Fifth Bracelet For Britain

Steve Jelinek takes event 41 down for $245,871 British players continue to do well in World Series of Poker, with Steve Jelinek claiming a fifth gold bracelet for the Brits in event 41 of the 41st WSOP. Event 41 was a $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better competition entered Day 3 Thursday afternoon with15 players left from the initial entry field of 847, and by late that night after 12 hours of action only four players remained when level 29 started. Leading the field was Jelinek on 2,500,000 and John Gottlieb on 1,511,500, and that's the way the heads up panned out after 12 hours of action. In the early hours of Friday morning, and with very little difference in the two finalist's chip stacks, it was Jelinek that pulled it off to claim his first bracelet and the $245,871 first prize, leaving his opponent with a still-generous second placing reward of $151,884. The other Brit bracelets this year belong to Praz Bansi, James Dempsey, Richard Ashby and Mike Ellis. 25 players returned to the felt for Day 3 of event 42, a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em contest that brought in a field of 2,521 at the start. By the beginning of Day 3 Friday afternoon only 25 players remained, led by James Schaaf. When Niccolo Caramatti was eliminated in 4th place late Friday evening the action became a three handed tussle between Dean Hamrick, Thomas O'Neal and Ian Wiley, with Hamrick holding a comfortable 3 to 1 lead over nearest rival O'Neal as play reached level 29. Late night Friday Vegas time only 5 players remained in Day 3 action from an original stellar field of 241 in event 43, the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship. Day 3 play commenced Friday afternoon with 23 player left and New Jersey pro Cuong Do in the lead, closely pursued by Marco Johnson, Brian Townsend, Eugene Katchalov and Carlos Mortenson. Level 26 late Friday saw the survivors positioned thus: 1 Eugene Katchalov 2,200,000 2 Richard Ashby 2,150,000 3 Matt Glantz 1,250,000 4 Marco Johnson 1,250,000 5 Ian Gordon 300,000 Average Chip Stack 1 446 000 Final table eliminations included: Carlos Mortensen in 6th place ($102,237) Nick Schulman in 7th place ($78,654) Marco Traniello in 8th place ($61,414) Scott Fischman in 9th place ($48,638) There were 507 entries on Day 1 of event 44, a $2,500 buy-in Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No Limit) contest, a field that had been reduced to only 70 players by day's end, with some big name bust outs that included Allen Cunningham, Antonio Esfandiari, Joe Sebok, Michael Mizrachi, Sorel Mizzi, David Benyamine and Tom Dwan. Day 2 Friday night saw the field reach level 19 and a final table of: 1 Jarred Solomon 748,000 2 Gavin Smith 745,000 3 Danny Hannawa 542,000 4 Michael Michnik 527,000 5 Timothy Finne 331,000 6 Jamie Rosen 300,000 7 Daniel Idema 237,000 8 Dwyte Pilgrim 196,000 9 Michael Santoro 179,000 Notable departures along the way were Eli Elezra, Jim Collopy, Grant Hinkle and Shannon Shorr, Eric Froehlich, Jeff Shulman, Erica Schoenberg, Matt Matros, Alexandre Gomes, and Matt Stout. The action will resume Saturday. Event 45 - a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em competition saw the completion of Day 1 Friday night with 400 players still in contention at level 10 from a massive initial entry field of 3,097. The original entry field contained names like James Akenhead, Dennis Phillips, Adam Junglen, David Singer, Peter Gelencser, Antonio Esfandiari, Scott Montgomery, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Jared Hamby, Isaac Haxton, Jeff Madsen, Sorel Mizzi, Bertrand Grospellier and Shannon Elizabeth. Leading the field when the chips were bagged for the night was Will Failla (156,000) and Hiren Patel (138,000), but with Chino Rheem, Dutch Boyd, John Phan, John Juanda, Johnathan Little, Victor Ramdin, Tom Schneider and Adam Junglen still very active, it would a bold prediction to say who will prevail in this exciting event. Notable Day 1 eliminations included Phil Ivey, Eric Baldwin, David Williams, Dennis Phillips, James Akenhead, Joe Sebok, Chris Moorman, Phil Gordon, Bertrand Grospellier, Neil Channing, Sorel Mizzi, Faraz Jaka, Shaun Deeb, Hoyt Corkins, Tony Dunst, Scott Montgomery, Scott Seiver, Jason Mercier and Antonio Esfandiari. The stars were out in force again for Friday's start of event 46 - the $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better competition which recorded 284 registrations, among them John Kabbaj, John Cernuto, Roland de Wolfe, Sorel Mizzi, Vitaly Lunkin, Greg Raymer, Isaac Haxton, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu and Perry Friedman – the latter wearing an extravagant and colourful Egyptian pharaoh's headgear. Late night Friday the Day 1 action was still in progress at level 8 with 171 players led Johannes Steindl on 47,000, with Toto Leonidas (41,000) and Mike Matusow (40,000) close behind. The list of recent casualties gives an indication of the star power in the field, including Humberto Brenes, Pat Pezzin, Phil Gordon, Scott Clements, David Williams, MIke Sexton, Kevin MacPhee, Chau Giang, Joe Hachem…and Perry Friedman, who left his exotic headdress behind!