Day 2 of the Poker Players' Championship Awaits
Welcome to the second day of Event #55: The $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, the event that always brings out poker's elite to compete for one of the most coveted bracelets on the WSOP schedule.
Nearly all of the 123 players who entered the event yesterday made it through the first five 100-minute levels to return today, although some in much better shape than others. Jonathan Duhamel returns as the only player with more than 400,000 chips to begin Day 2, a large chunk of that earned in a pot-limit Omaha hand at the expense of Vanessa Selbst yesterday who ultimately became one of the few first-day casualties along with Ralph Perry, Matt Glantz, Johnny Chan, David Williams, and Josh Arieh.
Jared Bleznick, Jason Mercier, Justin Smith, and 2011 Poker Players' Championship winner Brian Rast are also returning to stacks of more than 300,000, with those four joining Duhamel as the only players to have more than doubled their starting stacks of 150k yesterday.
Meanwhile the shortest stacks to begin Day 2 belong to Alexander Kostritsyn, Mike Sexton, Cary Katz, Phil Ivey, Marco Johnson, and David "ODB" Baker, all of whom will return to less than 50,000.
Baker fell all of the way down to just 4,000 chips before play concluded last night, which will represent exactly one big bet in the limit games to start play today. But he returns with the same hopes of all the other survivors to make the most of what he has left.
Disaster last level lost couple massive pots and few others Sorry to report I will be coming back with 4k...folded last 6 hands not quittingFollow @audavidb
The cards have been so mean this summer, but I will make a run! I won't quit on this summer. I work too hard and care too much.Follow @audavidb
Play resumes at 2 p.m. PDT, with the plan once again being for players to play five more 100-minute levels. Late registration extends to the beginning play today as well, meaning we will likely see a few more additions to the field before the first hands of the day are dealt.
Come back to PokerNews then for continuing coverage of Event 55: The $50,000 Poker Players' Championship. Meanwhile, here's Kristy Arnett with Steve Sung, who last night won another tournament with an especially tough field, Event 52: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em (Six-Handed).