If the WSOP in Vegas is like a religious experience for some, then Michael Christ took it a step further last night by bagging gold, with Stephen Winters and Nick Schulman also tasting victory. Meanwhile, all eyes are now on Phil Ivey, who is on course to land bracelet number 11!
Event #27: $1,500 Big O
We’ll start with Christ’s win which saw him top a field of 1555 players, taking the top prize of $306,884 from the $2,075,925 prizepool.
Day 3 saw Sammy Farha still in the mix, but the legend fell in 11th spot, and it was Christ who pulled away, eliminating five of his final table opponents.
Claiming his poker ethos was “play bad and get lucky!”, Christ revealed “never in a million years did I think it would be me as the last one standing.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Michael Christ | USA | $306,884 |
| 2 | Matthew Beinner | USA | $204,601 |
| 3 | Dylan Lindsey | USA | $146,595 |
| 4 | Eduardo Lezcano | USA | $106,315 |
| 5 | Matthew Bretzfield | USA | $78,056 |
| 6 | Damjan Radanov | USA | $58,025 |
| 7 | Tomoki Matsuda | Japan | $43,681 |
| 8 | John Bunch | USA | $33,035 |
Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold’em
Earlier in the day the monster field of 20,647 in the $300 buy-in Gladiators of Poker had also been whittled down to leave just one man standing, and that man was Stephen Winters.
The recreational player was as surprised as anyone to find himself heads-up for the title, revealing he only plays “a few small tournaments each year”.
The final hand saw all the chips go in on the turn, with Winters accidentally declaring all-in out of turn! Britton checked, then still called the all-in, but the river bricked, and Winters took the bracelet.
Simon Britton: J♦ 10♦
Stephen Winters: K♥ 9♥
Flop: 9♣ 10♥ Q♣
Turn: J♠
River: Q♠
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Stephen Winters | USA | $401,210 |
| 2 | Simon Britton | USA | $253,300 |
| 3 | Quang Vu | USA | $192,030 |
| 4 | Brendon Herrick | USA | $146,450 |
| 5 | James Morgan | USA | $112,350 |
| 6 | Sung Pil Kim | USA | $86,710 |
| 7 | Steve Foutty | USA | $67,320 |
| 8 | Jordan Johnson | USA | $52,590 |
| 9 | Caleb Levesque | USA | $41,337 |
Event #26: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (8-Handed)
The third bracelet of the day went to Nick Schulman, the ever-popular commentator and pro, and it was his 5th career WSOP gold and his first in a non-mixed event.
Record-setting 318 entries had produced a $7,473,000 prizepool, naturally attracting the world’s elite highroller players.
Scott Seiver, Kristen Foxen, Dan Smith, Bryn Kenney, Phil Ivey and Justin Bonomo all made the paid spots, but the final table was all Schulman. After winning an early flip against Noel Rodriguez, the same duo contested the heads-up, the final hand below:
Noel Rodriguez: J♣ 2♣
Nick Schulman: 10♦ 4♣
Flop: 2♠ 8♣ 10♣
The action flop saw all the chips eventually go in, Rodriguez needing to improve his bottom pair and flush draw. It wasn’t to be…
Turn: 6♠
River: 6♥
…and Schulman had added another bracelet to his resume.
Final table results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize | |
| 1 | Nick Schulman | USA | $1,667,842 | |
| 2 | Noel Rodriguez | USA | $1,111,897 | |
| 3 | Dean Lyall | UK | $760,083 | |
| 4 | David Stamm | USA | $529,833 | |
| 5 | Ben Heath | UK | $376,762 | |
| 6 | Roberto Perez | Spain | $273,414 | |
| 7 | Yingui Li | China | $202,574 | |
| 8 | Shaun Deeb | USA | $153,302 |
Meanwhile, Phil Ivey was chasing his 11th WSOP title…
Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship (6-Handed)
Only 13 of the 149 starters remain but what a line-up it is, with Ivey joined by Jason Mercier, Benny Glaser, Justin Saliba and Allen Kessler in the chase for WSOP gold and the $347,440 top prize.
It has been a decade now since Ivey last took down a WSOP bracelet but with seven of his rivals also boasting of their winner’s circle credentials, it will be a tough ask for the poker legend.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | |
| 1 | Danny Wong | USA | 1,315,000 | |
| 2 | Jason Mercier | USA | 1,165,000 | |
| 3 | Benny Glaser | United Kingdom | 1,025,000 | |
| 4 | Philip Sternheimer | USA | 790,000 | |
| 5 | Phil Ivey | USA | 755,000 | |
| 6 | Justin Saliba | USA | 670,000 | |
| 7 | Tobias Leknes | Norway | 605,000 | |
| 8 | Allen Kessler | USA | 585,000 | |
| 9 | Renan Bruschi | Brazil | 575,000 | |
| 10 | Jonathan Cohen | USA | 545,000 |
We’ll be back tomorrow with an update on how Ivey got on as well as all the best of the rest of the action, so be sure to check in!
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