2017 World Series of Poker Update: Polk an Early Winner, Negreanu Falls Short

The cards have been in the air for just over a week at the 2017 World Series of Poker and already 11 WSOP bracelets and more than $30 million have been won by participants.

Doug Polk has been the biggest WSOP winner so far. He added a cool $3,686,865 to his bankroll after he was the last man standing in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop No-Limit Hold’em tournament.

Polk outlasted 129 other players who had more than $100,000 to spare to win his third World Series of Poker bracelet. He previously won a $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em event with partner Ryan Fee last year and a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo tournament in 2014. Polk’s combined winnings from those two tournaments were just over $400,000.

It’s been an interesting WSOP so far for six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. Kid Poker began the 2017 WSOP with the pressure on to win three bracelets. That was his own doing, though, as he made a prop bet with friend Ben Lamb that he’d have three more bracelets when the final card was dealt at this year’s WSOP.

If that seems like a difficult feat, it is. It’s only been done five times, the last being Jeffrey Lisandro in 2009.

Negreanu’s first shot at World Series of Poker bracelet No. 7 came in the $10,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em tournament. He came up short, and his team was knocked out in third place, scooping $119,753.

Negreanu made it to another final table in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better tournament. It came down to him and Abe Mosseri heads up. Unfortunately for Negreanu, he came up just short again, and the bracelet ended up on the wrist of Mosseri.

That was Mosseri’s second WSOP win, and it earned him $388,795. Negreanu pocketed $240,290 for second place.

The biggest tournament so far, and in fact the biggest of the entire WSOP, the Colossus III slogged through six days and a field of 18,504 players before Thomas Pomponio finished on top. The $565 No-Limit Hold’em tournament had a prize pool of $9,027,000, and Pomponio cleared $1 million for the win. Not a bad haul for a butcher from New Jersey.