One of our first-time bracelet winners from Saturday has made five career WSOP PLO final tables, including a runner-up finish in last year’s $25K. Another just won his first bracelet in what’s also his first recorded live cash. The third won his bracelet whilst sat in front of a computer. That, and plenty more, from Saturday’s action at the 2017 World Series of Poker.

Tommy Le Finally Captures WSOP Gold

“It is time to finally win one of these. It would be sad to go zero for six.”

Those were the pre-final table words of Tommy Le, a five-time PLO final tablist who was yet to win a bracelet. Last year, he finished the $25K PLO in second place, behind only Jens ‘Jeans’ Kyllönen. Not content with the $696K he won then, Le returned to the Rio this year to play Event #54: the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship. Four days later, it’s Le who came out on top.

For first place, Le banks a massive $938,732 and his first bracelet, defeating a tough final table which included 2011 November Niner Eoghan O’Dea and two-time PLO bracelet winnerScott ‘BigRiskky’ Clements.

When Le got heads up against Chris Lee, Le held a 2:1 chip lead which he’d never give up. After an hour of one-on-one play, Lee found himself all in with bottom two pair against Le’s top and bottom pair, which held up.

“I think I had the worst seat at the table,” Le said. “Last night was pretty smooth. I was cruising all the way and had a pretty good grip on the table. But today was a whole lot different. I think everybody came fresh with a game plan, and they did the homework on me.

“Scott [Clements] had a game plan, and he made it really really difficult for me to play. He took me out of my element. I came back from dinner and re-strategized, I had to come in with a different game plan, and it worked out.”

Le is an entrepreneur from California. “I don’t play poker for a living, but at the same time I am not bad at it,” he said. “You could say I am a tough fish. I am strong fish.”

Final table payouts:

1. Tommy Le – $938,732
2. Chris Lee – $580,177
3. Hani Mio – $397,836
4. Scott Clements – $277,768
5. Jason DeWitt – $197,533
6. Eoghan O’Dea – $143,128
7. Murat Tulek – $105,705
8. Miltiadis Kyriakides – $79,599

$5K NLHE Reaches Final Table

Three days, 623 players, 27 levels, and now just nine remain in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Event #56).

Norberto Korn of Taiwan comes in to the final table as chip leader, and he’s joined by an Argentinian, a Belgian, a Spaniard, a Hungarian, and four Americans. Arguably the most well-known of the bunch is Mike Sowers, who sits fourth in the counts.

A whole bunch of big names fell during the course of Day 3’s action, including Aditya Agarwal, Julian Stuer, Matt Stout, Dietrich Fast, Damian Salas, Juha Helppi, Barny Boatman, Mike Watson, Pascal Hartman, Matt Affleck, and Pierre Neuville. Former online #1 player Ari Engel narrowly missed out on a final nine spot, finishing 13th for $25,365.

Play resumes at 1 PM PT Sunday, with $618,285 going to the champ.

Final table chip counts:

1. Norberto Korn – 4,040,000
2. Thomas Boivin – 3,190,000
3. Marton Czuczor – 1,750,000
4. Mike Sowers – 1,630,000
5. Simon Lam – 1,450,000
6. Mark Zullo – 975,000
7. Pete Chen – 910,000
8. Sergio Cabrera – 890,000
9. Andy Spears – 740,000

Smith Sirisakorn Scoops Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo Bracelet for First Recorded Cash

While the likes of Barry Greenstein, Jared Bleznick and Alex Luneau are well known to most poker fans, the name Smith Sirisakorn probably isn’t. That’s because, before Saturday, Smith Sirisakorn had no recorded live cashes to his name.

Now he’s a bracelet winner, having taken down the$2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Mix.

The cash game player and restaurant operator said: “I’m not playing many tournaments. I used to work as an attorney. I’m in a shock. I’m still kinda dazed.”

Sirisakorn started the day third in chips, while start-of-day chip leader Luneau would become the first player to exit the final table. Greenstein exited in seventh, before Bleznick busted in third. That left Sirisakorn heads-up with Jameson Painter, who held a 3:2 chip lead.

“If you saw my cards, I was running good,” Sirisakorn admitted. “Caught some good flops, good turns, good rivers… and it worked out.”

