Team Ruter and Adam Won WSOP Gold on Day 34

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on November 3rd, 2021

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The WSOP Main Event is creeping up quickly, but players at the Rio on Day 34 had other tournaments on their minds. The Super Seniors and Tag Team events were playing down to their winners, and five other events were still progressing. There wasn’t time for any of these players to think of the Main Event yet.

Some of them, however, were looking at the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard. Anthony Zinno has been at or near the top since he won his two gold bracelets earlier in this series, but Jake Schwartz has made numerous final tables and is now within 15 points of Zinno. Phil Hellmuth is also closer with Shaun Deeb, Ari Engel, and Ben Yu in the running. Ryan Leng may be in seventh place but is leading the final ten in the Poker Players Championship going into Day 4. Jeremy Ausmus, Dylan Linde, and Daniel Negreanu round out the top ten. This is going to be a battle.

Meanwhile, let’s recap what happened on Day 34 of the 2021 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Event 58: $1K Super Seniors NLHE

It was a long day for players 60 and older, as there were 65 seated at the start of Day 3 and needed to play to a winner. It happened late into the night, when Jean-Luc Adam took a chip lead into heads-up play and turned that into his first WSOP gold bracelet. The 69-year-old now lives and works in the Caribbean – Saint Martin, to be exact – and talked to PokerNews about his win:

“I’m dreaming. It’s very strange, a strange sensation. … I just finished the tournament. I can’t realize exactly everything now. I am thinking first of my family. The most important thing to me is my family – my wife, my daughter, and my son. My son plays poker well, very well. He taught me.”

 

French native Jean-Luc Adam tops a field of 1,893 players in the NLH Super Seniors Event to win his first gold bracelet and $255,623.

📸 @timeweavers https://t.co/WPyUCcWRAI pic.twitter.com/wgZYP3h3Ga

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) November 3, 2021

Event 59: $1K NLHE Tag Team

Ten teams returned to the Rio for Day 3 of the Tag Team event, and it was a long one. Even heads-up play lasted about three hours. And when it was done, Team Ruter (Mike Ruter and Samy Dighlawi) held their new bracelets. It was the first for each of them. The duo had been friends for many years, and they Dighlawi spoke to PokerNews after the win:

“We lasted about two minutes (in the 2019 Tag Team event). The funny thing is last year, after we busted, we said ‘We’re coming back next year.’ And we did.”

 

https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1455799827543957506?s=20

Event 60: $50K Poker Players Championship

The original field of 63 players ended with just ten bagging up their chips at the end of Day 3. None other than Ryan Leng, who already won a bracelet this year, leads the pack. However, another 2021 bracelet winner, Josh Arieh, is second on the leaderboard. The entire field is full of poker stars. The intent is to play down to just five players on Day 4.

 

Event 61: $600 NLHE Deepstack

Nearly 4,000 players started this deepstacked event, and Day 2 thinned the field from just under 500 down to 40. Since this is a Deepstack Championship, there is a bit more play than in other two-day deepstacks. Everyone returning on Wednesday will walk away with at least $5,917, but there is a $252K prize at the top for the ultimate winner. Barry Shulman is one of two previous bracelet winners in the field – 20^th on the leaderboard – and Mark Seif is the other but holding a short chip stack.

 

Event 62: $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo 8-or-Better

The second day of Omaha-8 action brought the field down from more than 100 to just 13. Matthew Kaplan  may have the chip lead and a desire for a first bracelet, but three-time bracelet winner Kevin Gerhart is betting on his 2021 WSOP rungood to pull from second place in chips to the lead. But considering that all players have the same dream of winning a bracelet in this event, nothing will come easy on the final day.

 

Event 63: $500 Salute to Warriors NLHE

The second of third charity tournaments at this year’s WSOP is dedicated to those who have fought and continue to represent America around the world. The primary recipient of the $40 from each buy-in of this tournament is the USO (United Services Organization), but other military charities are involved as well. Interest in the event racked up more than 1,700 entries, meaning nearly $70K appears to have been raised. With that in the bank, the remaining players compete for a bracelet.

 

Event 64: $5K Mixed NLHE/PLO

Players do love their Hold’em and Omaha mixes. This one, despite its $5K buy-in, delivered with 579 entries and a $2.6M prize pool. Only 49 players made it through to the final day on Wednesday, among them names like Jason Somerville and Daniel Zack. Two-time bracelet winner Tommy Le sits in fifth chip position, with Joni Jouhkimainen and Niklas Astedt as top contenders in the top five.

 

Highlight of the Day

One of the great things that happens when poker players get together is giving. Poker players, on the whole, are very generous and don’t hesitate to help someone in need.

I wrote one piece about it yesterday, about the three charity-based WSOP events this year, the two Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) events, and the generosity in a number of other ways. Before that article was up for very long, I received more input for a second article. One of these efforts will benefit the unhoused community, courtesy of two Americas Cardroom pros.

My boy @Jon_Pardy and I are RETIRING FROM POKER (for a couple days) 😄

-Nov 4-5th we are running food for @AllAmericanDave’s!🏃🏾‍♂️🏃🏻

-Our salaries will be donated to @CaridadCares + we will match.

-If we can earn $1000+ in tips we will donate another $500. #WSOP #PuntersPad pic.twitter.com/vGulSL0o7e

— 乃乇ㄒ ㄖ几 ᗪ尺乇山 (@BetOnDrew) November 2, 2021