WSOP Update, Event 43 – Chipleader Rounds Feeling Peachy as Ahmad, Pechie Chase
Wednesday saw the decisive narrowing of the field in the $2,000 Limit Hold'em Event #43 as players returned for the 2:00 P.M. (PST) start. With 61 players returning for the Day Two action and only 45 making the money, they made plenty of moves in the early play.
Coming into the Day Two action, poker prodigy Noah Boeken was the focus of media attention. Starting the day second in chips, this former student of fellow Dutchman Marcel Luske continued to make quick work of his opponents and chipped-up early in play after hitting pocket Aces against his opponent's flopped Queens.
Boeken was joined at the top of the chip counts by another young gun, Joe Sebok, after Sebok became one of the first players to break the 100,000-chip mark. Sebok, the son of poker player Barry Greenstein, once again staked his claim as a top-flight player by making his deepest 2007 WSOP run to date. Unfortunately for both players, the day ended prematurely as Sebok busted in 14th place when his suited Ace/Seven lost to Tommy Rounds' flopped two pair of Tens and Fours, while Boeken busted long before that, finishing in 29th place.
Also experiencing a tough day was the Day One chip leader, Tom Koral. After starting the day with 88,000 chips, Koral ran into several tough hands and saw his stack quickly depleted. He hit the rail after his pocket Eights lost to Gerald Kane's pocket Queens and Koral finally collected $6,443 for finishing 20th.
As play continued for the remaining players, the action slowed considerably as they pushed to the final nine. Having a solid run of cards at the end of the day, Rounds took out two of the field's biggest remaining names, Sebok and David Plastik (11th place), while Saif Ahmad, eliminated Mike Barrow (16th place) and Steve Buchanan (15th place).
Going into the final day of play, the seats and chip counts are as follows:
Seat 1: Justin Pechie - 147,000
Seat 2: Saif Ahmad - 322,000
Seat 3: Joe Mandia - 259,000
Seat 4: Gerald Kane - 129,000
Seat 5: William Jensen - 245,000
Seat 6: Hal Havlisch - 30,000
Seat 7: Robert Pacleb - 104,000
Seat 8: Tommy Rounds - 406,000
Seat 9: Michael Graffeo - 250,000
Make sure to check back with Pokernews.com for all of the final table action as the remaining nine players battle it out for a WSOP bracelet and a first-place cash of $217, 329.
