Danzer collected his second WSOP bracelet of the summer last night, defeating John Racener heads-up for the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo title.
Danzer had several chances before this summer to pick up his first title but hadn't had the cards fall when he needed them.
He had six final table results in his first seven WSOP cashes, including a runner-up finish in a 2012 Stud Hi/Lo tournament to Oleksii Kovalchuk.
“I don’t think there is anything special I did this year,” Danzer said.
“I did probably the exact same preparation and I got close, so the difference was a couple of coin flips. When I needed the right card, it came this time.”
“If There’s a Leaderboard, I’m Going to Fight for It”
Danzer is currently leading the WSOP Player of the Year race and admits it’s a driving factor. Aside from winning titles, and the cash along with them, he would love to be at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the 2014 WSOP.
“It would be very good. I always look at the leaderboards whether it’s an online tournament series or a live tournament series," Danzer said. "If there’s a leaderboard, I’m going to fight for it.
“I’m updating (the standings) every day, looking out for the other players in the points race, and trying to win it.”
Danzer has proven adept at the non-Hold’em games with just one of his 11 cashes coming in a No Limit Hold’em event. He prefers the Stud games, but not all of them.
“Stud/8 and Razz are fine, I hate Stud Hi,” Danzer said. “There’s a $10k Stud Hi coming up so I guess I have to play it, but I don’t like it.”
Even with the money earned this summer, Danzer is still not ready to enter this year’s Big One for One Drop tournament. But he wouldn’t turn down a good offer.
“It’s like a dream to play the One Drop tournament, but up to today I’m short about $1 million so it’s not going to be too easy,” Danzer joked. “Maybe somebody puts me in then obviously I’m going to play.”
Footballer Kruse Benefits from Quick Tips
Even without Danzer, the $1 million buy-in tournament will still have plenty of Germans in the field and Danzer thinks one of his countrymen should be considered a favorite.
“I think Ole Schemion has the best chance, because he’s GPI #1 and running good in every tournament,” Danzer said. “He has a lot of confidence and he’s one of the best players so I think he has the best chance of winning.”
Danzer was also able to help a fellow German attempt win a bracelet of his own. Professional footballer Max Kruse was left off his national team and came to Las Vegas to compete. He met Danzer while watching a match and it almost produced a bracelet for Kruse.
“We met watching the Germany/Portugal match and there was a Deuce-to-Seven tournament in the afternoon. So he asked what he had to do to play the tournament,” Danzer said.
“In 15 minutes I told him a couple of rules to follow and he finished 3rd. That was a nice result for his introduction to Deuce-to-Seven.”
Danzer was unable to watch Kruse compete at the final table from the rail because he was busy taking an early lead in the Stud Hi/Lo tournament. He spent most of the tournament with the chiplead and was able to close it out against 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up John Racener.
With his second title, Danzer now has a chance to match a unique stat from Jeff Lisandro in 2009.
Lisandro won three bracelets that summer with each coming in a different Stud format; Seven-card Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, and Razz. Danzer has two of the three with only the $10,000 Seven-card Stud Championship remaining on the WSOP schedule.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com