Matt Ashton, a British pro rapidly making a big name for himself this summer, nailed down his first bracelet in no less than the prestigious $50k Player's Championship.
Matt Perrins, already a WSOP bracelet winner himself, eyed another one for the UK as he took the chip lead heading into the final table in Event #57, $5k No-Limit Hold'em.
With Canadians dominating at this year's WSOP, the most famous Canadian poker pro of them all in Daniel Negreanu finally made his deepest run of the summer and hit the final 10 players in $2,500 2-7 Lowball.
Ashton Ices Nguyen, Hennigan for $50k Championship
One of the most prestigious titles in poker is heading overseas for the first time as Brit Matt Ashton polished off an elite final table for the bracelet and $1.77m in the $50k Player's Championship.
At his fourth final table of the summer, Ashton defeated Don Nguyen heads-up to become the first non-American winner of the Chip Reese Trophy.
With a second, third and seventh-place finish already this summer Ashton has piled up over $2m in cashes and taken over the 2013 Player of the Year lead.
Poker vets John "World" Hennigan, David Benyamine, Spirit of Poker Award nominee George Danzer and Jonathan Duhamel also made the final table.
Check our full recap of the final table in our WSOP Live Updates. The final eight and payouts:
1. Matthew Ashton $1,774,089 2. Don Nguyen $1,096,254 3. John Hennigan $686,568 4. David Benyamine $497,122 5. George Danzer $388,523 6. Minh Ly $309,830 7. Mike Wattel $251,602 8. Jonathan Duhamel $207,630Perrins Eyes Second Bracelet in $5k No-Limit Hold'em
Rochdale native Matt Perrins meanwhile, who won his first bracelet in 2-7 Lowball in 2011 on a lark, took control of a tough field in Event #57, $5k No-Limit Hold'em.
Perrins bagged up 1,946,000 for the chip lead at the final table but he'll have some tough outs to make before he can ice bracelet #2.
Noted pros Matt Berkey, Joe Serock and Randal Flowers also grabbed seats as did Event #3 runner-up Seth Berger.
An impressive $792,275 awaits the winner tomorrow with action kicking off again at 1 pm. The final nine and chip counts:
1. Matt Perrins 1,946,000 2. Seth Berger 1,698,000 3. Arthur Pro 1,610,000 4. Matt Berkey 1,585,000 5. Thomas Muehloecker 1,434,000 6. Joe Serock 1,211,000 7. Antonio Buonanno 1,185,000 8. Randal Flowers 619,000 9. Kent Roed 482,000Negreanu Nears Bracelet #6 in $2,500 Lowball
With a ton of momentum and a very positive attitude heading into the summer the poker world was expecting big things from Daniel Negreanu.
It hasn't quite worked out that way. With some solid but relatively small cashes and no final tables, Negreanu's even lost the WSOP Player of the Year lead. That could change today, though, if he can make a run at his sixth career bracelet in Event #59, $2,500 2-2 Lowball.
Fighting his way through an extremely tough field Negreanu held on to bag an eighth-place stack with 10 remaining. Included in that 10 happen to be some of the best players in the world in David "ODB" Baker, David Chiu, Michael Mizrachi, Scott Seiver, Mike Watson and Eli Elezra, however.
Play picks up again at 2 pm today and we'll pick up coverage in our WSOP blog if Negreanu gets close. The final 10 and chip counts:
1. David "ODB" Baker 458,000 2. David Chiu 263,000 3. Scott Seiver 249,000 4. Michael Mizrachi 225,000 5. Alexander Condon 215,000 6. Eric Wasserson 202,000 7. Brian Brubaker 152,000 8. Daniel Negreanu 134,000 9. Mike Watson 120,000 10. Eli Elezra 116,000Over $500k Donated to One Drop, German Amateur Grabs $750k
The other two events playing out at the Rio yesterday stood in stark contrast based on field sixe alone.
Event #56, $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em played out to its conclusion with just two players returning to finish their heads-up match postponed from the night before.
German amateur Nikolaus Teichert, an investor from Dusseldorf, beat American Vincent Maglio to win the bracelet and $730k.
The Little One for One Drop on the other hand had over 2,500 players turn out for Day 1b to top 4,700 entries overall and generate $526,806 in donations for the One Drop foundation.
Just under 1,000 players survived to see Day 2 today. Check for updates and results in our WSOP news section tomorrow.
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