WSOP Day 28 Review: Four WSOP Winners Crowned as Brian Rast Wins Fifth Bracelet

Another bumper day of World Series of Poker action saw four WSOP event winners across different events, with first-time winners joining five-time champion Brian Rast and four-time winner Farzad Bonyadi in celebrating WSOP gold.

Bonyadi’s victory came in the stunning finale to the $10,000-entry No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship, where Bonyadi triumphed against Johannes Becker heads-up to take the title. Also at the final table was Daniel Negreanu, Jake Schwartz and Julien Martini and there were some surprise placings as the short-stacks fought back.

You can watch all the action from the Thunderdome at the Rio in Las Vegas right here.

In Event #48, Gershon Distenfeld took the WSOP bracelet as the first-time winner bagged the top prize of $204,063 after a three-hour heads-up saw the philanthropic poker player triumph and pledge to donate his entire winnings to charity. It’s an incredible gesture, made all the more special by the fact that he beat such a quality final table to do so.

It was a ten-strong final day, and Distenfeld was off to a greats tart when he busted Craig Trost with pocket aces. It wasn’t long before other quality players left the field, with Thomas Boivin busted first at the official final table of eight, shortly followed by Ari Engel, who fell short in his attempt to win an unbelievable third WSOP bracelet this series.

Down to the business end of the tournament, the chips were very even, and heads-up, Johan Schumacher held a 2:1 chip lead, but the generous Distenfeld took the title to the celebration of his rail and the benefit of plenty of charitable causes.

Event #50 saw a fast-paced final table conclude with Darrin Wright holding a brand-new WSOP bracelet as the first-time winner saw off the challenge of Victor Paredes heads-up. At what was an entertaining final table, Wright’s stunning win symbolized his only cash in World Series events, making it all the more special to seal victory.

With others such as Dan Zack (57th for $1,974), Mark Seif (31st for $3,717) and Justin Lapka (27th for $3,717) and Lee Watkinson (23rd for $4,493) all missing out on additional WSOP bracelets, the race for gold saw the remaining 22 players all battle for what they knew would be their first bracelet and it created a special atmosphere inside the Rio.

Brian Rast won his fifth WSOP bracelet in thrilling fashion as he took down the $3,000-entry six-max event under the lights on Wednesday night.

Rast’s victory comes after what he admitted afterwards has been an extended period away from the tables, but he has clearly lost none of his mercurial powers at the felt, seeing off the challenge of players such as Tuan Phan, Nick Yunis and heads-up opponent John Gallaher along the way.

Day 1a of the $1,000-entry Seniors Championship saw George Bronstein total the largest number of chips as he piled up 585,000 to lead the remaining field of 486 players.

With 2,432 total players taking to the felt in one of the most popular ‘traditional’ events of the World Series, there were some big names involved, with ‘Miami’ John Cernuto (355,500), David Slaughter (351,500) and Giuseppe Iadisernia (330,500) all making the top 10 chipcounts.

Elsewhere, top names such as Jack McClelland (175,000), JJ Liu (170,000) and David Pham (139,500) all made the Day 2 seat draw, with some that missed out being former WSOP Main Event winners Robert Varkonyi and Tom MvEvoy, poker legend Barry Greenstein and female poker stars with Kathy Liebert and Linda Johnson.

Local player Eric Kurtzman bagged the chip lead on Day 1 of Event #52, the $25,000-entry Pot Limit Omaha High Roller. Kurtzman ended proceedings on 773,500 chips as he edged out players such as Joseph Cheong (592,000), Yuval Bronshtein (580,000) and Shaun Deeb (566,500) behind him.

After 170 entries translated into 107 survivors, there were appearances from superstars of the game such as Chance Kornuth(547,000), Dylan Weisman (506,500) and Sam Soverel (491,000) also in the top 10, it’s sure to be an intense Day 2 at the felt, with registration open until the first card hits the felt.

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