An elite field will gather today to battle for one of the most sought-after gold bracelets of the summer. Event #22: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship kicks off at 3 p.m. inside the Brasilia room Sunday afternoon.
This is the second no-limit 2-7 event of the 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP). 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela bested Bernard Lee just three days ago to win his third bracelet and $89,151 in the $1,500 installment.
With the warm-up out of the way, it’s time to get down to business. In 2016, Jason Mercier topped a 100-strong field filled with the best poker players in the world. Mercier defeated Mike Watson heads up to capture his fourth bracelet and a first-place prize of $273,335.
Joining Mercier and Watson at the final table were Wil Wilkinson, David Grey, Benny Glaser (who also final tabled the $1,500 no-limit 2-7 last week), Stephen Chidwick and Alex Luneau.
Past winners of this prestigious event include Phil Galfond, Paul Volpe, Jesse Martin and Nick Schulman.
Year
Champion
Entries
Prize
2016
Jason Mercier
100
$273,335
2015
Phil Galfond
77
$224,383
2014
Paul Volpe
87
$253,524
2013
Jesse Martin
87
$253,524
2012
Nick Schulman
101
$294,321
Players will begin taking their seats at 3 p.m. local time and play for 10 hour-long levels before bagging for Day 2. Follow along all event long as PokerNews will be on the floor providing live coverage until a new champion is crowned.
Jason Mercier opened with a raise to 1,100. Next to act was Marvin Karlins. He raised to 3,000. Darren Elias called from the big blind. Action was back to Mercier and he folded.
Both Elias and Karlins took one card. Karlins checked in the dark. Elias looked at his card, then bet 4,000. Karlins took a look at his draw, then called.
"I have a ten-eight," Karlins said. Elias pitched his cards in, but Karlins turned up for a pair of sixes, not a ten-eight.
Elias then retrieved his hand. He showed , then kicked his hand back into the muck, showing that he was beat either way.
"That's why I turned my hand up," Karlins said. "I've got bad eyes. I really did think I had a ten-eight."
Karlins was pushed the pot and the rest of the table just laughed.
After the draw, Galen Hall was facing off against Samuel Touil with just around 15,000 in the middle of the table already. Hall had a bet of 12,400 in front of him, and Touil was in the tank. He thought for just a bit before calling.
Hall turned up for an eighty-seven, and that was good enough to earn him the pot as Touil mucked.
Hall is the definitive chip leader at this point in the tournament, but seeing as this is a no-limit game, that could all change very quickly.
A raising war resulted in the all in of Paul Volpe for around 26,000, and Jean-Robert Bellande called. Bellande stood pat, while Volpe drew one card.
Bellande tabled his , and Volpe said, "You were trying to get me off that one," and showed . He squeezed the last card, said, "Oh wait, that's not good," before tabling a jack. His jack-eight was no good to the jack-seven of Bellande, and Volpe headed to the rail.
At the same time one table over, Steve Gee raised to 1,800 from under the gun, and Nick Schulman called. Randy Ohel three-bet to 7,000 in the big blind, and Gee folded. "How much do you have?" Schulman asked, and Ohel replied with, "Starting stack." Schulman called.
Ohel stood pat and drew one card. Once the draw was finished, Ohel checked, and Schulman moved all in for 31,625. Ohel called after one minute of consideration, and Schulman showed a pair of eights, whiel Ohel had beat with .
Nick Schulman opened with a raise to 2,500. Jared Bleznick called before Matthew Szymaszek raised to 12,000 from the small blind. Action folded back to Schulman, and he moved all in with a stack that covered both Bleznick and Szymaszek. Bleznick quickly folded. Szymaszek thought for a moment, then called.
Both players stood pat. Szymaszek showed . Schulman turned up , which was second-best, and he was forced to send over roughly 45,000 chips to Szymaszek.
After the draw, Anthony Zinno bet. Usman Siddique moved all in over the top of the bet. Zinno then folded an eighty-seven low face up.
"That was a tight fold," he said after the hand.
On the next hand, Phil Hellmuth opened with a raise to 3,500. Zinno made it 11,000 before Monnette moved all in for just over 18,000. Everyone folded, including Hellmuth, but Zinno called. Monnette stood pat, while Zinno pitched in one card, showing a face-up. Monnette had for a ten-low. Zinno showed , having broken the best hand. He did not improve with his draw, either, pulling a to give him a worse low. With that, Monnette doubled up, while Zinno was left with a short stack.
According to Bernard Lee, who is also seated at the table, Dan Smith open jammed for 20,450. Action folded around to Benny Glaser, who called.
Smith thought for a while, then took one. Glaser stood pat, then turned over his . Smith was already drawing dead. He showed his and started laughing, as did some of the other players at the table. His final card was a meaningless and that was it for Smith, who had already busted once from the event.
Under the gun, John Monnette raised to 2,800. Next to act, James Chen reraised to 9,500 total. Action folded around to Frank Kassela, who moved all in for a total of 36,025. Action folded back to Monnette, who followed suit with a fold. Chen asked for a count, then called the shove.
Chen stood pat, while Kassela drew one. Chen showed . Kassela showed and was drawing live, but a on the end paired him and dashed his hopes, eliminating him from the tournament. That was Kassela's second entry, so he has officially been eliminated.
Kassela was the first player to win a bracelet in 2-7 Lowball Single Draw this year when he locked up $89,151 for his victory in Event #13. Bernard Lee, who finished second in that event, is still alive in this tournament, albeit on his second bullet, as well. He has built up a healthy stack here on Day 1 and could be poised to make another deep run.
Jason Mercier had re-entered after running out of chips in the first attempt, and he was cut down on bullet number two, too. Just now, Alexander Schwartz opened to 4,500, and Mercier moved all in from one seat over for what appeared to be 25,000.
Schwartz called, and Mercier stood pat, flipping over . Schwartz drew one and showed his , and the last card he turned over was a to eliminate Mercier.
![[user217945]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
for a pair of sixes, not a ten-eight. 
, and Volpe said, "You were trying to get me off that one," and showed 
to give him a worse low. With that, Monnette doubled up, while Zinno was left with a short stack.
