Day 2 has come to an end in the second $1,000 tournament of the series. Today we started with 446 hopefuls, 324 of which would make the money. The money bubble came and went, and so did many of the players. 3,042 players entered the event but now we are left with only 56. Players are set to return tomorrow for Day 3 at 2:30 pm local time.
The field was reduced dramatically today, losing some big names along the way. John "The Razor" Phan, "Miami" John Cernuto, Kelly Kim, Bill Chen and Vitaly Lunkin are just some of the pros who didn't survive. On the other hand, Jared Hamby, Andy Black, Burt Boutin, and Ylon Schwartz are all in contention for the bracelet.
Our chip leader heading into Day 3 appears to be Matt Vance with 547,000. There are a number of other players who have the chips to go the distance including: Christopher Brammer (518,000), Daniel Carter (417,000),Daniel Thomas (210,000) and Nick Guagerti (191,000), just to name a few.
Check back tomorrow for the latest updates as we play down to a final table.
David "Bakes" Baker held a chip lead through much of the day. However, when he got his shrunken stack in from the small blind preflop with he was called by the big blind who held .
Baker was ahead at the outset and on the flop when it came . However, the came on the turn, and the came on the river, knocking Baker out of the tournament.
Jeremy Defrande was all in with one caller. His was in poor shape against his opponent's . When the flop came , Defrande got up and started to collect his things. The turn was the , which didn't change things. However, the on the river gave Defrande a set and catapulted him to 240,000 chips.
Action has slowed tremendously as we enter the last minutes of the tournament. Andy Black and Jared Hamby have been seated at the same table; unfortunately, it doesn't look like they will be mixing it up too much before the end of the night.
A player in Seat raised to 12,000 and William Reynolds made the call from the small blind. After the big blind folded, the flop came and Reynolds checked.
Seat 5 bet 9,000 and Reynolds made the call. The on the turn inspired Reynolds to lead out for 22,000. Seat 5 called and they say the hit the river. Both players checked.
"Chop?" inquired Reynolds as he turned over .
"Nope," was the response from Seat 5, who turned over for a pair of sevens.
"Beautiful," Reynolds mocked, "I guess you called to float." Reynolds was left with 88,000 after the hand.
We arrived on the flop to see all of Dana Kellstrom's chips committed to a board reading . Kellstrom had flopped top pair with his but was no good against his opponent's . When the turn came followed by the on the river, Kellstrom hadn't improved and went to collect his winnings.