There were a top-hitting ten tournaments on Day 30 of the 54^th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas today, with a first-ever bracelet won by a Moldovan, the second-biggest top prize of the WSOP so far and eight other events in progress at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas.

Pavel Plesuv Wins Millionaire Maker for First-Ever Moldovan Bracelet and $1.2m

Moldova finally has a WSOP bracelet winner, and that player is Pavel Plesuv. A superb ending to the $1,500-entry Millionaire Maker that broke all records for tournaments with a $1,500 buy-in saw Plesuv beat Florian Ribouchon heads-up to deny the Frenchman the title. Ribouchon’s cash of $1 million and Plesuv’s title-winning score of $1.2m meant two millionaires were made at the Horseshoe under the lights.

With entertaining German player Andreas Kniep making the final four, lights, camera and action was guaranteed, as an entertaining rail witnessed the action, cheering every hand. Kniep was extremely unfortunate to miss out, too, as his A♦A♥ were overtaken byt Plesuv’s A♠2♦ in the German’s final hand, a board of 10♥5♠3♠4♠7♦  giving the Moldovan the unlikeliest of straights.

Paul Gunness was the last American in the event, busting in third place for $650,058 when his A♦3♥ couldn’t hold against Plesuv’s Q♦8♠, this time a queen on the turn doing the damage. That gave Plesuv a massive chip lead of 222.7 million chips to Ribouchon’s 37.4 million and the Moldovan made no mistake. Despite letting Ribouchon back in a little, the final hand saw the Moldovan win with K♠Q♠ as all the chips went in on the turn of a board showing K♥5♦2♥K♦3♣. Ribouchon had been a non-believer, holding J♠J♦ as he went down in second place.

Ka Kwan Lau Wins PLO High Roller for $2.3 million

In the $25,000-entry PLO High Roller, Ka Kwan Lau used his huge lead going into the five-handed final day to dominate Event #57. Winning almost $2.3 million up top, Lau’s score and first-ever WSOP bracelet was met by raucous cheers on his stacked rail as the second final table of the day played out ‘as live’ on PokerGO.

Lau’s victory came at the expense of Spanish player Sergio Martinez Gonzalez, who came second for $1.4 million, another seven-figure score in this incredible, record-breaking WSOP. With Serbian player Andjelko Andrejevic cashing for $989,464 in third place, there was no shortage of life-changing money on offer.

Schulz Lands Maiden Bracelet in Freezeout Event

Exhaustion caught up with an emotional winner, Roger Schulz in Event #59 as he claimed victory in the $3,000 NLHE Freezeout event. After winning his firt bracelet and the top prize of $675,275, he said he was “…exhausted, relieved, and proud” and revealed the toll his title had taken.

“I think I’m coming down with a cold,” he told reporters “I’ve been sniffing and coughing, so I think I’m going to take it slow. Let’s see how tomorrow is, and then maybe then I’ll want to play again.”

Whether he chooses to or not, he just made a heap of real-life cash after playing to the title at a stacked final table full of stars. Jesse Lonis came ninth for $56,963, Italian player Dario Samartino cashed for $166,404 in fifth and overnight leader Barak Wisbrod fell short of his first WSOP title by three places in fourth for $233,657 as three potential first-timers played three-handed to the win.

James Mendoza was the first of those to fall, his 10♣10♦ starting and ending his final hand behind Schulz’ K♦K♥. That pot gave the latter an impressive 4:1 chip lead and he wasn’t losing from there, his A♦2♣ eventually good enough to hold against the Frenchman Julien Sitbon’s shove with Q♣5♥ as the board fell J♦9♥6♥8♣J♥ and the German rail burst into rapturous cheers.

Brad Ruben Leads NL 2-7 Single Draw

In the $1,500 entry No Limit 2-7 Single Draw Event #60, Brad Ruben (4,265,000) leads from poker superstars as he bids to win his fifth bracelet. Incredibly, the two men closest to him have even more bracelets than he does, with nine-time WSOP winner Erik Seidel (3,065,000) and five-time winner Jason Mercier (2,565,000) both in with a great chance of what would be a very special result for either player. Mike ‘Sir Watts’ Watson (2,350,000) and Jon Turner (1,390,000) can’t be ruled out either at this all-North-American final table.

Super Seniors Down to Penultimate Day

Just 109 players remain in the $1,000-entry Super Seniors Event #61, with Farhad Davoudzadeh (2,400,000) the relatively unknown name at the top of the counts. With only two of the 109 survivors on Day 2 having won a bracelet in the past, the one that sticks out is Massoud Eskandari, who was short stacked before a dramatic late heater saw him end the night on 825,000 chips as he bids to win back-to-back Super Seniors. Yes, the reigning champion is very much still in with a shot of the title.

De Silva and Mizrachi Make Top 10 in Mix

Upeshka De Silva (3,165,000) and Robert Mizrachi (3,100,000) have seven WSOP bracelet between them and will shoot for glory tomorrow as 28 players are left in the $1,500-entry Mixed NLHE/PLO Event #62 overnight.

With others such as chip leader Eran Carmi (4,255,000), other top three stacks Charles Honkonen (4,160,000) and Bart Lybaert (4,050,000) as well as controversial Czech player Martin Kabrhel (1,070,000) all involved, anything could happen.

Seven Card Stud Championship Brings Out the Best

Several of the world’s top poker professionals made the cut on Day 2 of the Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship which costs $10,000 to play and has a $344,677 top prize up for grabs. Only 17 players remain in with a chance of scooping that prize – and the bracelet, with Max Schindler (1.25m) top of the pile. With stars of the felt such as Andres Korn (926,000) Joao Vieira (837,000), Dan Colpoys (619,000) and Bryn Kenney (601,000) all chasing him down, nothing will be easy on the final day of this Championship event.

Deepstack Day 1 Sees Stolzenfeld Star

A total of 4,303 entries took on Event #64, the $600-entry No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack Championship event, with 543 players making Day 2. Of them, Steven Stolzenfeld (1,190,000) leads, with Adel Kabbani (1,052,000) and Milan Timko (916,000) close by in the top 10. Poker powerhouses Yang Zhang (487,000), Martin Zamani (480,000) and Ben Yu (249,000) will all feel they have what it takes to make the final day and give themselves a chance of winning gold… and the $271,032 top prize.

Kolev the King on Day 1 of NLHE Six-Max

Bulgarian player Yuliyan Kolev (521,000) leads the remaining field of 381 players from 1,074 total entries in the $5,000-entry NLHE 6-Max Event #65, with Matt Berkey (370,000) and Ren Lin (369,000) both making the top five.

Other stars such as Taylor Paur (306,000), Rafael Reis (295,000) and Stephen Song (292,500) all maintained a strong start to finish inside the top 20, but there was no Day 2 berth for legends such as Isaac Kempton, Daniel Rezaei, Maria Konnikova or Jans Arends.

Guagenti Riding High Again

“If it’s all luck, how come the same players reach the final table?” – the question paraphrased from the 1998 movie Rounders might ask? The answer is, of course, that it isn’t luck at all, proven by Nick Guagenti’s incredible ascent to the top of the Event #66 leaderboard, with his first WSOP bracelet win in 2020 having been followed even more recently 16^th and 10^th-placed finishes in this year’s WSOP.

With stars such as Robert Campbell (497,000) and Amnon Filippi (489,000) not just surviving but thriving inside the top 10, nothing will be easy but if anyone can crush again, it’s Guagenti.

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This article originally appeared on PokerStake.com