Main $10k title, but I'm not sure what the relationship is.

This event was loaded, with four players who have almost won the Main Event, Scott Clements, Eoghan O'Dea, Ben Lamb and John Racener, finishing near the top.

Last year's winner of the Millionaire-Maker, millionaire Jason DeWitt, was fifth. Jason is not related to Doug DeWitt, who lost his World title to Nigel Benn.

Howard Millian was twelfth in this - I so hope he wins the Millionaire-Maker next time.


Doug DeWitt (bottom) - no relation

[MintTrav]

Event 55: $1,500 7 Card Stud

Winner	Tom Koral
Runners	298
Paid	45
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Ian Johns	11	1
Adam Owen	38	1

Selector	Points
Irish Tom	1
John	1
Karen	1
Stephen	1

Yet another winner tells us that he's not very good at the event he just took down, although he plays HORSE all the time. Tsong Lin started heads-up with 2.1m out of 2.2m chips, but couldn't put Koral away.


Koral and Lin developed a close personal relationship while playing heads-up

[MintTrav]

Event 56: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em

Winner	Andres Korn
Runners	623
Paid	94
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Jack Salter	37	1
Mustapha Kanit	49	1
Olivier Busquet	61	1

Selector	Points
Ian	1
Paul H	1
Scottish Tom	1

Five days after I predict a future bracelet for Pete Chen, he almost goes and does it, finishing second in this.

Korn wins for Argentina.

[MintTrav]

Event 57: $2,500 Omaha/7 Card Stud Hi-Lo 8/b

Winner	Smith Sirisakorn
Runners	405
Paid	61
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Naoya Kihara	10	1
Thomas Taylor	38	1
Shaun Deeb	45	1

Selector	Points
Leigh	2
Adam	1
English Tom	1
Simon L	1
Vince	1

A few players are building up an impressive collection of results. Second-placed Jameson Painter already had a 4th this year in Stud Hi-Lo, while third-placed Jared Bleznick had two 5th places, both in 2-7. Barry Greenstein was seventh, for his tenth cash, but his first final table.

[MintTrav]

League Points so Far:

Selector	Points
Barrie	250
Adam	195
Debbie	187
Jo	183
Simon B	173
Craig	164
Vince	151
English Tom	150
Luca	136
Stephen	136
Irish Tom	135
Richard	134
Paul R	132
Glenn	121
Chris H	118
John	118
Carl	115
Simon L	111
Leigh	111
Gareth	109
Karen	97
Paxo	95
Scottish Tom	90
Del	86
Ian	83
Paul H	83
Chris B	78

[MintTrav]

Event 58: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

Winner	Artur Rudziankov
Runners	1763
Paid	265
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Chris Ferguson	96	1
Matt Glantz	175	1

Selector	Points
Gareth	1
Irish Tom	1

#58 has just finished. It was delayed overnight with just the two players left, but concluded suddenly when Mario Prats made a horrific unforced error to donate almost his whole stack. With roughly 7m v 6.5m chips at the start of the hand, and 3.5m in the pot, he shoved the River for 5m with no hand into Rudziankov's nut straight, leaving himself with dust and no chance of recovery.

These two did not like each other, with some terse exchanges and Rudziankov insisting on seeing Prats' losing hand at one point and then throwing a bluff in front of him soon after. Rudziankov was involved in an incident earlier in the week at Planet Hollywood when Mike Dentale threatened to punch another pro in the face, so maybe he was taking some pointers there.

The main news from this event is that it seems that Chris Ferguson may have taken the lead in the Player of the Year points, which was unwelcome news for many at the Rio. It was later reported that he is second behind John Racener, another unlovely character, but the position is fairly unclear, which is just another illustration of how farcical this year's POY race has become.

Congratulations to Alfred Schmuck for his 30th place finish. Also to Chong Cheng, who was 116th.

[MintTrav]

Event 59: $2,500 Big Bet Mix (6 games)

Winner	Jens Lakemeier
Runners	197
Paid	30
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Marco Johnson	8	4
Ismael Bojang	9	1
Daniel Negreanu	12	1
Jason Mercier	20	1
Adam Owen	26	1
Benny Glaser	27	1
Calvin Anderson	30	1

Selector	Points
Barrie	7
Karen	4
Adam	3
Chris H	3
Craig	3
Debbie	3
Richard	3
Del	2
English Tom	2
Gareth	2
Glenn	2
Irish Tom	2
Jo	2
John	2
Luca	2
Paul R	2
Paxo	2
Simon B	2
Vince	2
Carl	1
Chris B	1
Leigh	1
Paul H	1
Scottish Tom	1

Oh dear - in a three way all-in, with five players left, Lakemeier had QQ55 against AAKK and AA88, but caught a Q at the end to eliminate both of the others. He then quickly saw off the remaining two to take the bracelet.

It looked like there were going to be buckets of points for everyone, but then all your favourites slipped out of contention before the final table and there were hardly any points at all.

[MintTrav]

Event 61: $3,333 High Roller Online No-Limit Hold'em (re-entry)

Winner	Tom Cannuli
Runners	424
Paid	54
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Adam Owen	3	15
Chris Moorman	35	1
Maria Ho	42	1
John Racener	48	1
Ben Yu	51	1
Tom Hall	53	1

Selector	Points
Irish Tom	16
Karen	15
Stephen	15
Barrie	1
Chris B	1
Craig	1
Ian	1
Luca	1
Paul H	1

The first ever WSOP Online High Roller.

Players who are chasing points (or just fancied the game) were doubling up, playing on-line at their live tables, with several of our players cashing, led by Adam Owen.

[cuzza23]

Event 59: $2,500 Big Bet Mix (6 games)

Winner	Jens Lakemeier
Runners	197
Paid	30
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Marco Johnson	8	4
Ismael Bojang	9	1
Daniel Negreanu	12	1
Jason Mercier	20	1
Adam Owen	26	1
Benny Glaser	27	1
Calvin Anderson	30	1

Selector	Points
Karen	4
Adam	3
Chris H	3
Craig	3
Debbie	3
Richard	3
Del	2
English Tom	2
Gareth	2
Glenn	2
Irish Tom	2
Jo	2
John	2
Luca	2
Paul R	2
Paxo	2
Simon B	2
Vince	2
Carl	1
Chris B	1
Leigh	1
Paul H	1
Scottish Tom	1

Oh dear - in a three way all-in, with five players left, Lakemeier had QQ55 against AAKK and AA88, but caught a Q at the end to eliminate both of the others. He then quickly saw off the remaining two to take the bracelet.

It looked like there were going to be buckets of points for everyone, but then all your favourites slipped out of contention before the final table and there were hardly any points at all.

You've completely left me out of this one John 😣.  I have Johnson, Negreanu,  mercier and Glaser..🖒