WSOP Day 17 Recap: Weinman and Ullmann Win First Bracelets, Hastings Claims Sixth

A huge day of action in Las Vegas saw three bracelets won and four more tournaments progress towards the final stages, with Daniel Weinman one of two debut bracelet winners on the day. In another dramatic conclusion to the day, Brian Hastings finally edged out Eric Wasserson to claim his sixth WSOP bracelet and put his name even higher in the historical rankings of successful WSOP players.

Weinman Wins PLO8-Max Bracelet for $255,000

Daniel Weinman started the ball rolling for bracelet winners when he saw off Chino Rheem among others at the 8-handed PLO $1,000 buy-in event at Bally’s in Las Vegas. The final eight players gathered with Ruslan Dykshteyn the first to go before former bracelet winner Stephen Song busting in seventh place fort $38,364.

Rheem would not last the distance as he became the chip leader then busted out in fifth place after several confrontations in terms of playing hands against Germandio Andoni. Rheem’s exit gave Weinman a chance to become the dominant force at the felt and he grabbed that opportunity with both hands.

Getting to heads-up with a lead of 23 million to 13 million chips, Weinman got the better of Jamey Hendrickson in an all-American clash when his flopped two pair survived both turn and river with Hendrickson needing to hit, giving him the runner-up prize of $157,819 and handing Weinman the win for $255,359, the fourth-largest result of his live poker career after his wins in the WPT and in the WSOP Circuit event in Cherokee, meaning he added a bracelet to his circuit ring with victory in Vegas today.

Brian Hastings Wins Sixth WSOP Bracelet

Brian Hastings won his sixth WSOP bracelet on Thursday night as he outlasted a stacked final table full of superstars at Bally’s. With messrs Shaun Deeb (4^th for $94,606) and Dan Zack (3^rd for $129,760) both going close to more bracelet glory, an entertaining seven-handed final also saw Yuval Bronshtein, who is having a spectacular series full of deep runs, cash again for Israel.

After Bronshtein left in seventh for $40,494, both Jordan Siegel and Marco Johnson lost their seats. Then it was the turn of both Deeb and Zack, both of whom cashed in big scores and – just as vital – Player of the Year and $25k Fantasy points.

That all left Wasserson battling Hastings for the win, but when Hastings, who began with a solid lead in the first place, had eight-high, Wasserson slid his cards into the muck and fell just short of winning his first-ever bracelet, instead seeing Hastings pick one up for a sixth time. Hastings, now with north of $4.7 million in live poker earnings and $3.4 million at the World Series of Poker alone, celebrated his latest bracelet win in style on the rail.

Ullmann Claims Victory for Maiden Bracelet

German player Nino Ullmann won his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet after an incredible 10 hours at the felt on the final day of the $3,000-entry 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Event #33. With 55 players returning to the felt, Ullmann went wire-to-wire, holding the lead when play kicked off and retaining it as the final hand played down to the river.

Winning by far the biggest money of his career so far in the top prize of $594,079, Ullmann defeated players such as four-time WPT champion Darren Elias and five-time WSOP bracelet winner David Peters at the final table.

The final table saw six-handed poker of the highest quality as Spanish player Lander Lijo was the first to depart. He busted with ace-jack which was unable to hit against Ullmann’s red pocket sevens and that was a sign of things to come, with Ullmann grabbing the lead over Elias with that pot.

Next to go was Peters in a surprise exit as he sat third in chips when five began to play to a winner. After an extended period of play, Peters was all-in for roughly 20 big blinds with pocket tens, but Ullmann’s king-jack saw a king on the turn win him the hand and send the packed German rail into raptures, Peters slipping away quietly having come so close to becoming the first double bracelet winner this WSOP.

One of the biggest names in the final five was gone and the other busted next, Elias losing with a pocket pair too as sixes couldn’t hold against Tim Flank’s queen-ten, a queen on the flop good enough to see Elias’ short stack slid over the table by the dealer.

Anthony Hu was short-stacked and would bust next, but to Ullmann, giving him a crucial elimination in terms of a heads-up chip lead. Flank had been drawing near, but Hu going out to the German meant Flank had only around 60% of Ullmann’s stack and that lead told a few hands later, when Ullmann made a straight on the river in a hand he could afford to lose rather than wait for a better opportunity.

Williams, Nakamura, Albini Remain on the H.O.R.S.E.

Former WSOP Main Event runner-up David Williams leads the field in the $1,500-entry H.O.R.S.E. Event #32, with other stars such as Tamon Nakamura and Steven Albini both making the final table too. Williams has the biggest stack with 2,125,000 chips, but Jason Daly (2,105,000) isn’t far behind with two women, Michelle Roth (1,405,000) and Shirley Rosario (1,170,000) both present in the top five.

With players such as defending event champion Anthony Zinno crashing out before the money places along with Daniel Negreanu and Michael Mizrachi, others did bank some profit, with Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, Ari Engel, German soccer player Max Kruse and Phil Ivey all busting.

Of the remaining 22 players to bag chips, two more who made the top 10 chipcounts were Tamon Nakamura from Japan (1,005,000) and Steve Albini, who bagged up 970,000 before the last hand was ended.

Schulz and Wexler Chasing Lead in $1,500 Freezeout

Gregor Sverko of Croatia bagged the biggest stack on Day 1 of Event #34, the $1,500-entry NLHE Freezeout event. With 1,046,000 chips, Sverko was the only player to top a million chips by the close of play, with others such as Keith Kordowski (812,000) and Raffaele Sorrentino (788,000) going as close as they could and closer than anyone else.

Elsewhere in the chipcounts, Kevin Schulz (666,000), Athanasios Polychronopoulos (588,000), 2014 WSOP Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson (488,000), Adrian Mateos (281,000), and 2021 WSOP Main Event champion Koray Aldemir (200,000) all survived while players such as Ryan Depaulo, Jeff Platt, Brad Owen, Vanessa Kade, Matt Berkey and Maria Ho all missed the Day 2 cut.

Negreanu and Ivey Survive in Mixed Big Bet Event

Daniel Negreanu (23,600) and Phil Ivey (51,300) both survived the opening day’s play in Event #35, the $2,500-entry Mixed Big Bet event. With a total prize pool of over $625,000 and 281 entries, it was British mixed game specialist Richard Ashby (387,100) who took the Day 1 chip lead, with others such as Brian Rast (193,900), Keith Lehr (191,400), Michael Moncek (163,100), Alex Epstein (140,000), and Michael Noori (137,200) among the 101 Day 1 survivors.

Arnold Leads Hsiung in Seven Card Stud Event #36

Finally, the final event of the day to conclude was the $1,500-entry Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Event #36, which saw 152 of the 471 entries survive the first day of action. Among them, chip leader is Pearce Arnold (244,500), with Kenny Hsiung (224,000) not far behind.  Bruce Hoyt (196,000) also made the top five.

Further back, there were strong days at the felt for Barry Greenstein (146,000), Michael Mizrachi (104,500) and Mike Matusow, who finished on 90,500.

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