One of the highlight tournaments of the WSOP calendar is the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, or this year’s Event #55. Usually, an incredibly strong field marks the tourney and this is the eighth year it appears in the World Series schedule. Previous champions have been David ‘Chip’ Reese, Freddy Deeb, Scotty Nguyen, David Bach, Brian Rast and Michael Mizrachi, the latter taking it down two times (2010 and 2012).
Players clash in eight different poker games: 2-7 Triple Draw, Limit Hold’em, Omaha-8, Razz, Stud, Stud-8, No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.
This year, 120 players registered to the tournament and only seven were eliminated during Day 1 due to the deep structure and the limit games. Accordingly, the event lasts for five days; however, Day 2 was still open for registration, allowing a total of 132 entrants and a field of 125 for the day. The prize pool was $6,336,000 and the top 16 players would receive a share of it.
After the first two days, 78 participants remained in play. Those eliminated included Vanessa Selbst, Johnny Chan, Matt Glantz, David ‘Bakes’ Baker, Konstantin Puchkov, Phil Ivey, Jon Turner, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Scott Seiver, Phil Galfond, John Racener, Eugene Katchalov, Vladimir Schemelev, Scott Clements and title holder Mizrachi, to name just the most renowned of the 54 railed players.
On Day 3, elimination of the best pros one after the other continued, including Chris Klodnicki, Cole South, Jeremy Ausmus, Jared Bleznick, Nick Schulman, Alexander Kostritsyn, Steve Sung, Jeff Lisandro, Calvin Anderson, Jason Mercier, Todd Brunson, George Lind, Dan Kelly, Brian Hastings, Bertrand Grospellier, Shaun Deeb, Barry Greenstein, Bill Chen, Justin Bonomo and Doyle Brunson.
Ten times WSOP champion Doyle Brunson had previously announced that he would not participate in this year’s World Series. "Afraid I am finally gonna give in to Father Time and pass on tournament play at WSOP. #toomanyhours” – he tweeted back then. Apparently, the lure of the $50,000 Players’ Championship was too much for him to resist and he even made side bets on whether he finishes in the money, makes the final table or wins the tournament. Busting out, he has lost somewhere in the register of between $80,000 and $140,000 in total, in addition to the buy-in. At best, he could have won around $800,000.
Day 4 remained rich in notable players, regardless of the eliminated big dogs. The final 26 was led by Don Nguyen with 2,059,000 in chips, while the average was 761,538. Play started on Level 17 and shortstack John Juanda was the first to be railed: in a Razz hand (5,000/25,000/50,000), his eights paired up and the queens meant the end of the tournament for him.
WSOP 2005 Main Event winner Joe Hachem followed, losing most of his chips to George Danzer in a Stud-8 hand (5,000/25,000/50,000) and then the rest to Gary Benson and Greg Mueller. Stephen Chidwick, Mueller, Erick Lindgren and WSOP 2009 $50,000 HORSE winner Bach came next, just not to appear short of top tier players this day, either.
The money bubble eventually burst at the end of Level 18, with a double elimination. In a PLO hand, Benson, Danzer and Kevin Song watched the flop come
K Q 
T . On the 5 turn, Benson shoved his remaining 26,000, Danzer raised but Song folded.
Danzer:
K K Q 8
Benson:A A 2 
6
River:J
Benson was out but, at the same time, WSOP 1996 Main Event champion Huck Seed raised at another table in a Stud-8 hand after Joe Cassidy’s bet on the fifth street. Cassidy 3-bet all-in and Seed made the call.
Cassidy:6 4 / 6 2 4 K / T
Seed:A A / 2 J K 6 / 6
Seed won with top two pairs and Cassidy shared the $111,893 prize money with Benson.
The eight-handed official Final Table was then formed on Level 21, Mike Gorodinsky bubbling the finale: in a PLO hand (15,000/30,000), he watched the6 4 T flop with David Benyamine, Danzer and Minh Ly. Danzer checked, Ly bet the pot, Benyamine and Gorodinsky called and Danzer folded. The turn came J, Ly checked, Benyamine bet 380,000 and Gorodinsky called with his remaining 118,000 in chips, Ly folded.
Benyamine:A T 6 2
Gorodinsky:A 9 8 7
River:J
The river missed Gorodinsky’s wrap and he was out in 9th place.
The final nine players bagged their chips and they return for a last tournament day with Nguyen still in the lead, sitting behind 5,068,000 in chips. However, he is accompanied by accomplished pros like Jonathan Duhamel and Benyamine, among others.
The Final Table seat draw is as follows:
Seat 1: Matthew Ashton – 2,996,000
Seat 2: Jonathan Duhamel – 1,627,000
Seat 3: Don Nguyen – 5,068,000
Seat 4: Mike Wattel – 810,000
Seat 5: George Danzer – 2,868,000
Seat 6: Minh Ly – 2,307,000
Seat 7: John Hennigan – 1,412,000
Seat 8: David Benyamine – 2,709,000
Prizes:
1st: $1,774,089
2nd: $1,096,254
3rd: $686,568
4th: $497,122
5th: $388,523
6th: $309,830
7th: $251,602
8th: $207,630
9-10th: $173,796
11-12th: $147,882
13-14th: $128,620
15-16th: $111,893
Players clash in eight different poker games: 2-7 Triple Draw, Limit Hold’em, Omaha-8, Razz, Stud, Stud-8, No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.
