2009 WSOP: Hansen Leads Stacked Pack in HORSE #49
Day 2 of the $50,000 World Championship HORSE Event #49 kicked off with almost a complete field. Only four players busted on Day 1, so 91 competitors returned to the Rio to battle it out for the WSOP bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. As the day wore on and the blinds caught up to the new triple stacks, Day 2 saw more eliminations as nearly half the field fell by the wayside. By the end of the day, 53 players remained and Gus Hansen had stormed to the top of the leaderboard, followed closely by Ray Dehkharghani.
Jennifer Harman was an early casualty of Day 2, along with Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer, and John Juanda. Juanda’s demise came in a big Omaha hi/lo hand against David Bach and Scotty Nguyen. Bach opened the action with an under-the-gun raise, Juanda three-bet all in from late position, and Nguyen called from the big blind. Bach also called, and the flop came down A♥10♠7♦, prompting Bach to bet into the side pot. Nguyen called, and the turn brought the 2♦. Nguyen led out at the turn, Bach called, and then they both checked the Q♦ river. Nguyen took the low with 5♣4♠2♥4♣ for a seven low, Bach took the high with A♦A♠Q♠8♣ for top set, and Juanda took his exit.
Even more high-profile eliminations took place after the dinner break, including Johnny Chan, Zac Fellows, and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. Matusow finished his final hand with a board of 6-2-10-4-10-4-10 in one of the stud variants. Unfortunately, it was razz, and The Mouth’s full house was no good against David Chiu’s 6-5-4-3-2.
Jeff Lisandro gave notice to the poker world in 2009, taking down three WSOP gold bracelets. This feat, only accomplished by three players prior to Lisandro, had not been seen since Phil Ivey did it at the 2002 WSOP. But Lisandro’s quest for bracelet number four fell short when he busted in a big stud hi/lo hand. Lisandro got all his money in on sixth street against John Hennigan and Frank Kassela, and he exited the Rio empty-handed when Kassela showed [A♣J♦] A♦J♠K♥10♦ 10x] for two pair. Other notable eliminations on Day 2 included Daniel Negreanu, Allen Kessler, Howard Lederer, and Abe Mosseri.
Ray Dehkharghani finished the day as one of the big stacks, and his late surge was in part at the expense of Erick Lindgren. In one of the last hands of the evening, Dehkharghani took down a huge pot in razz betting after into Lindgren on every street and finishing with 7-6-5-2-A. Lindgren called him down but couldn’t beat Dehkharghani’s seven low, and Lindgren finished Day 2 on the ropes.
Thanks in part to that pot, Dehkharghani closed out the day with 643,000 in chips, good enough for second place behind Gus Hansen. The “Great Dane” clawed his way to the top of the leaderboard with a stack of 686,000. Erik Sagstrom (560,000), Todd Brunson (549,000) and Hasan Habib (490,000) round out the top five. Other big stacks at the end of Day 2 included the 2008 champion of this event Scotty Nguyen (463,000), Frank Cremen (457,000), David Bach (451,000), and Tony G (433,000).
Join PokerNews at 2PM local time for all the live updates as 53 of poker’s best and brightest return to play their way one step closer to the bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.
