WSOP: Hollis Wins Employees Event, Team Negreanu Leading Tag Team
It only took until Day 2 of the 2017 World Series of Poker to get the first bracelet win out of the way, but that might not have been the top story of the day. The Tag Team event played down to a final six teams and Daniel Negreanu has his team on top heading into the final day.
Annual WSOP Trip Turns to Gold for Bryan Hollis
Bryan Hollis, a 33-year-old from Maryland, took down the $565 Casino Employees event for a $68,817 score. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t played a single tournament all year.
“This is my first tournament since playing this event last year,” said Hollis. “This is my first cash. I’ve played the Millionaire Maker once and this is the third year in a row I’ve played the employee event. I’ve actually never made it past the first break, except in the Millionaire Maker.”
Hollis began the final table in the middle of the pack and navigated his through the final 8 players, including runner-up Christopher Solomon, to win the first bracelet of his career.
Final Table Payouts
- Bryan Hollis – $68,817
- Christopher Solomon – $42,508
- Joshua Clanton – $29,372
- Jermel Stephens $20,629
- Alex Cordova – $14,731
- Adem Arbuckle – $10,698
- Christopher Gallagher – $7,903
- Vincent Russell – $5,941
- Victor Kim – $4,547
Team Negreanu on Top With Six Teams Left
Before the 2017 WSOP began, Daniel Negreanu had declared his intention to win three WSOP bracelets. On Thursday he got himself within striking distance of the first one, thanks to his team’s success in the $10,000 Tag Team Championship.
Team Negreanu, which also includes Eric Wasserson, David Benyamine and Mark Gregorich, sits on top of the field with jus six teams remaining with 1,498,000. They’re the only team with over a million in chips.
Sitting in second is the team of Anthony Ajlouny, David Fong and Mike McClain with 932,000. Even with just six teams left, there’s a lot of high profile players still in the field including Liv Boeree, Igor Kurganov, Ankush Mandavia, Joe Kuether, former WSOP Main Event champ Martin Jacobson, and Mark Radoja.
Doug Polk‘s team, which was on top when Day 2 began, was eliminated before making the money.
The final table resumes at 2 pm PT on Friday.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Daniel Negreanu – Eric Wasserson – David Benyamine – Mark Gregorich – 1,498,000
- Anthony Ajlouny – David Fong – Mike McClain – 932,000
- Liv Boeree – Igor Kurganov – 929,000
- Ankush Mandavia – Joe Kuether – 800,000
- Martin Jacobson – Mark Radoja – 632,000
- Javier Gomez – Lander Lijo – 287,000
50 Advance to $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout Second Round
Shootout tournaments are built on a pretty simple premise: win your table and move on to the next round. The $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout started on Friday with 369 entries and by the end of the day just 50 players were left standing.
Among the bigger names to move on to the second round, and earn a WSOP cash in the process, were Taylor Paur, Matt Glantz, Dominik Nitsche, Olivier Busquet, Andre Akkari and James Obst.
The remaining players return to the Rio at Noon on Friday to play the second round.
Rex Clinkscales Tops $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or Better Day 1
The first non-NLHE event of the 2017 WSOP got underway at 3 pm with 905 players ponying up $1,500 to play Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or Better. Just 254 players advanced to Day 2 with Rex Clinkscales leading the way with 96,200.
Day 2 starts at 2 pm PT.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Rex Clinkscales – 96,200
- James Chen – 92,400
- Aaron Steury – 64,100
- Ben Ludlow – 56,100
- Ziya Rahim – 54,600
- Hameed Hamid – 53,000
- Richard Bai – 51,900
- Shirley Rosario – 42,000
- Jon Turner – 35,300
- Tuan Le – 34,500
