When PocketFives announced the 50 Greatest Players in WSOP History project, Eli Elezra narrowly made the cut, coming in at #50. On Monday, the 58-year-old made a case for an improved ranking the next time around by becoming the 47th player to win at least four bracelets. Elezra’s win was the only bracelet victory on Monday as three other events on the schedule dwindled down and two more kicked off.

Eli Elezra Wins $1,500 Seven Card Stud

Eli Elezra started the final day of the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event with the chip lead and though it wasn’t a wire-to-wire win, he did eventually beat out Anthony Zinno heads-up to win the fourth bracelet of his career and $93,766.

“I’m from the old school. I’ve still got it here, I’ve still got a feeling about hands. That’s when I know when to fold,” Elezra said after his win. “I think in the end though I was lucky because Anthony is a really good player.”

Elezra and Zinno came into the final table with over 85% of the chips in play and it was simply academic for David Singer, Rep Porter, Tab Thiptinnakon, and Valentin Vornicu to bust in front of them to lead to the seemingly inevitable heads up battle. The pair played for nearly four hours before Elezra prevailed.

This is the second time Elezra has won the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event. He won the previous one in 2015. Elezra’s other two bracelets are in Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo (2007) and Limit Deuce to Seven (2013).

Final Table Payouts

1. Eli Elezra – $93,766
2. Anthony Zinno – $57,951
3. Valentin Vornicu – $39,830
4. Tab Thiptinnakon – $27,933
5. Rep Porter – $19,996
6. David Singer – $14,619
7. Joshua Mountain – $10,920
8. Scott Seiver – $8,337

Josh Reichard Leads Final 34 in Millionaire Maker

There are just 34 players left in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker and one of them is going to win $1,000,000 this week – well, $1,344,930 to be exact. Josh Reichard, winner of 11 WSOP Circuit rings, leads the final 34 players with 20,645,000. He’s the only player with at least 20,000,000 and one of only six with 10,000,000.

Included in that second group is Andrew Hinrichsen with 18,700,000 and Cory Albertson with 15,150,000.

There are two former #1-ranked PocketFivers in the top 10. Steven van Zadelhoff sits fifth with 10,600,000 and Joao Simao ended up ninth with 9,050,000. Another former #1, Calvin Anderson, finished with the shortest stack at 1,875,000.

Samuel Cosby, who started the day with the chip lead, is still alive with 4,085,000.

There were 275 players who saw their shot at the seven-figure windfall end on Monday. Some of the notables to bust included Anthony Spinella (41st – $31,224), Jonathan Karamalikis (45th – $31,224), Bruno Politano (48th – $25,511), Joe McKeehen (65th – $17,416) Olivier Busquet (93rd – $10,399), Justin Young (102nd – $8,893), JC Tran (128th -$8,893), Daniel Buzgon (136th – $8,893), Ramon Colillas (145th – $8,893), and 2019 bracelet winner Daniel Strelitz (146th – $8,893).

The remaining players return to action Tuesday at Noon and will play down to six players. The final table is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Josh Reichard – 20,645,000
2. Andrew Hinrichsen – 18,700,000
3. Cory Albertson – 15,150,000
4. Fabian Gumz – 11,675,000
5. Steven van Zadelhoff – 10,600,000
6. Jacob Naumann – 10,565,000
7. Stephen Nussrallah – 9,960,000
8. Joao Simao – 9,050,000
9. Nathan Russler – 7,060,000
10. Damon Musgrave – 7,045,000

$1,000 Double Stack Needs Third Day; 11 Remain

The $1,000 Double Stack event was supposed to be a two-day event, but a larger-than-expected field made that nearly impossible but that’s just fine with Jorden Fox and 10 other players still chasing the $420,693 first place prize money.

The top three stacks heading into Day 3 all belong to players who call California home. Fox leads with 26,150,000 ahead of Jeffrey Smith with 21,775,000. Scott Vener, a Hollywood music supervisor, sits third with 17,600,000.

Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz was the final player to bust on Monday, finishing 12th for $28,443. Other notables that were sent to the rail on Monday included Adam Levy, Maria Ho, Dylan Linde, former #1-ranked Tim West, Pennsylvani poker pro Zach Gruneberg, Andrew Lichtenberger, Ryan Laplante, and Kelly Minkin.

The final 11 players will play down to a winner beginning at Noon.

Final 11 Chip Counts

1. Jorden Fox – 26,150,000
2. Jeffrey Smith – 21,775,000
3. Scott Vener – 17,600,000
4. Christopher Andler – 12,675,000
5. Jayachandra Gangaiah – 12,625,000
6. Sridhar Natarajan – 10,675,000
7. Ryan Teves – 8,725,000
8. Simon Legat – 7,950,000
9. Andrew Glauberg – 6,025,000
10. Atrayon Trevino – 4,550,000
11. Marco Garcia – 4,000,000

Alexander Livingston in Command in $1,500 Eight Game

Alexander Livingston almost bagged up 600,000 chips at the end of Day 2 of the $1,500 Eight Game event. He finished with 587,000 and is the only player over 500,000 and the only one over 400,000.

Chris Vitch finished with 395,000 for the second best stack on the day. Murilo Souza, who won the $1,500 HORSE event last week, sits third with 383,000. Only 28 of the 225 players who started the day managed to move on to Day 2.

Pennsylvania poker is well represented with Chris Klodnicki and Matt Glantz both finding bags at the end of the night. Chris Bjorin, Allen Kessler, and Toby Lewis also stayed alive through the 10 levels of play.

