It’s been a good week at the World Series of Poker with some international players snagging bracelets. Players from France, Japan, and Taiwan all scored tournament wins.
With the $10,000 Main Event starting next week, several other players made final table appearances as well. Here’s a look at some of the headlines from the Rio in Las Vegas over the last week.
Event 41: $2,500 Freezeout NLHE
A player from Taiwan won this event to become the second player from that country to win during the series. Carlos Chang won his first bracelet for $364,589 in an event with a field of 896 entries and a $1.9 million prize pool.
Chang has made a few WSOP final table appearances over the last few years. However, this time he broke through with a win with Brady Osterman taking second for $225,333.
Chang had confidence going into the final table and was pleased to finally break through with a victory.
“I told myself, this year if I make a final table, I will win the bracelet,” he told WSOP.com afterward. “And it happened! I am pretty excited. I was focused all day and yesterday.”
Event 48: $5,000 Freezeout NLHE Eight-Handed
It was a nice week for French poker fans with France’s Alexandre Reard securing his first bracelet in this tournament. The event produced 491 players for a $1.9 million prize pool.
Reard took $428,694 for the top spot. Already with a resumé packed with numerous big finishes around the world, he now adds a WSOP title as well. Reard’s lifetime tournament winnings now top $3.4 million.
Online Event 5: $1,000 Online Bracelet Championship
The online bracelet action continued on Sunday at WSOP.com. Japan’s Kazuki “hyahhoo3” Ikeuchi took down this event for $152,797. The tournament saw 854 entries for a prize pool of $768,000.
In September, Ikeuchi came close to winning a bracelet in the GGPoker WSOP Online. He finished runner-up in the $500 Closer for $ 270,127. Just over a month later, Ikeuchi now adds a bracelet.
A look at some other WSOP winners
Plenty of other international players have made deep runs as well over the last week. Some of the best of those came from Japan’s Kosei Ichinose and Canada’s David Guay.
Both players found runner-up finishes with Ichinose pocketing $67,796 in Event 44: $3,000 Six-Handed Limit Hold’em.
Guay grabbed a silver medal in Event 45: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Eight-Handed Championship for $276,269.
French players continue to run deep as well. Ivan Deyra took fourth in Event 39: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha for $64,890.
In the Event 49: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship, Germany’s Johannes Becker took runner-up for $183,591. The UK’s Benny Glaser finished third for $132,685 and France’s Julien Martini took sixth for $54,359.
Argentina’s Andres Jeckeln secured a nice finish in In Event 46: $800 NLHE Deepstack. He scored third for $98,269. Ivan Uzunov, of Bulgaria, finished fifth for $55,279.
Colten Yamagishi, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, finished fourth in Event 50: $600 Mixed NLHE/PLO Deepstack for $42,192. Austria’s Hanan Braun took fifth for $31,425.
The $3,000 Six-Handed NLHE (Event 51) saw three international players make final table appearances including:
- 4th – Nick Yunis (Chile), $141,478
- 5th – Jun Obara (Japan), $100,827
- 6th – Francisco Benitez (Uruguay) – $73,107
Previewing upcoming events
Action continues in Las Vegas through mid-November with plenty of tournaments still on tap. The $400 Colossus kicks off Friday and once again should bring in huge fields.
Several other events also get underway including the Super Seniors and Poker Players Championship all getting started as well. Some group play also begins this weekend with the Tag Team event.
The sixth online bracelet event is also set for Sunday at WSOP.com with a Halloween-friendly buy-in of $666. Here are the events coming this weekend.
- 55: $400 Colossus NLHE – starting flights Oct. 29, 30,
- 56: $10,000 Six-Handed NLHE Championship – Oct. 29
- 57: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship – Oct. 30
- 58: $1,000 Super Seniors NLHE – Oct. 31
- 59: $1,000 Tag Team NLHE – Oct. 31
- 60: $50,000 Poker Players Championship – Oct. 31
- Online Event 6: $666 NLHE – Oct. 31
* Lead image courtesy PokerGO