This year's WSOP festival is already in full swing and has done more than enough in the first month. In the cradle of gambling, we witnessed the crowning of many champions, again there were lot of tense moments, we also saw a lost bracelet and even saw 43 rounds fired in one tournament. Every week brings us interesting stories from Las Vegas.
As usual, in the stacked tournament schedule, some events stand out above the others, but the highlight of the last few days was clearly the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. The demanding mix of poker disciplines has been taking place since 2006, when the legendary Chip Reese made his debut, after whom the unique trophy from this event is named. Since then, the tournament has undergone several changes and from the original H.O.R.S.E. format finally settled on a mix of nine poker disciplines (No-Limit Hold'em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, Razz, Pot-Limit Omaha, Limit Hold'em, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, and 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw.)
The most famous names of this tournament are definitely the already mentioned Chip Reese, who left us in 2008, right behind him are certainly worth mentioning Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, who was the only one who managed to win this tournament three times, or Brian Rast, who won twice in years 2011 and 2016. Well, after yesterday, this club will extend by another name.
The name is none other than Daniel "Jungleman" Cates, the reigning champion of the event, who won last year in a field of 63 entries. This year it was not so easy, for the first time since 2014 the entry counter crossed the magic hundred and finally stopped at the number 112, meaning a prizepool worth $5,362,000.
The star-studded tournament delivered a 5-day portion of great poker, ended by an incredible heads-up. In it, Jungleman (this time disguised as Macho Man) and Yuri Dzivielski met, while neither of them wanted to go home with the title of runner-up. And the result of this battle? Over 7 hours of challenging heads-up, during which the chips literally flowed from side to side!
Whether it was the massive Brazilian rail of the pp gameroom ambassador, or the presence of home fans rooting for Jungleman, the hall was resounding many times with triumphant shouts that sometimes pleased one side, sometimes the other. The grueling marathon was finally ended by the NLH hand, in which Dzivielski sent his 8bb into play with Q 5 and Jungleman decided to call with J 4. The four of hearts right in the window finally sealed the fates of both players and ended this bloodthirsty battle with the triumph of Dan Cates, who took home his second PPC title and with it a prize of $1,449,103.
