WSOP: Poker Pros Denied Multiple-Bracelet Wins

Jeffrey Papola denied Men Nguyen his eighth career WSOP bracelet early this morning. (Photo: Rob Mathis)

Yesterday was a bad day for multiple-bracelet winners looking to add to their hardware count at the Rio. Two top poker pros who have had great success at the WSOP in the past found themselves shut out of chances to add to their bracelet counts.

New York law student Jeffrey Papola defeated Men “The Master” Nguyen heads-up to win the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event. The two played heads-up for nearly four hours, with Nguyen seeking his second bracelet of the 2010 WSOP. Nguyen kept finding ways to double up and stay alive throughout the match, but Papola continued to pull away every time the seven-time bracelet winner got close. In the end his J-J held against the Master’s K-T for the win, shipping Papola the bracelet and $667,433,

The Player of the Year race tightened up even more with Men Nguyen’s second-place finish. With 75 points, he moves into a tie for first place with fellow 2010 WSOP bracelet winners Michael Mizrachi and James Dempsey. But the man who defeated Mguyen, Jeffrey Papola, made some moves of his own; he now sits alone in fourth place behind the triumvirate of leaders with 175 points, having finished second in a previous bracelet event before winning this morning. Don’t be surprised if all these players begin playing events they otherwise might have skipped, because even a minimum cash is worth five points in the standings.

In other multiple-bracelet-winner-denied news, David Chiu was kept from winning his fifth career WSOP bracelet by Jose Luis Velador, who won his second career bracelet in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha event by defeating Chiu heads-up. The $260,517 win makes Velador the winningest poker player of all-time from Mexico, boosting him just over the $1 million mark for his career, not to mention its first two-time WSOP bracelet winner.

In other events still running today, former WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider is still in the running of the Seniors Event with just 23 players left. Schneider led the field for most of the day before falling toward the back of the pack near the end of the night. Play resumes at 2:30 p.m. PT.

And the WSOP $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em World Championship is down to its last eight players, who are all guaranteed $92,580. They’ll play to the championship today, starting off with these matchups:

Kido Pham v. Jason Somerville 

Faraz Jaka v. Ayaz Mahmood

Alexander Kostritsyn v. Ludovic Lacay

Vanessa Rousso v. Ernst Schmejkal

The quarterfinal matches get started at 3 p.m. PT today.