2008 WSOP $10,000 NLHE Championship Event, Day 2A: Brian Schaedlich Breaks 800,000
One thousand, two hundred and fifty-one Day 1A and Day 1B survivors combined to play Day 2A of the WSOP Championship in what turned out to be a very fast day of play. It was also very much a day in which the rich got richer and the poor left early. Brian Schaedlich, a special education teacher from Cleveland, was clearly one of the players that parlayed a healthy Day 1 stack into an embarrassment of riches, starting with just over 160,000 and building it to a field-leading 801,000! And 2005 Tournament of Champions final tablist Brandon Adams took his above-average starting stack of 176,000 to over 350,000 in his second day of play. Adams, a Harvard PhD student, played to a deep 69th place in this event last year and is obviously making another run at it.
The short stacks took a double-up or die approach in the early going. 2007 WSOP Championship final tablist Philip Hilm made quad jacks on one of the first hands of the day to double up. But William Exelby got only five minutes of play out of Day 2A when his pocket kings fell to Alberto Franceschini's A-K after an ace hit the flop. Thomas Swensen went exactly the same way with his kings against Mark Hurst's A-K. "All in and call" was a constant refrain from dealers. In the first half an hour of play, Simon Auerbacher, Grigore Adamescu, Greg Pappas, Zacharias Simeon, and Gillis Damien all failed in their bids to double up. And the 2008 WSOP bracelet winner in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, Jens Voertmann, joined them on the rail when his A-J couldn't overtake an opponent's pocket queens.
Michael Duke doubled up against Anna Wroblewski when his pocket jacks held against her pocket nines. Wroblewski was eliminated a few hands later when she ran her A-K into an opponent's pocket aces. BLUFF Magazine 2007 Player of the Year Bill Edler bid his table good luck after he was eliminated taking his short stack and A-9 against Rajir Buden's A-K. And Philip Hilm failed on his next double-up attempt when his pocket fives faced off against Harold Cromwell's pocket kings and Thomas Fougeron's pocket aces. Cromwell was eliminated in the same hand.
2008 WSOP Ladies Champion Svetlana Gromenkova was crippled on a hand where her pocket aces fell to a flopped set of nines. Gromenkova was out a few hands later when her A-7 couldn't overtake Mark Karam's A-Q. 2008 Aussie Millions winner Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke played his short stack well in the early going, but went out just after the first break when his pocket aces were cracked by his opponent's rivered flush. And 1998 WSOP Champion Scotty Nguyen looked like he caught a break when his pocket nines found a set on the flop against Alexandre Schwab's pocket kings. Schwab, however, got his higher set on the turn and Nguyen was eliminated.
The eliminations continued at a brisk clip, and averaged about 100 an hour in the first three hours of play. Greg Mueller, Zachary Clark, Susie Isaacs, William Eichel and Lee Markholt all became victims of the pace. 2006 WSOP Championship runner up Paul Wasicka was low on chips all day and finally succumbed. And 2002 WSOP Champion Robert Varkonyi soon followed when his pocket tens lost a race against Donald Georgeme's A-K.
Author Michael Craig was eliminated when his A-5 tangled with William Burdick's J-10 and a ten hit the board. Mark Karam's open-ended straight draw failed to find outs, and he, too, was out. And 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Blair Hinkle's day ended when his K-Q couldn't overcome Ben Sarnoff's pocket tens.
Right before dinner, Brian Schaedlich passed the 500,000-chip mark when his open-ended straight draw connected on the river to best an opponent's flopped pair of aces. Only 665 of the 1,251 starting players survived until the dinner break. 2008 bracelet winner Erick Lindgren survived the break, but not much more. In back-to-back hands, both against Brian Brubaker, Lindgren was out. In the first hand, Lindgren's pocket jacks ran into Brubaker's pocket kings. In the next hand, Lindgren's A-J couldn't improve against Brubaker's pocket sevens.
Kathy Liebert shoved on the river with trip queens, but lost to an opponent's Broadway straight. Billy "The Croc" Argyros hit a set of jacks on the flop, but Mark Owens hit his set of aces on the turn, sending Argyros to the rail. Nick Shulman, Barry Greenstein, Billy Baxter, Mathias Viberg, Hal Lubarsky, and John Hennigan soon followed.
In the last level of the day, Brian Schaedlich pushed past 750,000 chips after eliminating Martin Klaser. Shaedlich's A-4 made aces and fours on the flop and Klaser's A-J couldn't find a second pair. While Schaedlich continued his run, Haralabos Voulgaris would see his come to an end. In one of the last eliminations of the night, Voulgaris pushed in with K-Q and couldn't overcome the odds against his opponent's dominating A-Q.
At the end of Day 2A, only 466 players remained. Along with the chip leaders, listed below, Day 2A survivors included Kido Pham, Matt Glantz, Mark Vos, Chau Giang, Erik Seidel, Hoyt Corkins, Tony Hachem, Jason Young, David Colclough, Raul Paez, Chris Bjorin, Magnus Petersson, Dale Pinchot, Maya Geller-Antonius, Hasan Habib, Ben Sarnoff, Mickey Appleman, Thomas Fougeron, Noah Boeken, John Duthie, and Patrik Antonius.
Brian Schaedlich set a lofty benchmark and it will be tough for anyone in the Day 2B field to break it — but they'll certainly try. Check back with the PokerNews "Live Reporting" team for all the Day 2B action. The chip leaders:
Brian Schaedlich — 801,000
Hunter Frey — 397,000
Jeremiah Smith — 386,000
Patrick Fortin — 355,900
Kellen Hunter — 354,100
Brandon Adams — 353,600
David Rheem — 353,000
Ronald Adams — 333,550
Farhad Sinae — 328,500
Eric Crain — 315,000
Jeffrey Anderson — 303,600
