2012 World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Day 2: Joe Elpayaa Leads Final 28
Day 2 of the 2012 World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble concluded Sunday night with only 28 of the original 477 entrants left competing for the $402,970 top prize. Sunday's action began with 157 players, and after more than 12 hour of play, the field had pushed through the money bubble and closer to the six-handed televised final table.
Poker pro Joe Elpayaa will take the chip lead into Day 3. At the end of the day, Elpayaa bagged 924,000 with much of his stack the result of a massive pot won against Shaun Deeb. According to the WPT Live Updates team, Elpayaa moved all in with 8♥7♥ on a A♥10♠9♥ flop and Deeb called with K♥4♥, creating a pot worth more than 500,000 chips. The J♦ hit the turn, giving Elpayaa his straight, and the A♠ on the river was no help to Deeb, who exited before reaching the money.
That gave the chip lead to Elpayaa, who is closing in on his second WPT final table of 2012. Earlier this year, he took sixth place in the Season X Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event for $128,200
Several notables will be chasing Elpayaa on Monday, including Noah Schwartz, Justin Zaki, Jon Aguiar, John Racener, Byron Kaverman, Mohsin Charania, James Calderero, Darryll Fish, and Todd Terry. Schwartz finished Day 2 right on Elpayaa's heels with 916,000. Like Elpayaa, Schwartz is eyeing his second WPT final table of the year; he finished fourth at the L.A. Poker Classic for $355,750 in February.
Among those who hit the rail empty-handed on Day 2 were Daniel Negreanu, Rob Salaburu, Ronnie Bardah, Victor Ramdin, and Chris Klodnicki, who landed directly on the money bubble in 46th place. To make matters worse, Klodnicki's horse Daniel Buzgon finished in 47th, creating what Klodnicki called a double bubble.
The pace of the action picked up a bit after Klodnicki's exit as Harrison Gimbel (43rd place), Corey Burbick (42nd), Brian Hastings (38th), Matt Waxman (37th), and Nick Grippo (32nd) ultimately made their way to the cashier. Mark Rose was the final player eliminated on Day 2, and it came with just two hands remaining in the night. The short-stacked Rose moved all in preflop with 8♥4♥ and was called by Gjergj Sinishtaj, who tabled pocket jacks. The 8♦6♦2♣9♥K♠ board came up short for Rose and he headed off to collect $9,158 for his 29th place finish.
Day 3 will commence at 1200 EDT (1700 GMT) Monday and the final 28 players will play down to the six-handed final table. Here's a look at the top 10 stacks entering the day:
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Elpayaa | 924,000 |
| 2 | Noah Schwartz | 916,000 |
| 3 | Brian Senie | 886,000 |
| 4 | Blake Bohn | 729,000 |
| 5 | Hans Winzeler | 700,000 |
| 6 | Justin Zaki | 646,000 |
| 7 | Ludek Sisak | 637,000 |
| 8 | Jonathan Aguiar | 604,000 |
| 9 | John Racener | 593,000 |
| 10 | Byron Kaverman | 578,000 |
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Data and photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.
