It was a long Day 2 yesterday in Event #61: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and with 32 players still with chips it promises to be another long one today as those remaining battle to determine a winner. The last WSOP gold bracelet to be awarded this summer awaits the champ, with the Event No. 62: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event not finishing up until November.
A dozen different countries are represented among the final 32, with the Russian Alexey Rybin returning to a stack of nearly 1 million to lead all. Mike Watson (Canada), Johannes Strassmann (Germany), Nadar Kakhmazov (Russia), and Nicolas Faure (France) all have lots of chips as well to begin the third day of play.
Daniel Alaei — who won this same event back in 2010 — also currently has an above-average stack, as does Jonathan Duhamel who of course won the WSOP Main Event that same year. There are a host of other familiar names still in the hunt, too, including Alex Kravchenko, Tom Marchese, Nacho Barbero, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Stephen Chidwick, Tony Cousineau, Jared Bleznick, and Joseph Cheong.
Many have big stacks, but the blinds are getting big as well, which suggests we'll see a fast pace especially early on today. The schedule calls for them to play down to a winner today, although if they can't get to a winner after 11 one-hour levels, they'll stop the tourney, take tomorrow off (allowing players still in to play the last Main Event flight), and return on Tuesday to settle matters.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. local time, so return then for start-to-finish coverage of Event #61. As we await the tourney's restart, here's Lynn Gilmartin to get us caught up with all of the action currently happening at the WSOP:
James Wiese raised in middle position, Nadar Kakhmazov three-bet the pot (96,000) near the button, and the action folded back to Wiese. He re-potted, Kakhmazov moved all in for 430,000 or so, and Wiese called.
Wiese:
Kakhmazov:
The flop fell , giving Wiese a flush draw to go along with his pocket aces, and Wiese's hand held up as the turn and river came , respectively. Kakhmazov hit the rail in 24th place, earning $26,124, while Wiese is back up to 1.27 million chips.
Daniel Alaei raised to 27,000 on the button, [Removed:146] three-bet the pot (93,000) out of the small blind, leaving just 90,000 or so behind, and Alaei called. The flop fell , Guerfi immediately went all in, and Alaei called.
Guerfi:
Alaei:
Alaei's bottom two pair was ahead, and he improved to a full house when the turned, leaving Guerfi drawing dead. The completed the board, and Alaei now sits with 1.95 million chips.
Further proof of the wild, swingy nature of pot-limit Omaha was provided in a big three-way all-in hand that just developed between Jared Bleznick (small blind), Joseph Cheong (middle position), and Yevgeniy Timoshenko (cutoff).
Preflop action between the trio saw Cheong committing his entire stack of around 300,000, Timoshenko likewise all in for a little less than that, and Bleznick having both players covered.
Bleznick:
Cheong:
Timoshenko:
The dealer delivered the community cards swiftly, and as they came , then , then , all of those diamonds added up to a winning ace-high flush for Bleznick and spelled the end of the road for both Timoshenko and Cheong — the second double-knockout since the redraw to three tables.
As Cheong had a little more than Timoshenko to start the hand, he takes 21st place while Timoshenko ends in 22nd, although both earn the same reward of $26,124 for their finishes.
Preflop action between Morten Stenheim and Johannes Strassman ended with Stenheim nodding and calling his remaining chips, and continuing to nod further as he saw his opponent's hand and recognized he was behind.
Stenheim had and was saying "aces" even before Strassmann tabled his . The board came , bringing no improvement to Stenheim's hand and sending the Norwegian out in 20th place.
Nineteen players remain, meaning one more elimination and they'll be redrawing to the final two nine-handed tables.
When we arrived at the table, Mihails Morozovs' hand was being scooped into the muck, and his entire stack was being pushed towards Oleksii Kovalchuk. We caught with two diamonds for Morozovs. The board read , and Kovalchuk had .
Morozovs had flopped multiple backdoor draws, and turned a diamond flush draw only for Kovalchuk to make a full house on the river. Morozovs was eliminated in 19th place, earning $26,124, while Kovalchuk now has 655,000 chips.
Jared Bleznick raised to 35,000 in the cutoff, Jonathan Duhamel called on the button, and both blinds released. The dealer fanned , Bleznick tossed out 20,000, and Duhamel called.
The turn was the , Bleznick led out for another 65,000, and Duhamel called.
The completed the board, and Bleznick emptied the chamber, firing a third and final bullet worth 110,000. Duhamel called, and Bleznick sent spinning across the felt face up for quad sixes.
Duhamel dropped to 90,000 chips, while Bleznick is above two million.
Jared Bleznick raised to 35,000 from middle position, then Jonathan Duhamel reraised all in for about 90,000 total behind him. Those in between stepped aside, and Bleznick called the reraise without much hesitation.
Bleznick:
Duhamel:
The flop came badly for Duhamel, rolling out to give Bleznick a queen-high straight. The then fell on the turn, which left Duhamel needing another nine to appear or a king to survive. But the river was the , and the 2010 WSOP Main Event champion was sent railward in 18th place.
Shortly after Jonathan Duhamel's elimination, Philippe Clerc was all in with his short stack with and looking for a double versus Oleksii Kovalchuk who held .
Alas for Clerc, the flop came , immediately providing a flush for Kovalchuk, and by the turn Clerc's 17th-place finish had already been determined.
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Wiese eliminated the two players with a seven-high straight. He now sits with over one million chips.
, giving Wiese a flush draw to go along with his pocket aces, and Wiese's hand held up as the turn and river came 
respectively. Kakhmazov hit the rail in 24th place, earning $26,124, while Wiese is back up to 1.27 million chips.
![[Removed:146] - 23rd Place](https://s.pnimg.net/kYJHK8T0NGwXbUzYncqNgoO4YhAsRcPCEWGCPDV9dm4/pr:reporting-leading-desktop/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbmlt/Zy5uZXQvbHJlcC8x/ODM3LzM0L3gxMTBk/NWZmMjEzLmpwZw.webp)
completed the board, and Alaei now sits with 1.95 million chips.
, then 
with two diamonds for Morozovs. The board read 
.
, Bleznick led out for another 65,000, and Duhamel called.
spinning across the felt face up for quad sixes.
and looking for a double versus Oleksii Kovalchuk who held 
.
