Age certainly isn’t holding anyone back at the 2016 World Series of Poker. Pierre Neuville, the 73-year old Belgian, finished runner-up in Event #10, the $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em last week, after final tabling the Main Event last year. He also made a deep run in the Hollywood Poker Open during the same time frame.
On Monday, another older poker legend received attention at the Rio in Las Vegas: T.J. Cloutier. The six-time WSOP gold bracelet winner has been back in the game in Event #41, the $1,500 Monster Stack, and will start today’s penultimate day of play in the 8th spot.
Cloutier, a 2006 Poker Hall of Fame inductee, used his experience to make it through Day Three to a large stack (4,600,000). At 76 years old, the legend has outlasted the majority of the 6,927-player starting field. There are just 26 bracelet hopefuls left, and many fans will be cheering on Cloutier.
To score his seventh bracelet, he’ll need to play well and run well for two more days. Tuesday’s restart begins at 11 am Pacific time. The tournament is expected to play down to the final nine players. Two-time bracelet winner David Pham is the chip leader at start of play today (8,895,000).
The winner in this event will take home $1,120,196. If Cloutier can pull it off, he’ll be a superhero to his generation, and many who came after, as well.
WSOP Numbers Add Up
The WSOP staff recently sent out a press release disclosing some interesting figures through the first 35 events this summer, which represents the midway point. More than 59,000 players have participated in events this summer thus far.
Players from 98 different countries have chased a bracelet to date in 2016. And some great news: the 47th annual World Series of Poker has a good chance of breaking last year’s record for overall number of participants throughout the series.
When it comes to male-to-female player ratios, the news is a bit less exhilarating. It’s no secret that women continue to be relatively scarce in poker rooms, despite a strong push by many talented female pros to encourage others to play.
At the midway point in the series, 56,601 men have signed up for events, but only 2,906 women have done so. That means the ladies currently constitute just under five percent of the entire Series player pool.
Danzer Dancing from Fourth Win
George Danzer is the champion of Event #43, the $10,000 Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better. He defeated the Randy Ohel in a heads-up match for the title. Danzer earned $338,646 and his fourth career gold bracelet for the win.
The event lasted three days and originally started with 136 players. Monday’s final table also included many familiar faces such as Eli Elezra, Justin Bonomo, David Grey, and Doyle’s son Todd Brunson.
The On-Deck Circle
Stepping up to the plate on Tuesday will be the players registered for Event #48, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em and Event #49, the $1,500 Seven Card Stud. The no-limit hold’em tournament will have a tad different structure than most WSOP events. Blind levels will be faster at 30 minutes, and instead of playing out in three days, the tournament will last just two.
A pair of final tables are scheduled for Tuesday as well. In Event #44, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em, Young Sik Eum is the chip leader with 19 players remaining at start of play. In Event #45, the $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha, Loren Klein has the biggest stack out of the final 15 players. With 22 prior cashes under his belt, Klein will be gunning for his first WSOP bracelet in this one.