Russia's Andrey Zhigalov captures his first career gold bracelet in Event #15: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

The weekend brought out all of the superstars to the halls of the Rio for the 49th Annual World Series of Poker. As one more tournament came to a conclusion, one of the largest tournaments of the summer, the Millionaire Maker, saw thousands of players begin their latest journey.

Here’s a wrap-up of everything that happened on Saturday (June 9) at the WSOP.

Zhigalov Wins H.O.R.S.E.

It only took 20 minutes on an unscheduled Day 4 for Andrey Zhigalov to defeat Timothy Frazin heads-up in Event #15: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Zhigalov wins the $202,787 first place prize and his first career WSOP gold bracelet.

After a three hour battle on Day 3 late into the night, play was suspended for the night and the pair came back ready to go back to war. However, a long match was not in the cards and an excited Zhigalov closed out a career-defining win.

“I was excited to make Day 2, then I got excited to make Day 3, and then here I was on Day 4,” Zhigalov said, speaking about his journey. “I usually only play limit mixed games. When I play Hold’em and look down at two cards, I think ‘Where are my other cards? Two cards is kind of boring.”

Final Table Results For Event #15

1. Andrey Zhigalov – $202,787
2. Timothy Frazin – $125,336
3. Bradley Smith – $87,769
4. Matt Woodward – $62,379
5. Nicholas Derke – $45,006
6. Sandeep Vasudevan – $32,971
7. Scott Clements – $24,531
8. JW Smith – $18,541

Schulman, D’Angelo Final Table Event #17

Bracelet winner Joey Weissman will head into the final table of Event #17: $1,500 NLHE 6-Handed with a substantial chip lead. However, he’s not the only bracelet winner to reach the final six, in what turned out to be a stacked final table.

Popular poker pro and two-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman, as well as bracelet winners Ryan ‘g0lfa’ D’Angelo and China’s Yue Du will also be in the hunt for the $378,743 first place prize.

The day started with 27 players and so it only took a swift six hours of play to whittle the field down to the final table.

The final six will reconvene at 12:00 noon on Sunday to play to a winner with the final table live-streamed on PokerGo beginning at 1:00 pm PT.

Event #17 Final Table Chip Counts

1. Joey Weissman – 3,683,000
2. Ognyan Dimov – 2,560,000
3. Ryan D’Angelo – 2,350,000
4. Antonio Barbato – 2,205,000
5. Nick Schulman – 861,000
6. Yue Du – 796,000

Three Left In $10K Dealer’s Choice

The evening came to an end in Event #18: $10,000 Dealer’s Choice with three players remaining to play for the bracelet and the $293,275 first place prize.

Bracelet winner Adam Friedman holds the chip lead over Alexey Makarov and Stuart Rutter when the trio return to wrap this up Sunday afternoon at 2 pm PT.

Chris Klodnicki ($90,713), David “ODB” Baker ($65,308), Anthony Zinno ($35,082) and Jesse Martin ($26,184) were among the 13 players who started the day but were ultimately busted during the day.

Final Table Chipstacks In Event #18

1. Adam Friedman – 3,075,000
2. Alexey Makarov – 1,325,000
3. Stuart Rutter – 1,145,000

Unofficial Final Table Set for $565 PLO

Day 2 of Event #19: $565 Pot Limit Omaha is in the books and only ten of the 100 players that started the day remain with chips. Canada’s Maxine Heroux returns as the chip leader when the unofficial final reconvenes to determine a winner of the WSOP gold bracelet and the over $181,000 first place prize.

Joining Heroux and in pursuit of his fourth WSOP victory is fellow Canadian and former World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel. Duhamel will enter the day as the only bracelet winner at the final table and fifth in chips.

The contest will be settled on Day 3 which begins Sunday at 2 pm PT.

