The bubble has finally burst and it was two players at separate tables that would find themselves heading to the exits.
Geffrey Klein got his last 6,400 in against Darryll Fish and was looking good to double with versus the of Fish.
He continued to look good after a flop of , but the fell on the turn and Fish took the lead. Klein was looking for a diamond or the case king, but it didn't come and he was eliminated.
Meanwhile, Jacob Bazeley got his last 16,300 in with against the of Allan Le. The board ran out though and Bazeley's day was done as well.
Klein and Bazeley are gone, but will receive some solace, as they will split the 63rd place prize money of $2,443.
Phil Ivey opened to 2,400 from under the gun, and Alejandro Chongwong flatted from the button, only to see Ryan Schoonbaert three-bet to 10,600 out of the small blind.
Next to act, Christophe Gross four-bet jammed for his last 30,000 or so, leaving Phil Ivey to tank long and hard in the next seat over. With the next player eliminated falling just short of the cash, Ivey took his time to assess the situation, but he finally folded his hand in frustration, pushing the cards down into the felt as he slid them to the dealer.
Chongwong decided to lay down as well, and Schoonbaert made a quick call with his , only to find his pocket pair to be second best against Gross' .
The final board ran out and Gross doubled through with his ladies, leaving Ivey to lament the fact that he had tossed into the muck.
"I had ace-king..." he told Chongwong from across the table. "What you have, ace-queen?"
"I had jacks," replied Chongwong, confirming that a massive preflop cooler — and the bursting of the money bubble — had been avoided thanks to two disciplined folds.
With the board showing , David Martirosyan bet 4,200 with Ahmed Amin made the call. The turn was the . Martirosyan checked and when Amin bet 8,500, Martirosyan made the call.
The river was the . Martirosyan checked and after much thought, Amin slid out 24,000. Now it was Martirosyan's turn to tank, as he sat staring at Amin for a couple of minutes before Joseph Cheong eventually called the clock. Martirosyan let the clock wind all the way to one before reluctantly folding.
Jeremy Menard busted in 65th place when his was run down by Jacob Toole's .
The money went in on the turn with the board reading and Toole's flopped set was way out in front. A two-out bullet to the heart missed its mark and with that Menard was sent packing just short of the money.
Jess Yaginuma opened to 2,400 from early position and found three callers, including Barny Boatman in the big blind. The flop came and Boatman potted all in. Yaginuma made the quick call and the other two players got out of the way.
Yaginuma:
Boatman:
Boatman received no help as the board ran out and he is busted just short of the money.
Play resumes today in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event with just 69 players remaining and a plan to play either ten 60-minute levels or down to a final table of nine.
Play started at noon yesterday with just a couple hundred entrants and some fairly tight early play. The entries and the play did steadily increase however and we were just a couple players short of eclipsing last year’s total at the dinner break. Another 27 players would enter during the dinner break upping the total number of entrants to 557.
Late entrants included Scott Seiver and Phil Ivey who would start play with just over 11 big blinds. Scott Seiver was not so lucky, as he joined other notable exits like Jeremy Ausmus, Sorel Mizzi, James Woods, Kathy Liebert, Kevin Saul, Jonathan Little, Dwyte Pilgrim, Joe Cada, and Antonio Esfandiari who all hit the rail before the completion of Day 1.
Phil Ivey did find a quick double-up with pocket aces, however, and went on to build a respectable stack of 31,300 and a seat at today’s second day of action.
It was David Martirosyan that would build the biggest stack, though, as he was able to negotiate his way through two monster pots in the last level of play. Martirosyan is stacked at 119,500 and Matthew Damadeo is not far behind with 117,600. Joseph Cheong is lurking closely in fifth position with 67,200. In total, 69 players will return today and 63 will be paid for their efforts, with the winner taking home $169,225.
PokerNews will be there to follow the bubble bursting as part of our complete Day 2 coverage starting at 1 p.m. PDT.