He went on to win his first bracelet, his first live cash, and $215,902. This event had 405 entries, and played out over three days.

Final Table Payouts

1. Smith Sirisakorn – $215,902
2. Jameson Painter – $133,431
3. Jared Bleznick – $90,640
4. Larry Tull – $62,796
5. Samoeun Mon – $44,388
6. John Sorgen – $32,026
7. Barry Greenstein – $23,595
8. Bonnie Rossi – $17,760
9. Alex Luneau – $13,662

Former #1 PocketFiver Headlines Final 28 in $1,500 NLHE

Peter Coulombe may have the chip lead with 28 remaining in Event #58: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, but it’s the man in second place who will be most familiar to longtime PocketFivers.

Former #1 ranked online player Taylor Paur is sitting near the top of the counts, joined by Asi Moshe and Roman Korenev.

The 1,763 field was down to 269 at the start of Saturday’s action, and along the way they lost the likes of Phil Laak, Kenny Hallaert, and Chance Kornuth.

Meanwhile, start-of-day chip leader Martin Kabrhelis still alive, sitting in 13th place.

Day 3 kicks off at midday Sunday, with $395,918 going to the winner.

Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Peter Coulombe – 1,443,000
2. Taylor Paur – 927,000
3. Asi Moshe – 886,000
4. Mario Prats – 734,000
5. Roman Korenev – 691,000
6. Goran Mandic – 562,000
7. Arman Zolnoorian – 558,000
8. Nicolas Careme – 535,000
9. John Phan – 520,000
10. Felipe Casanova – 507,000

Big Bet Mix Gets Down to Six

Another final table will be taking place on Sunday, as only six players remain in the $2,500 Big Bet Mix (Event #59).

Thirty seven of the 179 who started this event came back for Saturday’s Day 2; among them Brian Rast, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Mike Matusow, David ‘ODB’ Baker, and Ismael Bojang. However, none of those names could make it down to the final table.

It’s Jens Lakemeier who holds the chip lead, followed by Jerry Wong, Jason Stockfish, Ashton Griffin, Andrew Kelsall, and Kenneth Fitzgerald.

Action resumes Sunday at 2pm, with $112,232 and a WSOP gold bracelet awaiting the victor.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Jens Lakemeier – 702,000
2. Jerry Wong – 680,000
3. Jason Stockfish – 514,000
4. Ashton Griffin – 232,500
5. Andrew Kelsall – 185,500
6. Kenneth Fitzgerald – 143,000

Crazy Eights Draws Big Numbers

With $888,888 guaranteed for first place in a tournament with just an $888 buy-in, the Crazy Eights event was always going to attract a lot of runners. It did just that, with 1,506 entering Day 1A and 1,664 entering Day 1B (both of which took place Saturday).

A total of 58 players made it through 1A, while 85 survived 1B.

Unofficial chip leader coming in to day 2 is Seville Hale with 713,000. Other notables who made it through include Jason Wheeler(491,000), recent bracelet winnerBen Yu (275,000),Chris Ferguson(66,000),Eric Baldwin (424,000), and Terrence Chan(80,000).

Two more Day 1 flights will take place on Sunday, before all survivors combine for Day 2 on Monday.

Thomas ‘FLOATZ’ Cannuli Wins Online High Roller Bracelet

Late Saturday night, the player known on WSOP.com as “FLOATZ” took down the $3,333 WSOP.com Online No Limit Hold’em High Roller for $322,815.

The final hand saw a double elimination. Thomas ‘FLOATZ’ Cannuliheld pocket tens, while ‘HLEDERERER’ and ‘BeatrixKiddo’ both held ace-three offsuit. The board ran out clean for the tens and that meant we had a champion.

This event had 424 total entries, creating a prize pool of $1,335,600, which paid the top 54 spots.

Final Table Payouts

1. Thomas ‘FLOATZ’ Cannuli – $322,815
2. BeatrixKiddo – $201,408
3. HLEDERERER – $136,231
4. Pepperprince – $97,232
5. LegionofBoom – $66,112
6. bk1048 – $47,547
7. AllinVin138 – $34,859
8. holdNfold – $26,178
9. Undisputed23 – $20,168