World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond Main Event Day 2: Crain Leads Final 20
Play wrapped for Day 2 of the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond Main Event on Sunday after 14 long hours and 12 levels of play. Twenty players remain from the 342 who began the day, and Eric Crain is the chip leader with 4,450,000, which leads the field by a wide margin.
Also in the hunt for a WSOPC Main Event ring are Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon (1,600,000), Aaron Steury (3,005,000), Luther Lewis (2,895,000) and Joe Hebda (2,540,000).
Notables who didn’t survive the day include ChadBrown, Dwyte Pilgrim, “The Captain” Tom Franklin, Mohsin Charania, Brandon Hall, Josh Brikis, Kenny Nguyen, “Cowboy” John Land, Aaron Bieck, Joel Merwick and Nadya Magnus.
At start of the day, eliminations were fast and furious as short stacks looked to double up or go home. The field reached the money in the fourth level of the day, and hand-for-hand play was not needed because two players busted very close to each other.
After dinner a tournament changing hand took place when Day 1a chip leader Paul Bianchi and Bryan Dillon tangled. At the time, they were two of the three largest stacks in the room. They each invested 40,000 to see the flop roll out 9♦ 9♥ 6♦. Dillon check-raised a 70,000 bet to 270,000. Bianchi stewed and then called but was at a loss when Dillon snap-called and tabled pocket sixes for the flopped full house. Bianchi held pocket tens and never caught up.
Eric Crain spent the day going through wild swings. In one 20-minute span he doubled up, lost half his stack in back-to-back hands, and doubled up again. He spent a good part of the day sparring with Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon but made a late surge to distance himself from the pack.
Kroon ran well for most the day, performing poker more than playing cards. He was all Hollywood on one hand in particular, where after his opponent moved all-in on an all diamond flop he stood up, walked around and announced “all-in” a good ten feet from the table. After his opponent folded he showed that he flopped the nut flush.
The rate of bustouts following the dinner break was incredible — approximately one player every two minutes was making his way to the payout desk. The short stacks had no problem sticking it in with hopes of doubling up because of a couple of pay jumps in the payouts and steeper blinds.
On Day 3, the cards will go in the air promptly at 1400 CDT (1900 GMT). Be sure to follow all the WSOPC action live on Pokernews.com and watch the live-streaming final table at WSOP.com.
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