Day two of the World Series of Poker had only three major events to brighten the day, making it slower than the usually fast-paced and multi-gaming days of action in the tournament. Big names were still in the play in different matches so it was possible that some players could walk away with another bracelet added to their collection.
Event #26 – $1,500 No Limit Hold’em
This game saw 1,590 registrants vying to win it. It started at noon in the Brasilia Room. The prize pool that was created by all the players was $2,149,200 out of which 171 players would get minimum cash reward of $2,840 while the winner would get a golden WSOP bracelet and $408,953 as the cash reward.
The leading chip holders were Chad Lane with 50,000 chips, Christopher Symesko with 48,350 and Dominic Nitsche in the third place, after he won his third gold bracelet at the $1000 NLHE table. The players took a break for dinner at 7.45 PM b which time the number of players was down to 630. Some of the people who were out of the tournament were Barny Boatman, Scott Clements and Allen Kessler. Players like Joe Serock, Barry Greenstein, Jonathan Duhamel and DJ MacKinnon were still fighting iut out on Day 2.
At the end of the play, only 178 players were left. Allen Kessler had to leave the game while the top chip holders were Mark Dube (160,300 chips), Dan Smith (132,800 chips) and Ryan Welch (101,000 chips). The competition in the game appeared to be on par with the difference of chips not being much amongst the top three players.
Event #24 – $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Six Max
This game was played in the Amazon Room. There were 541 registered players at the beginning and at the start of day two, there were only 129 at the table. Chris Hunichen was the leading chip holder closely followed by Bryn Kenney and Scott Seiver. By the time the players broke for dinner, there were only 41 players left and they all were in money, the least amount being $8,746. Nicholas Immekus was unfortunate and had to bubble the game with pocket queens while Jean Gaspard pulled a straight with his Ace of spades and 7 of hearts.
In the evening when the game was wrapped up, there were only 17 players at the table. Matt Jarvis was the leading chip holder (1,317,000 chips), Jeremy Kottler was second (815,000) and Bryn Kenney was third (612,000). The game was to resume at 1 PM in the same room on Thursday.
Greg Merson, one of the competitors who were to return for Day 3 on Thursday commented that there were a lot of talented people at the table and it was not easy for anyone to breeze in and win deep in the pot. He was happy to be playing this game at the WSOP because he had been practicing this game for a long time and was confident deep in the $1,000 PLO.
Event #25 – $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo
One of the exclusive games at the WSOP this year, there were 470 entrants on day 1 of which 139 advanced to day 3 of the game. The pool was set at $1,069,250 and the top player was to get $267,327. The minimum cash expected for the last 48 players was $4,694 for which the players were battling at the table.
When the game was adjourned for dinner at 9 PM, there were 47 players left. Out of them, Dustin Leary had to leave the table in a game of Omaha Hi-Lo while Chris Klodnicki was ousted in a game of Stud Hi-Lo. Cameron Tahmasebi was the leading chip holder (160,000 chips), Fu Wong second with 140,000 chips and Robert Mizrachi third with 125,000 chips. There were other noted players at the table too such as George Danzer, Vanessa Selbst, Mike Leah and Eric Seidel who all returned home with some cash but had to leave the table before nightfall.
There were only 23 players left and two levels left to be played but the game saw some drama before it closed for the night. Mike Matusow won a huge pot and created a ruckus in the gaming room which saw him saddled with one round penalty and a talk from Mizrachi. Depsit winning a large pot, he had to finish 19th and walked away with $7,784. There were now 19 players to return at the table for Round three.
The top three chip counts were Erik Seidel (444,000 chips), Mike Leah (374,000) and John Kabbaj (326,000).
Conclusion 50 words
Post a slow Wednesday, on Thursday there shall be two bracelet winners for the $5,000 No Limit Hold ‘em Six Max and $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo tables with their final rounds scheduled for that day. On the same day, $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘em would see players working towards the final on the next day and two new events are slated to begin – $1,500 HORSE and $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha.