Schwartz Leads After Day 2
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Today was Day 2 of the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, numbered 27 on the WSOP schedule this year. A day prior, 889 people turned up with their entry tickets in hand. By the time the clock ticked down through Level 20 tonight, just 18 remained in contention for the title. Ylon Schwartz will take the big stack of 416,000 into tomorrow's finale, and he'll be the betting favorite to capture the top prize of $267,081 and the gold bracelet. Those prizes will be handed out tomorrow.
When the 165 Day 2 starters returned this afternoon, the field still needed to be reduced by almost half to break the money bubble. Some of the notables to drop out empty handed include Alex Bolotin, Jason Mercier, Frank Kassela, Bryan Devonshire, Christian Harder, Marcel Luske, and David Sklansky.
With 97 players left, Andrew Prock got himself all in during Stud with 
. His trip aces were in trouble against Anthony Dick's 
, and he needed to fill up to avoid a particularly untimely exit. A blank 
on seventh ended his day as the last non-paid finisher, and the 96 players who outlasted him began the procession to the payout desk.
Dan Heimiller was the first to trade paperwork with the cashier, and he was followed by the likes of Linda Johnson, Brent Wheeler, Jacobo Fernandez, "Miami" John Cernuto, and 2011 Main Event runner-up, Martin Staszko. Others to meet their demise as the night wore on included Mike DeGilio, Justin Young, Eli Elezra, Steve Landfish, Tristan Wade, and Huck Seed.
Chris Bell took a bad beat on seventh street to bust in 37th place, and One Dropper Cary Katz outlasted him by just a few spots. At that stage, there was just one lady left standing, but Maria Mayrinck didn't have long left in her tournament life, either. The last of her chips left her in the Omaha Hi/Lo round when her pocket jacks were out-flopped by Jason Brown's ace-king-ten-four. Brown ended up with fours full of kings, and Mayrinck's exit left 29 men battling for the title. Yuval Bronshtein and Sam Grizzle were the next two to fall.
Chips were awfully slippery in the room today, and only a few men were able to hang onto them from start to finish. David Williams had a particularly swingy day at the H.O.R.S.E. track. Williams went from chip leader to short stack and back to chip leader over the course of the first six hours, doing the most damage in Stud Hi/Lo and Razz. In one specific Stud/8 pot against Tom Schneider, Williams' board showed 
against Schneider's 
up. Williams bet seventh dark, then saw his own river card for the first time as he rolled over 
. That flush was the pot that put Williams back in the chip lead, but it wasn't to last. The final two levels of the night were disastrous, and Williams was run out of the room just before the bag-and-tag.
In fact, the only guy we can think of that was never really in any danger today was Schwartz. Highlights of his day included crippling Matthew Ashton in a big Razz pot, and eliminating one-time big stacks Nick Kost and David Williams right at the end of the night. A read back through the blog finds that he was pretty active in pots today, and he'll return tomorrow in the best position for the win.
Bryce Yockey, Cliff Josephy, Stephen Chidwick, Zimnan Ziyard, Allen Cunningham, Rep Porter, and Chiu round out the list of notables among the 18 who survived this brisk Day 2.
The final day is scheduled for 1:00 PM tomorrow, and we'll be back to play this thing out. We hope you'll join us right back here to crown a champion for the 27th time this summer. Until then, all that's left is goodnight.