2018 World Series of Poker

Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship
Day: 2ab
Event Info

2018 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kj
Prize
$8,800,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$74,015,600
Entries
7,874
Level Info
Level
44
Blinds
2,000,000 / 4,000,000
Ante
500,000

Gavin Folds Correctly

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Lexy Gavin
Lexy Gavin

With already well over 100,000 in the main pot and 80,000 in the side pot Lexy Gavin had a hard decision to make. She was facing a bet of 40,000 from Daniel Merrilees on an {8-Spades}{8-Hearts}{A-Hearts}{9-Spades}{A-Spades} board.

"I can't think of anything that I beat".

She was constantly talking to herself and every now and then she would say something to Merrilees. After a couple of minutes, she pronounced "fold" and opened up {Q-}{Q-}.

Merrilees showed {K-Spades}{K-Hearts} and took down the pot while also busting another player 15 minutes before the end the day.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Daniel Merrilees gb
Daniel Merrilees
440,000
250,000
250,000
Profile photo of Lexy Gavin us
Lexy Gavin
272,000
-78,000
-78,000
StakeKings

Tags: Daniel MerrileesLexy Gavin

Some More Miranda Chip Counts

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of David Cabrera es
David Cabrera
455,000
5,000
5,000
Profile photo of Justin Rice us
Justin Rice
392,000
299,700
299,700
Profile photo of Andrew Yeh us
Andrew Yeh
371,000
202,400
202,400
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Richard Gryko gb
Richard Gryko
350,000
6,000
6,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Run It Once
Profile photo of Steven Snyder us
Steven Snyder
292,000
11,000
11,000
Profile photo of Bas De Laat nl
Bas De Laat
282,000
250,400
250,400
Profile photo of Alexis Fleur fr
Alexis Fleur
260,000
193,000
193,000
Profile photo of Brad Albrinck us
Brad Albrinck
250,000
45,000
45,000
Profile photo of Jeremy Wien us
Jeremy Wien
201,000
-53,000
-53,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Blake Whittington us
Blake Whittington
190,000
60,500
60,500
Profile photo of Alberto Destrade us
Alberto Destrade
99,000
-29,000
-29,000
Profile photo of John Gordon us
John Gordon
70,000
-81,000
-81,000

Tuchman Suffers Late Exit on Day 2

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
David Tuchman
David Tuchman

With about 40,000 in the pot and a board reading {j-Diamonds}{q-Spades}{3-Diamonds}{9-Spades}, David Tuchman moved all in for 32,100 and Seth Kugler check-called.

David Tuchman: {q-Clubs}{10-Hearts}
Seth Kugler: {k-Spades}{q-Diamonds}

The {10-Clubs} completed the board on the river and also completed a straight for Kugler sending Tuchman to the rail.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Seth Kugler us
Seth Kugler
156,000
112,800
112,800
Profile photo of David Tuchman us
David Tuchman
Busted

Tags: Seth KuglerDavid Tuchman

Late Setback for Mizrachi

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Over on the feature table, Neal Mccollum scored a late double with a flopped set of treys against the pocket jacks of Michael Mizrachi and the latter ended up with just over the starting stack.

In the second last hand of the night, Frank Kassela and Eric Froehlich ended up battling on a flop of {7-Diamonds}{5-Spades}{4-Spades}. Kassela's bet was raised to 23,700 and Kassela jammed to force a fold.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Neal Mccollum us
Neal Mccollum
225,100
105,400
105,400
Profile photo of Frank Kassela us
Frank Kassela
135,800
58,800
58,800
WSOP 3X Winner
Profile photo of Eric Froehlich us
Eric Froehlich
70,800
13,300
13,300
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Michael Mizrachi us
Michael Mizrachi
62,500
-186,500
-186,500
WSOP 5X Winner

Tags: Eric FroehlichFrank KasselaMichael MizrachiNeil Mccollum

End-of-Day Counts (full)

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

The full chip counts will be published when PokerNews receives them and a recap of today's action is to follow.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Shawn Daniels us
Shawn Daniels
532,500
222,500
222,500
Day 2AB Chip Leader
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Eric Liebeler us
Eric Liebeler
531,000
20,000
20,000
Profile photo of Samuel Bernabeu es
Samuel Bernabeu
524,000
59,000
59,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Michael Dyer us
Michael Dyer
502,400
2,400
2,400
Day 8 Chip Leader
Profile photo of Casey McCarrel us
Casey McCarrel
501,800
36,800
36,800
Profile photo of Brian Borne us
Brian Borne
496,000
-47,000
-47,000
Profile photo of Frank Bonacci us
Frank Bonacci
486,300
34,300
34,300
Profile photo of David Cabrera es
David Cabrera
483,800
28,800
28,800
Profile photo of Smain Mamouni fr
Smain Mamouni
481,500
-3,500
-3,500
Profile photo of Mohamed Mokrani fr
Mohamed Mokrani
480,000
220,000
220,000
Profile photo of James Little us
James Little
478,800
359,400
359,400
Profile photo of Brian Altman us
Brian Altman
476,500
140,500
140,500
Profile photo of Arden Cho us
Arden Cho
463,700
33,700
33,700
Profile photo of Timothy Lau us
Timothy Lau
442,100
14,100
14,100
Profile photo of Aram Zobian us
Aram Zobian
436,800
296,800
296,800
Day 6 Chip Leader
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Robert Markham us
Robert Markham
430,800
335,500
335,500
Profile photo of Ryan Van Sanford us
Ryan Van Sanford
429,000
-84,000
-84,000
Profile photo of Joshua Mountain us
Joshua Mountain
428,500
-4,500
-4,500
Profile photo of Ap Garza us
Ap Garza
422,700
251,700
251,700
Profile photo of Daniel Merrilees gb
Daniel Merrilees
413,200
-26,800
-26,800
Profile photo of Brandon Bowyer us
Brandon Bowyer
409,500
9,500
9,500
Profile photo of Roger Lussier us
Roger Lussier
409,300
241,300
241,300
Profile photo of Kevin Malis us
Kevin Malis
408,100
225,400
225,400
Profile photo of Alexander Haro us
Alexander Haro
405,300
221,300
221,300
Profile photo of Kaylen Lebaron us
Kaylen Lebaron
405,100
317,800
317,800

