Day 2 Ends With Kuba on Top
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After just over six levels of play, we are down to 36 players in the 2012 DeepStacks Poker Tour Mohegan Sun National Championship, and your overnight chip leader is Matt Kuba (777,000). Biting at his heels is Nicholas Palma (765,000), and players that are within striking distance include Charles Saleba (538,000), Carlo Sciannameo (538,000), and Artyem Perlov (430,000).
Day 2 began with David Stefanski head and shoulders above the entire field, and while he was quiet today, fireworks exploded all around him. In the first big hand, Luke Vrabel and Peter Gilmore were all in and at risk preflop holding 
and 
respectively. Jonathan Drane had them both dominated with two black aces, and held as the board ran out 
. His stack ballooned to 190,000 chips, but like Vrabel and Gilmore, he failed to survive the day.
Allen Kessler also busted on Day 2. On a flop of 
, he ran 
into the 
of Peter Halperin. Halperin held as the turn and river produced the 
, and the , leaving Kessler with just a few thousand chips. He moved all in a few hands later with 
, and ran into an opponent’s pocket sevens. The sevens held.
As the day progressed, several notables began climbing the counts. In fact, going into the dinner break, Mike Matusow, Vanessa Selbst, and Kurt Jewell were among the leaders. Well, the next 70 minutes or so were unkind to all three, because the entire trio exited.
Jewell won a nice-sized pot right after the dinner break, turning a set against Saleba. Jewell received three streets of value, and increased his stack to 415,000 chips. He then doubled Art Pappas after check-jamming with second pair on a flop of 
. Pappas called with two kings, and held.
A few hands later, Jewell and Saleba tangoed again. Jewell opened to 8,500 from the hijack seat, and Saleba three-bet to 34,000 from the big blind. Jewell four-bet to 59,500, and Saleba called.
The flop fell 
, and Saleba quickly moved all in for 209,000. Jewell snapped it off instantaneously.
Saleba: 
Jewell: 
Jewell held an overpair, but Saleba could double with a ten or an eight. The turn was another jack - the 
- and the 
spiked on the river to give Saleba a straight.
He doubled to 545,000 chips, while Jewell was left with just 76,000.
Jewell's roller coaster came to a crashing end in the same orbit, when he cold four-bet jammed with two aces. DeepStacks Pro Chip Jett, who was the three-bettor, called with kings, and hit a king on the river to eliminate Jewell.
On an adjacent table, Selbst lost a massive pot to Kuba. Selbst opened to 9,000 from the cutoff seat, Kuba three-bet to 22,000 from the small blind, and Jason Strasser cold four-bet to 58,000 from the big blind. Both Selbst and Kuba called.
The dealer fanned 
, Kuba checked, Strasser checked, and Selbst bet 43,000. Kuba check-raised to an even 100,000, Strasser folded, and the action was back on Selbst.
She silently riffled chips with one hand, then doubled-fisted 226,000 into the pot. Kuba examined the board, looked at the bet, studied Selbst, then moved all in.
Selbst snap-mucked, and Kuba raked in the pot.
A few hands later, Selbst busted. According to Perlov, he opened to 11,000 from under the gun, Jean Elie Joseph called in the cutoff, and so too did Selbst in the big blind.
The flop fell 
, Selbst checked, Perlov fired 22,000, and Joseph called. Selbst moved all in for around 135,000, and Perlov made the call.
Selbst: 
Perlov:
The turn and river came 
, 
, and Selbst was eliminated.
For Matusow, we didn't catch all of the details, but what we do know is that the flop was 
. Matusow was all in for 135,000, there was a mountain of chips in the middle, and Nicholas Palma was tanking.
Palma eventually called, turning over 
, and Matusow unhappily flipped over 
.
"I knew he had it," Matusow sighed.
Neither the turn (
), nor the river (
) improved Matusow's hand, and he was eliminated.
With that, Day 2 is in the books. The remaining 36 players will return tomorrow at noon local time and play down to a six-handed final table. The top 25 players will receive a minimum of $5,600, but everyone still alive is eying the $162,390.
Until then, good night from Mohegan Sun!