This year, 120 players registered to the tournament and only seven were eliminated during Day 1 due to the deep structure and the limit games. Accordingly, the event lasts for five days; however, Day 2 was still open for registration, allowing a total of 132 entrants and a field of 125 for the day. The prize pool was $6,336,000 and the top 16 players would receive a share of it.
After the first two days, 78 participants remained in play. Those eliminated included Vanessa Selbst, Johnny Chan, Matt Glantz, David ‘Bakes’ Baker, Konstantin Puchkov, Phil Ivey, Jon Turner, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Scott Seiver, Phil Galfond, John Racener, Eugene Katchalov, Vladimir Schemelev, Scott Clements and title holder Mizrachi, to name just the most renowned of the 54 railed players.
On Day 3, elimination of the best pros one after the other continued, including Chris Klodnicki, Cole South, Jeremy Ausmus, Jared Bleznick, Nick Schulman, Alexander Kostritsyn, Steve Sung, Jeff Lisandro, Calvin Anderson, Jason Mercier, Todd Brunson, George Lind, Dan Kelly, Brian Hastings, Bertrand Grospellier, Shaun Deeb, Barry Greenstein, Bill Chen, Justin Bonomo and Doyle Brunson.
Ten times WSOP champion Doyle Brunson had previously announced that he would not participate in this year’s World Series. "Afraid I am finally gonna give in to Father Time and pass on tournament play at WSOP. #toomanyhours” – he tweeted back then. Apparently, the lure of the $50,000 Players’ Championship was too much for him to resist and he even made side bets on whether he finishes in the money, makes the final table or wins the tournament. Busting out, he has lost somewhere in the register of between $80,000 and $140,000 in total, in addition to the buy-in. At best, he could have won around $800,000.
Day 4 remained rich in notable players, regardless of the eliminated big dogs. The final 26 was led by Don Nguyen with 2,059,000 in chips, while the average was 761,538. Play started on Level 17 and shortstack John Juanda was the first to be railed: in a Razz hand (5,000/25,000/50,000), his eights paired up and the queens meant the end of the tournament for him.
WSOP 2005 Main Event winner Joe Hachem followed, losing most of his chips to George Danzer in a Stud-8 hand (5,000/25,000/50,000) and then the rest to Gary Benson and Greg Mueller. Stephen Chidwick, Mueller, Erick Lindgren and WSOP 2009 $50,000 HORSE winner Bach came next, just not to appear short of top tier players this day, either.
The money bubble eventually burst at the end of Level 18, with a double elimination. In a PLO hand, Benson, Danzer and Kevin Song watched the flop come
K Q T . On the 5 turn, Benson shoved his remaining 26,000, Danzer raised but Song folded.Danzer:
K K Q 8 Benson:
A A 2 6 River:
J Benson was out but, at the same time, WSOP 1996 Main Event champion Huck Seed raised at another table in a Stud-8 hand after Joe Cassidy’s bet on the fifth street. Cassidy 3-bet all-in and Seed made the call.
Cassidy:
6 4 / 6 2 4 K / T Seed:
A A / 2 J K 6 / 6 Seed won with top two pairs and Cassidy shared the $111,893 prize money with Benson.
The eight-handed official Final Table was then formed on Level 21, Mike Gorodinsky bubbling the finale: in a PLO hand (15,000/30,000), he watched the
6 4 T flop with David Benyamine, Danzer and Minh Ly. Danzer checked, Ly bet the pot, Benyamine and Gorodinsky called and Danzer folded. The turn came J, Ly checked, Benyamine bet 380,000 and Gorodinsky called with his remaining 118,000 in chips, Ly folded.Benyamine:
A T 6 2 Gorodinsky:
A 9 8 7 River:
J The river missed Gorodinsky’s wrap and he was out in 9th place.
The final nine players bagged their chips and they return for a last tournament day with Nguyen still in the lead, sitting behind 5,068,000 in chips. However, he is accompanied by accomplished pros like Jonathan Duhamel and Benyamine, among others.
The Final Table seat draw is as follows:
Seat 1: Matthew Ashton – 2,996,000
Seat 2: Jonathan Duhamel – 1,627,000
Seat 3: Don Nguyen – 5,068,000
Seat 4: Mike Wattel – 810,000
Seat 5: George Danzer – 2,868,000
Seat 6: Minh Ly – 2,307,000
Seat 7: John Hennigan – 1,412,000
Seat 8: David Benyamine – 2,709,000
Prizes:
1st: $1,774,089
2nd: $1,096,254
3rd: $686,568
4th: $497,122
5th: $388,523
6th: $309,830
7th: $251,602
8th: $207,630
9-10th: $173,796
11-12th: $147,882
13-14th: $128,620
15-16th: $111,893
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