WSOP: James Obst wins first bracelet; Alexander Lynskey runner-up; James Chen and Xixiang Luo go deep

The WSOP 2017 may be seeing many coveted bracelets land in the hands of the host Americans but some of them do slip away. The Liv Boree – Igor Kurganov tandem took one for their respective countries followed by the Nipun Java – Aditya Sushant tandem for the first-ever bracelet awarded to India. While there were several players from other countries also getting chained, the big story these past days was Australia’s James Obst who earlier in the series missed his first-ever bracelet by one spot but then captured it at another event just days ago.

Joining Obst in our headlines is another Aussie also performing very well, Alexander Lynskey with a runner-up finish at one of the largest event fields of the series. As for the Asian contingent that we’ve been continuously tracking, Taiwan’s top ranked player James Chen and one of China’s leading pros Xixiang Luo have produced some impressive results.

Have a read below on the latest accomplishments of all these pros.

James Obst wins his first WSOP bracelet

When James Obst is not at the felt in his homeland of Australia, he is most likely burning up the poker green at the WSOP. Since 2013, Obst has consistently raked in the dough at the series however a bracelet has eluded him. Well not anymore! The superstar Aussie from Adelaide won his first gold bracelet after topping a field of 97 players at Event #26: US$10,000 Razz Championship.

This major victory has been on the immediate horizon for the young pro who cashed an incredible eight times at last year’s series. One of those was a 13^th place finish at the Main Event for his largest scoop to-date of US$427,930. At the ongoing series, Obst is once again on the prowl with four other cashes to add to his recent victory.

His first cash was at Event #3: US$3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, finishing 30^th, which technically was just one spot shy of the final table. Two days after, he improved on it and came dramatically close to seizing his first bracelet at Event #7: $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw Lowball. He missed it by a hair, falling in 2^nd place to winner Jesse Martin. Following that up, he took 26^th at Event #14: No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, then days prior to finally grabbing his first gold strap, he reached the final table of Event #17: US$10,000 Dealers Choice – 6 Handed Championship and finished in 8^th place. Obst has pocketed nearly US$420K at the series.

Final table payouts

Place	Player	Earnings (USD)
1	James Obst	$265,138
2	Eric Kurtzman	$163,867
3	David Baker	$112,645
4	Andrey Zhigalov	$79,616
5	Anthony Zinno	$57,903
6	Brandon Shack-Harris	$43,370
7	Jyri Merivirta	$33,485
8	Jack Duong	$26,674

Almost a gold for Australia’s Alexander Lynskey

While Obst was on his victory dance, fellow countryman Alexander Lynskey also hoped to do the same at Event #23: US$2,620 No Limit Hold’em – The Marathon. In Lynskey’s past WSOP appearances, he was seen at a couple of final tables however this was the first time he reached the heads up round. The only hurdle left to the top was Venezuela’s Joseph Di Rosa Rojas who proved to be very difficult for the Aussie. In the end, Lynskey had to settle for a runner-up finish, a very respectable result out of the massive 1,759 field. While this was his only WSOP 2017 cash so far, he earned his largest-ever tournament career score of US$426,663.

Final table payouts

Place	Player Name	Payout
1	Joseph Rojas	$690,469
2	Alex Lynskey	$426,663
3	Jeffrey Tomlinson	$307,728
4	Timothy Reilly	$224,316
5	Julian Stuer	$165,277
6	Faraz Jaka	$123,105
7	Andrew Jernigan	$92,705
8	Pratik Ghatge	$70,590
9	Maurice Hawkins	$54,356

Xixiang Luo goes deep at the Marathon

China’s Xixiang Luo, one of the most decorated pros from the Asian region, is back in Las Vegas to test himself against the world once again. Last year, Luo cashed in five WSOP events and an additional five at outside events running simultaneously to the series. Unlike many Chinese based players, Luo is one of a small number that participate in events outside of Asia. Prior to arriving at the WSOP 2017, he was in Monte Carlo attending the PokerStars Championship where he topped the EU 1,100 No Limit Hold’em Turbo – Eight Max event.

A couple of days ago, Luo attended Event #23: US$2,620 No Limit Hold’em – The Marathon where he swung wildly from big stack to short stack to average. While he had the sharps to take it all the way, his deep run ended short in 15^th place and picked up US$33,350.

James Chen lands first WSOP final table

Taiwan’s James Chen has been rockin’ the felt this year with two huge takedowns back in January at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship in Melbourne, Australia. Since then, Chen has continued to shine, with two final table berths at the PokerStars Championship Macau, and now, cashing in a few events at the ongoing WSOP 2017.

Chen’s first pay came from the Colossus III event where he got as deep as 604^th out of 18,054 entries for a US$2,470 pay. Although it was small, this was already a profit with buy-in only at US$565.  A week later, the cash was meatier. Chen experienced his first-ever WSOP final table at Event #22: US$10,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship and collected a cool US$57,316 for his 5^th place berth out of the 92 runners. Two days ago, the Taiwanese head honcho added another five-digit score to his wallet after taking 14^th out of 959 players at Event #27: US$3,000 No Limit Hold’em – 6 Handed.

There are still lots of WSOP 2017 action happening these next few weeks. We will continue to update you on the top stories and of course on the progress of the Asian contingent.

Article by Triccia David