WSOP Updates - Event #13, $5,000 PLHE, Day Two - Lisandro Atop Powerful Final Table
51 of the 398 players who started the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em, Event #13, returned for Day Two play on Saturday. Many big names remained, including Joe Sebok, Allen Cunningham, Humberto Brenes, Eric Hershler, Scott Fischman, Mickey Appleman, Tony Cousineau, Lex Veldhuis, Kathy Liebert, Dan Alspach, Shawn Buchanan, Farzad Bonyadi, Jason Lester, Steve Billirakis, Michael Binger, Greg 'FBT' Mueller, Cliff 'JohnnyBax' Josephy, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, Jeff Lisandro, Gavin Griffin, Rob Hollink, and Kirill Gerasimov.
John Dwyer was able to knock out Hollink and cripple Gerasimov in the early going by flopping a full boat in a big three-way pot. WPT L.A. Poker Classic champion Eric Hershler was taken out by Paul Zuzelo; Zuzelo also sent Josephy to the rail moments later. Kathy Liebert was the victim of a bad beat when she held pocket tens against the A-9 of Matt Gianetti; he flopped a nine to increase his outs, then turned trips to send Liebert out short of the money.
For the first time in this year's World Series, the possibility of a repeat winner still exists entering the final table. Jason Lester, last year's winner, started on a short stack but doubled through early against Greg 'FBT' Mueller, catapulting Lester to the final table.
Mickey Appleman was eliminated on the bubble, guaranteeing each of the remaining 36 players a minimum five-figure payday. Kirill Gerasimov was eliminated in 33rd place by the driving John Dwyer and 2007 bracelet winner Steve Billirakis went out moments later in 29th place. By the time the players reached the dinner break, only twelve players remained, the most recent knockouts being Eric 'Rizen Lynch in 14th and Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson in 13th.
Once the players came back from dinner, they made quick work of getting to the nine-player final table. Within 24 minutes, Mike Hauptman left the Amazon Room in 12th place, Joe Sebok went down to a bad beat (at the hands of Humberto Brenes) in 11th, and Chris Sandrock was the unfortunate final-table bubble boy, finishing in tenth. Here's the final-table lineup:
PLAYERS — CHIPS
Seat 1: Jason Lester — 295,000
Seat 2: Allen Cunningham — 346,000
Seat 3: Travis Rice — 544,000
Seat 4: Alan Jaffray — 254,000
Seat 5: Joe Patrick — 631,000
Seat 6: Gavin Griffin — 524,000
Seat 7: Humberto Brenes — 225,000
Seat 8: Keith Lehr — 182,000
Seat 9: Jeff Lisandro — 982,000
Lisandro is one of the toughest poker players in the world, but with Allen Cunningham, EPT Champion Gavin Griffin and the defending champion of this event, Jason Lester, arranged behind him, this could be one of the best battles of this year's World Series. Whenever the fields for events are this "heavy", we always get some great shots in our Photo Gallery, which we encourage you to check out. Also, be sure to check out PokerNews'.com's 'Live Reporting' of the Event #14 Pot Limit Hold 'Em final table, set for Sunday at 2pm PDT.