Event # 19 Final Table Chip Counts

1. Maxime Heroux – 2,530,000
2. Criag Varnell – 1,570,000
3. Ilian Lu – 1,410,000
4. Christopher Trang – 1,350,000
5. Jonathan Duhamel – 1,120,000
6. Seth Zimmerman – 1,020,000
7. Jason Lipiner – 850,000
8. Conway Frankenheimer – 760,000
9. Omar Mehmood – 700,000
10. Shaome Yang – 635,000

$5K Big Blind Ante Enters Final Day

The elite field of Event #20: $5,000 Big Blind Ante NLHE slimmed down to just 24 after a long day of Day 2 play. At the end of the day, Chris Bolek claimed the overnight chip lead, However, there are plenty of big-name, high-stakes crushers hot on his heels.

A number of notable names still remain to vie for the $537,710 first place prize including Jake Schindler, Shawun Buchanan, Seth Davies, Michael Gagliano, Kristen Bicknell and David Peters.

There were also plenty of players who managed to make the money but were unable to survive the day. Dominil Nitsche ($14,572), Justin Bonomo ($12,331), Bryn Kenney ($10,639), Humberto Brenes ($8,506), Erik Seidel ($7,860),  Kitty Kuo ($7,860) and Olivier Busquet ($7,435) all hit the payout cage on Day 2.

Event #20 is scheduled to play to a winner on Day 3 starting at 2 pm PT on Sunday.

Event #20 Top 10 Chip Stacks

1. Chris Bolek – 1,129,000
2. Kenneth Smaron – 990,000
3. Jake Schindler – $926,000
4. Ran Ilani – 924,000
5. Shawn Buchanan – 846,000
6. Seth Davies – 812,000
7. Asi Moshe – 698,000
8. Peter Neff – 683,000
9. David Laka – 673,000
10. Patrick Truong – 655,000

Over 3000 Register For Milly Maker Day 1A

Event #21: $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker saw 3,046 runners flood the convention halls of the Rio to take their shot at turning a little bit of money into a lifetime score.

At the end of the day, Canadian Kyle Hartree ran his stack up to bag the overnight chip lead for this opening flight. There were a number of notable names who also managed to end the evening with a top 10 stack including James Dempsey, JC Tran, Blair Hinkle, Jack Sinclair, Michael Gathy and Faraz Jaka.

Plenty of poker superstars survived the day as well. Main Event Champions Ryan Reiss, Martin Jacobson, Joe Cada, Joe McKeehen, Chris Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth all made it through with healthy stacks. Also still left in the field is Shaun Deeb, Adrian Mateos, Lily Kiletto, Mike Dentale, Loni Harwood, Niall Farrell, Tony Dunst and ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey, just to name a few.

The total number of participants and prize pool money will be announced once registration for the second flight of this massive tournament closes on Sunday.

Millionaire Maker Day 1A Top Ten

1. Kyle Hartree – 208,500
2. James Dempsey – 167,400
3. Nick Schwarmann – 165,800
4. JC Tran – 140,200
5. Blair Hinkle – 124,400
6. Jake Daniels – 116,400
7. Jack Sinclair – 109,400
8. Faraz Jaka – 105,000
9. Rees Scruggs – 102,400
10. Michael Gathy – 86,500

Turner Leads In 8-Game Mix

481 players showed up to register for Event #22: $1,500 8-Game Mix, generating a first place prize of over $147,000.

The man in the best position to capture that headed into Day 2 is chip leader Jon Turner. However, a mixed game tournament, no matter the buy-in, is bound to draw some big name competition and that is exactly what Turner faces moving forward. David Bach, Amnon Filippi, Fabrice Soulier, Valentin Vornicu and Daniel Negreanu all managed to bag top 10 chip stacks.

There are 134 players left, 70 of which will make the money when play resumes at 2 pm PT on Sunday.

Upcoming Action (June 10)

Sunday brings the second flight of Event #21B: $1,500 Millionaire Maker at 10 am PT.

Event #23: $10,000 No-Limit Lowball Championship will also get underway at 3:00 pm PT. Last year saw 92 players enter with eventual winner John Monnette collect over $256,000 for first place.

Finally, the second flight of Event #11B: PLO GIANT will take place at 7:00 pm PT. The first flight which took place on June 4 saw 423 runners register. Lubbock, Texas’ Pedro Arroyos finished the day with 1,757,000 chips to lead all players.