2014 WSOP Day 44: Phil Ivey Overall Main Event Chip Leader After Huge Day 2c
There were 2,571 players returning for Day 2c of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event, but one of them grabbed most of the attention throughout the day and night. Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey seized the lead among the Day 2c players early on Wednesday, then increased his stack throughout the day to end with 505,000.
That finish placed Ivey ahead of Tim Stansifer who ended Day 2a/b with 481,500, making Ivey the current overall chip leader in the Main Event.
By night’s end just 1,047 of those playing Day 2c remained. With 817 making it through 2a/b, that makes for a total field of 1,864 players who will return today when the Main Event field is at last combined for Day 3.
Ivey, Ivey, Ivey
Eric Tracy started Day 2c with the chip lead among those playing Wednesday, and would increase his stack to finish the night with a healthy 294,900. But it would be Ivey claiming the headlines for most of the day, especially after a huge three-way hand during the day’s second level secured him the lead.
The hand saw Ivey, Lazaro Hernandez, and Fabian Scherle together watch a flop come 10♥9♦6♠, at which point Scherle committed his short stack, Ivey reraised all in with his big stack, then Hernandez likewise called all in with his remaining 130,000 or so, saying “I guess I’m going home” as he did.
Scherle showed K♥K♠, but he’d been outflopped by both Ivey who had 6♦6♣ for a set of sixes and Hernandez whose 8♥7♥ gave him the lead with the straight. “Why did you say you’re going home?” asked Ivey of Hernandez as they awaited the remaining community cards. Hernandez had a ready response.
“Because you’re Phil Ivey.”
The 5♥ fell on the turn to keep Hernandez in front, but the 10♣ spiked on the river to improve Ivey to a full house, and indeed both Hernandez and Scherle were going home.
That hand pushed Ivey up close to 400,000 to give him the Day 2c lead by a wide margin. He’d add more chips later in the evening while knocking out another player after making a flush, maintaining his stack through another busy orbit, then crossing the 500,000-chip mark in the night’s next-to-last level. He even was able to enjoy “last-level beers” with his tablemates as play wound down for the night.
Other Day 2c Stars
Meanwhile other players did well for themselves on Wednesday, too, including the Spaniard Raul Mestre who nearly caught Ivey late to finish with 477,900. Isaac Baron, Brian Townsend, and Event #46: $50,000 Poker Players Championship winner John Hennigan likewise finished strong to claim spots inside the day’s top 10:
2014 Main Event End of Day 2c Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Ivey | 505,000 |
| 2 | Raul Mestre | 477,900 |
| 3 | Morgan Popham | 407,600 |
| 4 | Peter Neff | 389,200 |
| 5 | Isaac Baron | 387,200 |
| 6 | Steve Tripp | 380,400 |
| 7 | Brian Townsend | 361,700 |
| 8 | Horacio Chaves Cortes | 350,300 |
| 9 | Paul Bennett | 343,700 |
| 10 | John Hennigan | 342,700 |
Among others advancing from Day 2c with above average chips are Raj Vohra (306,400), Griffin Benger (305,900), Barry Hutter (290,600), Ali Eslami (287,900), Henrik Hecklen (247,300), Daniel Alaei (228,300), Mark Newhouse (220,400), Kory Kilpatrick (216,000), Ronnie Bardah (215,800), Jared Bleznick (206,500), Artem Litvinov (194,200), Haralabos Voulgaris (164,700), Matt Matros (136,700), and John Juanda (133,700).
Other notables making it through include Barry Greenstein (113,500), McLean Karr (111,300), Ola Amundsgard (110,100), James Obst (105,500), Jake Cody (80,000), Bruce Buffer (71,100), Amir Lehavot (52,800), Blair Hinkle (44,700), Daniel Negreanu (39,800), 2002 Main Event champion Robert Varkonyi (33,800), and Byron Kaverman (29,000).
Former NBA player Earl Barron also survived the day with 74,000 chips, as did current star Paul Pierce with 48,600. Pierce will be joining PokerNews and the Global Poker Index for a Google Hangout today (Thursday) at about 2 p.m. PDT.
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The Less Fortunate
While Varkonyi made it through to Day 3 with a short stack, seven other WSOP Main Event champions hit the rail on Wednesday as Berry Johnston (1986), Phil Hellmuth (1989), Scotty Nguyen (1998), Carlos Mortensen (2001), Joe Hachem (2005), Joe Cada (2009), and Jonathan Duhamel (2010) were all eliminated.
Tommy Hang, Jonathan Roy, Brad Booth, Gus Hansen, JC Tran, David Benyamine, Marcel Luske, Jennifer Harman, Matt Salsberg, Event #57: The $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop winner Daniel Colman, 41-time WSOP Main Event player Howard “Tahoe” Andrew, and NFL star Richard Seymour were also among the fallen on Day 2c.
And Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué was eliminated in the last hand of the night versus Michael Aron after Aron turned a straight against Piqué’s flopped set.
On Tap
As noted, all 1,864 of those still alive in the Main Event and with hopes of winning the $10 million first prize will be playing together for today’s Day 3, with five more 120-minute levels scheduled. Play gets underway at 12 noon PDT.
Here’s how the overall top 10 will look when the combined field reconvenes, with Ivey sitting on top:
2014 Main Event Start of Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Ivey | 505,000 |
| 2 | Timothy Stansifer | 481,500 |
| 3 | Raul Mestre | 477,900 |
| 4 | Thomas Cannuli | 407,800 |
| 5 | Morgan Popham | 407,600 |
| 6 | Tony Ruberto | 402,700 |
| 7 | Joe Kuether | 401,200 |
| 8 | Peter Neff | 389,200 |
| 9 | Isaac Baron | 387,200 |
| 10 | Steve Tripp | 380,400 |
Video of the Day
Our Caitlin Howe caught up with Ivey amid his strong Day 2c yesterday. Take a look:
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