Lee Davy brings you a blow-by-blow account of all the action that summed up Day 2C of the World Series of Poker Main Event.
The $10,000 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event has a long way before it reaches its zenith, but for some that moment may have already come. Take David Jackson for example. You can flick until your fingers fall off, you won’t find him in the Rolodex of ‘greatest poker players in the world.’ Instead, he fits into the saturated lake of ‘every man has a dream’.
Jackson started the day huddled within a pack of 2,747 players. It was Day 2C of the greatest poker tournament in the world. When it ended it was his name being sent to RSS feeds around the world as the man with the most chips; 408,800, more than anyone else that day, but significantly less than the 603,500 Amar Anand amassed the day prior.
All that means, when Day 3 begins, there will be 1,796 players all trying there hardest to break the 1,000-player barrier, thus receiving 50% of their buy-in back.
But before we get that far, let’s take a look at the main talking points of Day 2C.
Level 6
Carter King was the first notable player dethroned on Day 2C. He got it in 66TT, and the former world champion Huck Seed fired three bullets into KK5TT, mucked his hand, and then left the building.
Steve Merrifield was no doubt the scourge of his table when he flipped Maria Ho out of the competition, and Pat & Mel Humphrey were able to take a load off their feet after star commander Phil Ivey was eliminated by Mario Sanchez 99>KK.
Lika Gerasimova was leading at the break with 197,650 – Greg Mueller, David Oppenheim and Kathy Liebert were all out without much of a tale to tell.
Level 7
Ronnie Bardah was unable to extend his WSOP Main Event cash record to six in a row after suffered a bad beat on KT7. He got it in good holding pocket aces against his opponent’s Q7, only for a third seven to roll out of the deck to send a disappointed Bardah home.
Nick Binger was unable to follow up on his WPT500 final table performance after Sherry Hammers eliminated him QQ>A5o, Lacey Jones had her aces cracked against queens, and the recent Hollywood Poker Open (HPO) Main Event winner Keven Stammen was also given his marching orders when he ran KQ into the AJ of Vitaliy Rizhkov.
Anthony Zinno was unable to make up any WSOP Player of the Year (POY) ground on Mike Gorodinsky after he was eliminated, and his fellow WPT Champions Club member Jordan Cristos barreled his tournament away on TT533, holding A5o, and was called down by William Donovan holding pocket queens.
Adam Levy ran kings into aces, Kevin Mathers got it all-in on A84, but was out-kicked by his opponent, and Jessica Dawley was unfortunate to run AJ into a set of three on a jack high board. All three ousted from the contest.
Former world champion Peter Eastgate was eliminated by Sebastian Langrock 88<AQ, Matt Stout followed quickly after when his KK collided with AQ on a KJT flop, and ElkY was sent back to his Korean lovely after getting it all-in with aces on 962, only for Ami Sharma to be holding a set of deuces. The Grinder ended a very disappointing series after running AThh into the AKdd of Casey Diener, the magical Darryll Fish was scooped out of the pond when he ran 99 into KQ, and Bobby Oboodi was eliminated by Hien Nguyen in a three-way all-in that saw his JTcc lose out against pocket KK and AJhh. Robert Varkonyi was eliminated by Yury Gulyy 89cc>AK, time ran out for Mike McDonald, and Connor Drinan continued to exit in the most insane ways ever after his pocket queens failed to beat the pocket sixes of Brett Trevallion after he flopped quads.
Going into the dinner break, the new chip leader was Jonathan Tamayo with 264,000.
Level 9
The dashing Taylor von Kriegenberg was eliminated KQ>A2s, Ivan Demidov will not be handing any cash over to a Russian mobster when he was jettisoned from the contest, and the recent WPT500 Aria winner Craig Varnell had the chip lead at the end of the level with 345,800 chips.
Simon Deadman, Xuan Liu, Jason Koon, Calvin Anderson and Matt Matros were all eliminated in Level 9.
Level 10
The final level of the day saw a resurgent Jamie Gold exit in a three way all-in. His A6o failing miserably against AK & KJss, and then Ray Romano took his final bow as the curtain fell down on another hectic day in the most hectic of events.
Top 10 Chip Counts
1st. David Jackson – 408,800
2nd. Zach Jiganti – 401,900
3rd. Shawn Van Asdale – 388,000
4th. Jens Lakemeier – 360,000
5th. Hugo Perez – 345,300
6th. Louis Salter – 344,400
7th. Justin Schwartz – 320,900
8th. Salvatore Dicarlo – 312,200
9th. Ville Mattila – 310,000
10th. Hans Hein 308,800
Other notables with chips include Matt Glantz (306,000), Ryan Riess (291,700) and Adrian Mateos Diaz (285,000). Riess is not the only former world champion in the mix: Scotty Nguyen (181,200), Joe Hachem (148,500), Phil Hellmuth (88,800), and Jim Bechtel (140,000) and managed to make it through.
