Waxman Wins First Bracelet, PEI’s Benny Chen Takes Millionaire Maker

It turned into an epic match as the two pros battled for 187 hands over seven hours but Waxman came out on top in the end. 

Waxman wasn’t the only player to win a bracelet yesterday as PEI’s Benny Chen won the enormous Millionaire Maker for $1.1 million and Michael Malm claimed the $2,500 8-Game event for $225,104. 

Meanwhile $3,000 Shootout final table was reached last night and it looks to be a good one with David “Bakes” Baker, Tim West, Cliff Josephy, Chris Klodnicki and Ryan Hughes competing for a bracelet.

Eric Froehlich also grabbed the overnight chip lead in $1,500 NLHE event while Chino Rheem, Scott Clements and Vanessa Rousso are in the top 10 chip counts of $2,500 NLHE 6-Max.

Here’s a look at the payouts for the big Waxman/Baldwin final table:

1. Matt Waxman - $305,952 2. Eric Baldwin - $189,200 3. Jess Diquino - $130,825 4. Amit Makhija - $94,353 5. Brent Hanks - $68,975 6. Jacob Jung - $51,086 7. Robert Dreyfuss - $38,340 8. Tuu Ho - $29,147 9. Jason Koon - $22,435

Benny Chen Smashes Millionaire Maker Final Table

Charlottetown, PEI, native Benny Chen outlasted all 6,343 runners to win the biggest non-Main Event WSOP event ever held for $1.1 million.

Dan Kelly was perhaps the most well-known player at the final table of the Millionaire Maker ended up running out of gas in fifth place for $302,104.

Instead Chen played his big stack to perfection, eventually getting head-up against Michael Bennington with a massive 21-7 lead over the Texas poker pro.

Chen sealed the event with 9-9 over Bennington’s 3-3. Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts in Event 6 $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em:

1. Benny Chen - $1,198,780 2. Michael Bennington - $741,903 3. Jonathan Gray - $534,506 4. Justin Liberto - $400,408 5. Dan Kelly - $302,104 6. Chris Hunichen - $229,575 7. Upeshka Desilva - $175,714 8. Robert McVeigh - $135,467 9. Theron Eichenberge - $105,154

Michael Malm is Eight-Game Master in Event 8

Ontario’s Michael Malm rose above a stacked field in Event 8 $2,500 8-Game Mix to win his first gold bracelet and $225,104.

The tournament drew the likes of Robert Mizrachi, Josh Arieh, Chris Reslock and Randy Ohel but they were all eliminated well short of the final table.

Instead the final table offered pros Marco Johnson, Mike Wattel, Dario Alioto and Greg Mueller.

Johnson, Wattel and Alioto were all dusted early but Mueller made a serious run at his third WSOP bracelet. The former pro hockey player ended up finally dropping in third for $89,673.

Instead Malm beat Steven Wolansky heads-up to earn the title. Here’s a look at the final-table payouts:

1. Michael Malm - $225,104 2. Steven Wolansky - $139,034 3. Greg Mueller - $89,673 4. Eric Crain - $64,975 5. Michael Hurey - $47,771 6. Dario Alioto - $35,634 7. Mike Wattel - $26,966 8. Marco Johnson - $20,699

Baker, West, Josephy Headline $3k NLHE Shootout Final

Cliff Josephy, David “Bakes” Baker, Tim West and Steven Silverman have all made it into arguably the most star-studded final table at the 2013 WSOP yet.

All the aforementioned players and Allessandro Longobardi, Max Steinberg, Evan Silverstein, Ryan Hughes and Simeon Naydenov survived their earlier matches to secure a spot at the $3k NLHE Shootout final table.

They’ll all start with about 425,000 chips when the final-table begins today at 1 p.m.

Here are the chip counts to start the day:

1. Steven Silverman – 428,000 2. Simeon Naydenov – 427,000 3. Tim West – 428,000 4. Cliff Josephy – 419,000 5. Alessandro Longobardi – 421,000 6. Max Steinberg – 428,000 7. Evan Silverstein – 427,000 8. Ryan Hughes – 422,000 9. David “Bakes” Baker – 428,000 10. Chris Klodnicki – 429,000

Froehlich Tops $1,500 Limit Hold’em Day 2

Eric Froehlich as on fire during Day 2 of Event 10 $1,500 Limit Hold’em yesterday.

The day began with 177 players including Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Nick Schulman, Matt Hawrilenko and David “ODB” Baker who all eventually busted.

Instead it was Froehlich who came out on top in the 19 remaining players with 319,000 chips.

Also of note are Brent Wheeler (153,000 chips) and Barry Shulman (23,000). Action resumes at 2 p.m. today.

Here are the top-10 chip counts:

1. Eric Froehlich – 319,000 2. Mark Mierkalns – 266,000 3. Morgan Newman – 242,000 4. Aaron Ogus – 233,000 5. Binh Ly – 197,000 6. Chiduziem Obi – 183,000 7. Brian Nichols – 182,000 8. Thomas Blizniak – 170,000 9. Jack Jiang – 161,000 10. Malissia Zapata – 161,000

Le, Rheem, Clements Run Hot in $2.5k NLHE 6-Max Day 1

Tuan Le, Chino Rheem, Scott Clements and Eddy Sabat are among the chip leaders after Day 1 of Event 11 $2,500 NLHE 6-Max.

A total of 924 players bought into the tournament including heavyweights Scott Seiver, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Faraz Jaka. Unfortunately for them, all the aforementioned names busted.

There are still plenty pros in the 133 players that bagged up chips at the end of the day including Vanessa Rousso, Chris Moorman, JC Tran, Leo Wolpert, and Andrew Lichtenberger.

Action resumes at 1 p.m. today.

Here are the top-10 chip counts:

1. Tammy Tribbles – 233,300 2. Steve Kelly – 244,000 3. Tuan Le – 149,000 4. Nicholas Grippo – 137,600 5. Chino Rheem – 136,400 6. Marcio Cid – 135,000 7. Scott Clements – 122,000 8. Andreas Hoivold – 92,000 9. Eddy Sabat – 88,700 10. Tom Braband – 77,100

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