2012 World Poker Tour World Championship Day 2: Michael Mizrachi On Top
After a nice and easy Day 1 at the $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship on Saturday, the field was back in action on Sunday at noon for Day 2. The total field size grew to 135 players throughout the course of the day and registration will remain open until approximately 1700 PDT (0100 BST) on Day 3. From the 98 Day 1 survivors and 30 late registrants, 95 players advanced. Leading the pack was former WPT champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as he bagged up 428,200 in chips.
Mizrachi proved to be the only player able to finish above the 400,000-chip mark and will be looking to add WPT title number three to his collection. Previously, Mizrachi won the 2005 L.A. Poker Classic for $1,859,909 and the 2006 Borgata Winter Open for $1,173,373. Coming in behind him on the leaderboard was another former WPT champion Rinat Bogdanov with 381,000. Bogdanov won this season's WPT Venice Grand Priz for €229,800.
Of those players who were eliminated on the day, were Isaac Baron, Hasan Habib, Dan O'Brien, Vanessa Selbst, Ryan D'Angelo and the WPT's own Tony Dunst. Also falling were WPT Champions Club members Morten Christensen, Tommy Vedes, Matt Giannetti, Andrey Pateychuk, David Benyamine, James Demsey and Daniel Negreanu.
According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Negreanu fell in the last level of the night with the blinds at 600/1,200/200 in a hand that saw three players get all the money in.
It was reported that Negreanu had opened from middle position with a raise before Lance Steinberg reraised behind him. On the button, Guillaume Darcourt made the call before action folded back to Negreanu. Negreanu reraised all-in for 33,400. Steinberg and Darcourt both made the call.
The flop produced the Q♥J♣2♠ and Steinberg moved all-in for around 80,000. Darcourt quickly made the call with the J♦J♠ for middle set, but was behind the Q♣Q♦ for top set from Steinberg. Negreanu was well behind, but still alive holding a straight draw with his A♠K♥. The turn 5♥ and river 8♣ both failed to give Negreanu the straight he needed and he was eliminated. Steinberg's set of queens held up, allowing him to scoop the entire pot and double up through Darcourt.
Although some big names hit the rail on the day, plenty of them built nice stacks to take into Day 3. David Steicke, Isaac Haxton and Day 1 chip leader Steve O'Dwyer all finished above 300,000, while John Hennigan, David Chiu, Joe Serock and Nick Schulman bagged up plenty of ammo.
WPT World Championship Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi | 428,200 |
| 2 | Rinat Bogdanov | 381,000 |
| 3 | Guillaume Darcourt | 356,600 |
| 4 | David Steicke | 345,500 |
| 5 | Isaac Haxton | 313,500 |
| 6 | Anthony Ruberto | 309,100 |
| 7 | Steve O'Dwyer | 301,900 |
| 8 | Ubaid Habib | 288,100 |
| 9 | John Esposito | 284,200 |
| 10 | Matt Juttelstad | 274,000 |
The remaining players will start back up on Monday at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) for another day on the grind. You can expect another batch of late entrants to jump into the fray as registration will remain open until Level 12. Be sure to stay tuned for the daily recap right here on PokerNews.
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