WSOP Day 5 Recap: Dan Smith Ends Long Wait for Bracelet with Victory Against Vogelsang

An emotional end to an incredible event saw Dan Smith win the $25,000 Heads Up Championship and the top prize of $509,717 on Saturday night. Beating Italian sensation Dario Sammartino in the semifinals and German high roller Christoph Vogelsang in the final, Smith, who had never won a WSOP bracelet beforehand, admitted he was emotional after victory.

“I remember before the One Drop final table, everyone was like, ‘How important is it for you to be playing for this bracelet?’ and I was, ‘I’m focused on the $10 million today.’ Today it really was about the bracelet.”

Smith, whose charity Double Up Drive has donated over $25 million to those most in need, said that the win was important to him, but the lasting effect of his charity work is what he’s most proud of. “I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished in poker, and I think this is an important checkbox on my legacy and as one of the all-timers,” he told Jeff Platt on PokerGO after the match. “I’m even more proud of what the whole poker community and I have come together to do with Double Up Drive. While I love poker and am proud of it, the thousands of people that would have died are now alive because of that.”

You can watch all the action play down to a winner from the final four in Las Vegas at Bally’s right here.

Here is how the final four ended up:

Reixach, Grafton and Arieh All Thrive on Opening Day of $25,000 High Roller

Sergi Reixach bagged the biggest stack on Day 1 of the $25,000-entry High Roller Event #8, with dozens of big names dominating the leaderboard at the close of play. The Spanish player was one of only two players to stack up seven figures by the end of Day 1, as he closed the action on a monster stack of 1,418,000. Reixach’s closest followers are David Miscikowski (1,062,000) and Justin Young (1,018,000), who led Event #2’s high roller After Day 1 but failed to make the money, a fate the popular pro will be looking to avoid tomorrow.

Others to make the top 10 chip counts at the close of play included Sam Grafton (884,000), Bertrand Grospellier (750,000) and Cary Katz (727,000), with Toby Lewis (516,000), Josh Arieh (510,000), Joe McKeehen (469,000) and David Peters (448,000), all of whom finished well clear of the average stack of 395,000.

Players can still register right up until the start of play on Day 2, so no-one is out of contention, but some who will need to rebuy to have a shot at victory include Shaun Deeb, Niall Farrell, Joe Cada, Matt Berkey, Dario Sammartino and Chance Kornuth.

Housewarming Event Smashes Guarantee with Day to Spare

The action was fast and furious as the third first-day flight of the $500-entry The Housewarming event, Day 1c, saw a peak field of 5,526 entries and smashed the $5 million guarantee with another Day 1 still to come. With both Bally’s and Paris packed out for the first time this series, play saw just 249 players remain at the close of play with the Day 2 field up to 560 with both Day 1a and Day 1b survivors added into the total.

Of the Day 1c surviving players, Tony Degon (4,665,000) held the chip lead when play ended, with Jeffrey Rogers (3,035,000), Yohonn Sagot (2,750,000) Jean-Francois Alexandre from Canada (2,920,000), William Givens (2,920,000), James Little (2,680,000), Roberto Begni (2,440,000), and Jared Griener (2,300,000). Other big stacks belonging to big names included Kevin Song (1,990,000), Dan Zack (1,610,00) and Women in Poker Hall of Famer Kathy Liebert (925,000).

Many stars of the felt came and went without making Day 2, of course, amongst them superstar YouTuber Ryan Depaulo, Liebert’s fellow Women In Poker Hall of Fame member JJ Liu and the ever popular K.L. Cleeton.

Glantz Chasing First Bracelet in Omaha Hi-Lo Event

Matt Glantz (1,675,000) ended Day 2 in fourth place of the remaining 26 players as the Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Event, which costs $1,500 to play, reached the penultimate day. It was Amnon Filippi who held the chip lead when the bags were passed around, as he gathered up a  massive stack of 3 million chips exactly. Paul Zappulla (2,090,000) and James Chen (1,820,000) rounded out the top four of a top-quality remaining field.

Behind the big hitters, some superstars of the game are chasing down those at the summit, with Mel Judah (1,135,000), Kosei Ichinose (955,000) and David Funkhouser (685,000) all still in contention.

Players who missed out on Day 2 included Deeb’s fellow former bracelet winners Daniel Ospina, John Esposito, Ryan Hughes, David Benyamine, Mike Matusow and John Monnette.

Hui, Hsiung and Henson All Survive Seven Card Stud Day 1

It was a record-breaking day in attendance terms in both The Housewarming event and the Seven Card Stud Event #9, as just 97 players were left in seats for a massive field of 329 in the $1,500 buy-in event. The chip leader at the close of play was Manuel Labandeira from Spain, who bagged up 281,500 by the end of the night, and he was followed in the counts by Daniel Weinman (233,000), Kenny Hsiung (204,500) and Andy Bloch (161,000) to name just three other present in the top 10.

Elsewhere, there were Day 2 bags for David Singer (156,500), Tamon Nakamura (139,500), Tom Schneider (137,000), John Racener (129,000), Kevin MacPhee (104,000) and Rafael Lebron (87,500), who won this event just eight short months ago.

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