Justin Filtz's poor Day 1a didn't regress to the mean, as he's already busto on Day 2. After a Drake Bronk open, Filtz shoved for about 20,000 from the button and was called by small blind Don Coy. Bronk folded.
Coy:
Filtz:
The flop was safe for Bronk, but a turn and river meant he was done.
Don Coy opened for 8,000 under the gun and was called by Nick Pupillo on his left and Jason Sell on the button. In the small blind, a player made it 26,000 to go, and Coy thought for awhile before folding. Pupillo asked for a count of the reraiser's remaining chips, and told it was about 50,000, he moved all in. Sell folded, and the reraiser called.
Pupillo:
Small blind:
Pupillo flopped a straight draw on , but a missed him. The river filled his Broadway straight though, and he scored the knockout.
We found Andrew Rubinberg thinking over a shove of about 40,000 from Kevin Fiedler, after Rubinberg bet 7,000 on a flop. Rubinberg slid forward a call after some though, and Fiedler turned over for the nuts.
"Oh, Jesus," Rubinberg said, tabling . He didn't hit his backdoor straight.
After two grueling day of play, 61 players have risen to the top to contend for the championship and a first prize of more than $90,000 here at Mid-States Poker Tour Ho-Chunk Gaming.
Leading the way is Don Coy, who rode a late Day 1a heater to a stack of 282,500, but Rob Wazwaz (254,500), Jason Mirza (253,000), Benjamin Berlowski (240,000), and Drake Bronk (239,500) aren't far behind. Other strong contenders include Matt Alexander (223,500), Ken Pates (192,500), Mike Deis (172,000), Lance Harris (158,000), Matt Kirby (149,500), and Jason Sell (134,000), who is trying to make it two straight titles at Ho-Chunk.
Play will resume at 10:30 a.m. sharp with Level 15 (1,500/3,000/500) and continue until a final table is reached. At that point, there will be a dinner break before the tournament reconvenes and plays down to a champion. Don't go anywhere until we see who emerges to claim the title.