Welcome to Day 4 coverage of Event #6: High Roller for One Drop - $111,111 No-Limit Hold'em. After three days and nearly 21 levels of play, nine players remain from a starting field of 130 entries in the quest to capture one of the most prestigious titles of the summer, a coveted WSOP gold bracelet, and the $3,686,865 first-place prize.
On top of the chip counts by a wide margin entering the final table is Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, commanding a stack of nearly double his nearest competitor. Grospellier is one of the most recognizable players in the game, having been a successful player for more than a decade. However, since winning his lone bracelet back in 2011, Grospellier hasn't quite shined at the WSOP, with just a modest 11 cashes since. A win today would not only give Grospellier his second bracelet, but it would serve as a reminder to the poker world that "ElkY" is still a dangerous player.
"It feels great to be back on the main stage especially in one of the biggest events of the summer," Grospellier said yesterday. "The field is very tough, so it's still going to be a really tough final table. The toughest is obviously coming up." He isn't wrong about that.
Second in chips is 2014 Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson, who is not at only at his second final table this summer already, but who also has a High Roller for One Drop final table under his belt. In 2013, Jacobson finished sixth in this event for $807,427, and will no doubt be looking to improve upon that result.
All told, this final table boasts career earnings of more than $56 million according to the Hendon Mob, and that number is set to rise after the final table concludes.
Who will emerge victorious? Here is a look at the seating and chip counts:
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dario Sammartino
Italy
7,975,000
50
2
Bertrand Grospellier
France
16,825,000
105
3
Rainer Kempe
Germany
5,760,000
36
4
Andrew Robl
United States
6,670,000
41
5
Doug Polk
United States
6,090,000
38
6
Haralabos Voulgaris
Canada
2,865,000
18
7
Michael Kamran
United States
3,470,000
21
8
Chris Moore
United States
7,600,000
47
9
Martin Jacobson
Sweden
8,890,000
55
Play is set to begin at 2:00 pm, and we'll be here to provide hand-for-hand updates on all of the action as the quest to crown the next High Roller for One Drop champion concludes!
Hand #36: Dario Sammartino raised to about 700,000 from the cutoff, Andrew Robl reraised all in for about 4,150,000 from the big blind, and Sammartino called.
Sammartino:
Robl:
The board came down , which was no help to Robl, ending his tournament in eighth place.
Hand #43: Jacobson shoved all in from the cutoff. Big blind Kempe asked for a count. It was 4,430,000. Kempe thought a bit and then called with . Jacobson held , so the race was on.
The flop kept the fives best. The kept it that way but meant a seven would now sink the Swede. The river brought forth an , giving Jacobson the pot. The two players had the exact same chip counts, so Jacobson eliminated Kempe.
Hand #85: Martin Jacobson raised to 1,100,000 from the button, Dario Sammartino reraised all in from the small blind, and Jacobson called all in for about 8,500,000.
Jacobson:
Sammartino:
The board came down , no help to Jacobson, ending his tournament in sixth place.
Chris Moore raised all in from the cutoff for about 9,000,000, and Bertrand Grospellier isolated the pot with a shove of his own from the small blind for just a little bit more.
Moore:
Grospellier:
The flop fell , keeping Moore ahead with his deuces. The turn changed nothing, but the river fell to give Grospellier a pair of aces and eliminate Moore in fifth place.
Hand #142: Doug Polk raised all in from the button, and Bertrand Grospellier called all in from the big blind for about 6,700,000 with , leading Polk's .
Polk didn't trail for long, though, as the flop came down to give him the lead with a pair of queens. The turn sealed it for Polk with two pair, rendering the river moot.
Grospellier finished as the runner-up for $2,278,657, while Polk won the High Roller for One Drop for $3,686,865.