2013 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Day 2: Shaun Deeb Leads Once Again
Day 2 of the 2013 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown played out on Saturday as the remaining 222 players from a 542-player field returned to the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. After four levels of play, just 87 players remained in contention for the $660,395 first-place prize. The man best positioned to capture it is chip leader Shaun Deeb, who bagged up 533,000 in chips.
Top 10 Day 2 Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shaun Deeb | 533,000 |
| 2 | Faraz Jaka | 486,500 |
| 3 | Doug Lee | 483,000 |
| 4 | Jake Schindler | 434,000 |
| 5 | Raj Vohra | 421,500 |
| 6 | Pierrot Massenat | 410,500 |
| 7 | Roberto Alberro | 401,000 |
| 8 | Paul Volpe | 396,500 |
| 9 | Even Teitelbaum | 366,000 |
| 10 | Andrew Stringer | 360,500 |
Action recommenced at Level 12 with the blinds at 600/1,200/200, and it didn’t take long for the casualties to mount. Minutes into play, Faraz Jaka opened for 2,800 under the gun only to have Joe Kuether move all in from the button for 32,000. Jaka called with the A♠K♥ and was racing against the 7♥7♦ of Kuether. The PokerNews Odds Calculator had Kuether as a 54.80% favorite, but the A♦K♣6♦ flop hit Jaka with two pair and made him an 88.38% favorite. The 5♥ turn left Kuether with just a 4.55% chance of surviving the hand, and that dropped to zero when the 4♥ peeled off on the river.
From there the eliminations continued to happen as Jonathan Roy, Matt Waxman, Darryll Fish, Steve Gross, Kazu Oshima, Scotty Nguyen, AP Phahurat, David “Bakes” Baker, Ravi Raghavan, Vanessa Selbst and Garry Gates hit the rail.
Gates fell in Level 12 (800/1,600/200) when a 10♥5♠4♠ flop inspired fireworks between him and 2011 PCA champion John Dibella. Gates got his last 40,000 or so all in holding the 7♠6♠ for an open-ended straight flush draw, while Dibella had flopped a set with the 5♦5♣. Neither the A♥ turn nor Q♦ river helped Gates, and he was eliminated from the tournament shy of the money.
In Level 14 (1,200/2,400/400), a huge 516,000 pot occurred between WPT Champions Club member Anthony Gregg and the Day 1b chip leader, Deeb. It began when Gregg opened for 5,100 in early position, and the player in the hijack seat called. Deeb then three-bet to 16,500 from the cutoff, Gregg four-bet to 41,700, and the hijack folded. After Deeb made the call, the flop came down A♦7♥5♥, and Gregg checked. Deeb took the opportunity to bet 28,700, Gregg check-raised to 68,000, and Deeb three-bet to 110,000. Gregg then moved all in for 210,900, and Deeb called.
Gregg: A♥A♣
Deeb: A♠Q♠
Even though he had top pair, Deeb was drawing dead to Gregg’s set of aces. The 8♣ turn and 3♦ river were run out for good measure, and Deeb was left with 48,000 after the hand. While many players would be tilted and punt off their remaining stack, Deeb was having none of it and worked it back up to 300,000 by the end of the level.
After losing that pot I was left with like 45k reshoved twice then aks>kk aipf and aj>a3 on a63 so 300k again the hard way
— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb)
What’s more, Deeb continued to roll in Level 15 (1,500/3,000/500) when he eliminated John Dolan. It happened when a player opened for 15,000, Dolan moved all in from the button, and Deeb called. The opener folded and Deeb tabled the J♦J♠, which was ahead of Dolan’s Q♠9♠. The board ran out Q♣J♥2♥4♣K♠ and Dolan was sent to the rail while Deeb chipped up to 416,000. Toss in the elimination of Adam Geyer in the last three hands of the night, and Deeb rebounded to finish with the chip lead for the second day in a row.
Others advancing to Day 3 were Donald Nicholson (311,500), Nancy Birnbaum (292,000), Matt Giannetti (231,000), Ben Hamnett (221,000), Dan O’Brien (209,000), Jonathan Little (182,000), Jason Mercier (171,000), Jeff Madsen (147,000), Aaron Massey (87,500), Justin Zaki (70,500) and Joe Serock (63,000).
It’s also worth noting that both Paul Volpe (396,500) and Matt Salsberg (262,500) advanced to Day 3. Each of those men have had a remarkable year in Season XI of the WPT, the former with $1,097,183 in winnings and the latter with $740,190. The two men are tied atop the Player of the Year Leader Board with 2,350 points. That hotly contested race won’t be settled for a while as there are still three more WPT events remaining, but both will add to their totals down in Florida.
Speaking of Volpe, he was the ClubWPT Player of the Day.
Day 3 is set to begin at noon EST on Sunday. Be sure to return to PokerNews for a full recap of the action.
Data, photo and video courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.
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