There were more than a few notable names that busted on Day 2.  Ismael Bojang, Jeff Madsen, Mike Watson, Brian Yoon, Phil Hellmuth, Yuval Bronshtein, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Phillip Hui, Marco Johnson, Dan Smith, Shaun Deeb, Patrick Leonard, Alex Foxen, and Ian O’Hara didn’t move on to Day 2 but did pick up a cash.

Day 3 starts at 2 PM PT is scheduled to play down to a champion.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Alexander Livingston – 587,000
2. Chris Vitch – 395,500
3. Murilo Souza – 383,000
4. Philip Long – 353,000
5. John Trumbul – 348,500
6. Chris Klodnicki – 348,000
7. Matt Glantz – 342,000
8. Frederik Brink – 285,500
9. John Evans – 262,000
10. Rami Boukai – 257,500

Cliff Josephy Among $600 PLO Deepstack Top 10

Day 1 of the $600 Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack event, a new event for 2019, drew 2,577 players with 215 making it through the day. Corey Wright finished as the chip leader with 1,726,000.

Former #1-ranked Cliff Josephy made his 2019 WSOP debut on Monday and seems to have made the absolute most of it, finishing in the top 10 Day 1 chip stacks.

Made it to Vegas for the $600 PLO @WSOP. Got slowrolled badly twice and busted. Bullet 2 was much better. Ended day 1 in the $ and have up 1,009,000 from 30k. Play 8k-16k tmrw at noon #ChipPorn pic.twitter.com/lklA7ro7a4

— Cliff Josephy (@JohnnyBaxPoker) June 11, 2019

There were 171 players who busted on Day 1, but still managed to make it into the money. Daniel Negreanu picked up his fifth cash of the 2019 WSOP, finishing 381st for $875. Other notables to pick up a score on Monday included Joseph Cheong, Chris Ferguson, Greg Raymer, Kenny Hallaert, Joao Vieira, and Jesse Sylvia.

The event is scheduled to wrap up on Tuesday, with cards in the air beginning at Noon.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Corey Wright – 1,726,000
2. Robert Valden – 1,275,000
3. Ryan Bambrick – 1,159,000
4. Peter Linton – 1,130,000
5. Peter Eichhardt – 1,100,000
6. Rafael Lebron – 1,059,000
7. Cliff Josephy – 1,009,000
8. Alex Feiner – 1,003,000
9. Darko Stojanovic – 987,000
10. Ioannis Angelou – 970,000

Fewer Runners in $2,620 Marathon Event

While most of the No Limit Hold’em events in the early part of the 2019 WSOP schedule have seen an uptick in attendance, the $2,620 buy-in Marathon appears to be the exception. Just 947 players bought in on Day 1, down from the 1,479 who did the same last summer. Registration is open for two more levels on Tuesday (just like 2018).

Peter Hong bagged up the chip lead, finishing the six 100-minute levels with 179,000 from a starting stack of 26,200. There’s a close group right behind with Christopher Godfrey, Scott Menard, and Thong Ho all finishing with 170,000 or more.

There were 466 players who finished Day 1 with chips as 481 were sent to the rail. Matt Berkey, Dietrich Fast, Tristan Wade, Andre Akkari, Jonathan Proudfoot, and Live at the Bike’s Ryan Feldman, were just a handful of the notables moving on to Day 2.

The event is scheduled to run until Saturday.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Peter Hong – 179,000
2. Christopher Godfrey – 177,100
3. Scott Menard – 171,700
4. Thong Ho – 170,700
5. Uri Reichenstein – 163,400
6. Vladimir Alexandrov – 163,000
7. Vladimir Revniaga – 156,000
8. Xi Yang – 155,100
9. Zu Zhou – 149,000
10. Roman Korenev – 147,400

Dave Alfa Leads $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Day 1

Dave Alfa might be leading $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event, but poker fans around the world could be rejoicing as ESPN commentator Norman Chad finished Day 1 with a top 10 stack. Alfa bagged up 87,900 while Chad finished with 48,600.

Longtime PocketFiver Andrew Kelsall finished with 69,700 for the second best stack. Poker Hall of Famer Barbara Enright finished right behind Kelsall with 68,800.

The opening day drew 460 runners, down from the 596 last year. Some of the notables among the 195 players to advance to Day 2 include Eric Rodawig, Yuval Bronshtein, Daniel Negreanu, John Racener, Michael Mizrachi, Brian Hastings, and Daniel Zack.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Dave Alfa – 87,900
2. Andrew Kelsall – 69,700
3. Barbara Enright – 68,800
4. Gregory Yohn – 65,900
5. Allen Green – 53,600
6. Bryan Pimlott – 52,100
7. Eugene Parenti – 51,400
8. Stephen Clough – 51,200
9. Anna Wroblewski – 50,200
10. Norman Chad – 48,600

WSOP PLAYER OF THE YEAR UPDATE

Dan Zack won his first bracelet in the opening days of the 2019 WSOP and has made it quite clear he intends to chase down the WSOP Player of the Year title. He now has five cashes this summer, including two since his win, and leads the POY race by

Rank	Player	Points
1	Dan Zack	1,754.40
2	Isaac Baron	1,396.76
3	Femi Fashakin	1,384.62
4	Brett Apter	1,356.43
5	Daniel Strelitz	1,353.20
6	Ben Heath	1,339.27
7	Jeremy Pekarek	1,278.95
8	Frankie O’Dell	1,259.10
9	Ben Yu	1,219.61
10	Scott Clements	1,217.26

STREAMING SCHEDULE

The $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven final table featuring Jean-Robert Belland, Prahlad Friedman, Paul Volpe, Darren Elias, and Jim Bechtel gets underway at NOON PT and will be streamed on both PokerGO and CBS All Access.

TUESDAY at the WSOP