2010 World Series of Poker Day 16: Barch and Ashby Bring Home Gold and Katchalov Leads the $10k Omaha Hi-Low
Day 16 of the World Series of Poker is in the books, and it saw John "Tex" Barch and Richard Ashby both take home WSOP gold bracelets. The ladies event and the six-handed limit tournament are both nearing a champion, and big-name pros came out in force in the $10,000 buy-in Omaha hi-low event, which is being led by Eugene Katchalov.
Event #20: $1,500 Pot-limit Omaha
After coming up short in his two previous WSOP final table appearances, including the 2005 WSOP main event, John "Tex" Barch won his first WSOP bracelet Saturday. Barch, who entered the final table sitting second, quickly grabbed the lead by fearlessly attacking incumbent chip leader Nenad Medic.
Play slowed to a halt when the tournament got four-handed, and then with the blink of an eye it was over. Barch eliminated Medic in fourth, Trai Dang on the next hand in second, and in the hand after that he busted Klinghammer Thibaut to earn the title and $256,919.
See how the entire final table played out by checking our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #21: $1,500 Seven-card Stud
All eyes were on Sorel Mizzi, the chip leader coming into the final table on Saturday, but it wasn't meant to be for the young superstar as he faded fast allowing Richard Ashby to swoop in and grab the bracelet, and the $140,467 first prize. Ashby, who considers himself a cash-game player, flew under the radar for much of the final table, winning just enough pots to keep comfortable.
When heads-up play began between Ashby and Christine Pietsch, Pietsch held the lead. It didn't take long, though, for Ashby to snatch that lead, and from there on he never looked back, joining countrymen Praz Bansi and James Dempsey as British bracelet winners this year.
Check out how the final table went down by clicking into our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #22: $1,000 Ladies No-limit Hold’em
Day 2 of the ladies event kicked off on Saturday with 136 women still in the hunt for a WSOP gold bracelet. When the day was done, only nine remained with Sidsel Boesen leading the way with almost 800,000.
The final table bubble burst when Boesen raised it up to 27,00 from under the gun and got reraised all-in by Ronit Chamani in the big blind who had about 62,000 total. Boesen made the call with 
, which would need serious help against the 
of Chamani. The 
flop was great for Chamani, but the 
on the turn and the 
stunned Chamani, eliminating her in 10th place.
The final table gets under way at 3 p.m. on Sunday, and you can follow it all live using our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #23: $2,500 Limit Hold'em Six-handed
At the end of two days of play, only 12 out of the 384 players who entered this short-handed limit tournament remained, all led by Al "Sugar Bear" Barbieri. He was extremely patient during the first two days of play, always hovering with an average stack, and then hit a rush at the right time to take the chip lead with 415,000 heading into the final two tables.
On the final hand of the night, Barbieri raised from the button with 
and got three-bet by Chuck Danielsson who held 
. The 
ensured that all the chips would be going into the center, which they eventually did. Danielsson needed the board to pair to best Barbieri's flopped straight, but it was not meant to be, though, as the board bricked out sending Danielsson home in 13th place.
Although the field was stacked with big-name players at the beginning of Day 2, Joe Sebok, Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah, Erik Cajelais, Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, J.C. Tran, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Vitaly Lunkin all hit the rail on Saturday.
The final two tables get started at 3 p.m. and you can follow along with all the updates in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #24: $1,000 No-limit Hold’em
Saturday marked the third $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event of the WSOP, and this weekend's affair saw 1,931 players take the felt for Day 1A. When the day was complete, only 290 remained. Among the survivors are Team PokerStars Pros Arnaud Mattern and Veronica Dabul, as well as Alex Jacob and the author of Positively Fifth Street, Jim McManus.
Sunday's Day 1B will see another barrage of poker players take the felt, all hoping to join the survivors from Saturday on Monday afternoon for Day 2.
PokerNews will have all the action covered for you in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better Championship
The premiere event of Saturday's slate of tournaments began at 5 p.m., drawing 212 players looking to notch a world championship bracelet and the $488,237 first prize.
The field is stacked with big-names players, and among the top 20 going into Day 2 are Eugene Katchalov, who leads the way, David Benyamine, Sammy Farha, Alexander Kostritsyn, George Danzer, Vladamir Shchemelev, Jeffrey Lisandro, Brock Parker and Phil Hellmuth.
The action picks up Sunday at 3 p.m., and you can keep your eye on all the pros in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Video of the Day
PokerNews decided to give you a closer look at who some of the lovely ladies were cashed Saturday in Event #22.
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