WPT bestbet Jacksonville Day 2: Cong Pham Leads Final 26; Madsen and Glantz Alive
Season XII of the World Poker Tour continued on Tuesday with Day 2 of the 2013 bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble. The action began with 123 players competing for the $252,749 top prize, and after 10 levels only 26 remained. Day 1a chip leader Cong Pham (pictured) leads the way with 892,000 in chips and is in excellent shape to reach his second WPT final table of Season XII.
End-of-Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cong Pham | 892,000 |
| 2 | Andrew Whitaker | 772,000 |
| 3 | Billy Swaringen | 619,000 |
| 4 | Randall Price | 616,000 |
| 5 | Margo Costa | 599,000 |
| 6 | Tom Sheets | 584,000 |
| 7 | Stephen Bokor | 570,000 |
| 8 | Ryan Eriquezzo | 567,000 |
| 9 | Jared Jaffee | 551,000 |
| 10 | David Diaz | 513,000 |
Pham, who finished third in the WPT Borgata Poker Open in September, grabbed the chip lead late on Sunday after getting involved in several memorable hands. One of them, against George Lampert, took more than 10 minutes to complete. According to the WPT Live Updates, Pham and Lampert saw a flop of A♣5♠4♦. Lampert had 26,000 in chips sitting in front of him and Pham put in a raise to 66,000. Lampert called, and the K♥ landed on the turn. Pham quickly fired 110,000, and Lampert went into the tank for about 10 minutes while the rest of the field went on their scheduled 15-minute break. After failing to get Pham to talk, Lampert flashed A♦K♠ before tossing his two pair into the muck. That pushed Pham up to 550,000 in chips, and he continued building throughout the night.
Other notables returning for Day 3 will be Stephen Bokor, Ryan Eriquezzo, Jared Jaffee, David Diaz, Jeff Madsen, Jacob Bazeley and Matt Glantz. Among the less fortunate who didn't survive the day were David Peters, John Dolan, Dan Heimiller, Shawn Cunix and Justin Zaki.
The money bubble burst midway through Day 2, securing a payday for the top 45 finishers. The unfortunate bubble boy was Fletcher McKinney. After watching a handful of short stacks double up and survive on the bubble, McKinney was unable to follow suit when his Q♥Q♠ was unable to improve against the K♣K♠ of Matthew Oswalt.
Several top pros hit the rail after McKinney's elimination, including Bryon Kaverman (45th - $6,329), Tony Ruberto (44th - $6,329), Alex Venovski (43rd - $6,329), and Micah Raskin (28th - $8,363). The final elimination of Day 2 was Rogen Chhabra, whose J♣J♦ was outrun by Ryan Eriquezzo's A♠K♦.
Day 3 will commence at noon EDT on Monday, and the plan is to play down to the six-handed final table. Stay tuned to PokerNews for a full recap upon the completion of play.
Data and photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com
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