Read full

Shawn Daniels Finishes On Top after Day 2ab in $10,000 MAIN EVENT - World Championship

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Shawn Daniels
Shawn Daniels

Another busy day inside the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino has come to an end with Day 2ab of Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship wrapping up just before midnight. A total of 2,460 players walked through the door at the beginning of the day but only 1,131 will be moving on to Day 3. Leading the way after today is Shawn Daniels who bagged up a whopping 532,500 chips.

Daniels came through flight 1a and spent his entire day in the Amazon Room. It was a late rally by Daniels that saw him move into the unofficial chip lead by a mere 1,500 chips. Daniels is looking to better his performance from the 2017 Main Event campaign that saw him finish in 72nd place for $101,444. That turned out to be the largest cash of his career, making up around a quarter of his total earnings.

Not far in the distance is Eric Liebeler (531,000) and Samuel Bernabeu (524,000) who finished in the top three chip counts. Michael Dyer (502,400) and Casey McCarrel (501,800) were the only other players to bag over half a million chips. Day 1b chip leader, Smain Mamouni, kept his momentum going steadily throughout the day, finishing with 481,500 chips.

The day got underway at 11am, July 5, with another five two-hour long levels on the schedule. The Day 1a and Day 1b survivors were split up into separate rooms with 659 players returning from Day 1a and 1,801 players from Day 1b. When all was said and done, the two fields were narrowed down to an unofficial total of 1,235 players who will play together starting on Day 3. They will be joined by those that make it through from Day 1c to make up the first day where the entire field is playing together.

The field was jam-packed with notable faces to begin the day, but some were sent to the rail early on. Two-time 'November Niner' Antoine Saout saw his Main Event run come to an end just one hour into the day. Former WSOP Main Event champions Joe Hachem and Ryan Riess were also eliminated during the day along with Erik Seidel, Tony Dunst, Gaelle Baumann, and Jeremy Ausmus.

One of the main attractions throughout the first couple of days was last year's fourth-place finisher, John Hesp. Along with his flashy outfits and unique play-style, Hesp was like a magnet to many fans hanging on to the rail nearest his table. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to repeat his magical run when his top pair ran into a set of aces from Jim Schweitzer. Hesp's tablemates and the rail gave him a round of applause as he stood up from the table. "[The reception] has been incredible," said Hesp. "Everything has just been so lovely and fun. I'm just so so grateful that these people are enjoying my style of play and everything else in that regard."

John Hesp, the fan favorite, was eliminated on Day 2ab
John Hesp, the fan favorite, was eliminated on Day 2ab

There were a lot of big names that had a solid second day and managed to run up healthy stacks through the five levels played including poker couple Alex Foxen and Kristen Bicknell. Foxen put 238,900 in the bag while Bicknell was just behind with 202,800, and they got there in different ways. Foxen built up one of the biggest stacks early in the day, while Bicknell rallied late making a hero call with just ace-high.

Both gave credit to their table draws throughout the day. "I picked up a few hands but for the most part, my table didn't really want to play back at me," Foxen said. "I had nearly 400,000 chips but then lost a flip with queens in the last level."

As for Bicknell, she also enjoyed her table but was forced to battle in the early going. "I went from fifteen thousand to two hundred thousand, so it was a pretty good day. I had to battle with around twenty to thirty big blinds for the first few levels and then made a good call with ace-high," said Bicknell.

When asked about heading to Day 3, both said they don't want to look too far ahead, but would rather just stay in the moment and deal with what they are given.

"I had a bad attitude after Day 1, but I realized twenty big blinds is a lot in this tournament so I'm just going to keep battling," Bicknell commented.

Kristen Bicknell fought a tough battle throughout the day
Kristen Bicknell fought a tough battle throughout the day

Some other well-known names to make it through to Day 3 with some hefty stacks include Brian Altman (476,500), Kelly Minkin (380,800), Christopher Kruk (370,500), Ben Yu (311,000), and Chris Hunichen (207,100). One name that doesn't come to mind for most people is Eric Hicks, who is making his own story through the first couple of days.

Hicks earned his seat into the 2018 WSOP Main event through a $200 Scramble on WSOP.com with guaranteed seats available. Part way through the tournament, Hicks could be found riding around the Rio on his scooter enjoying some drinks with his friends. All the while, holding the chip lead and playing on his tablet. Hicks was the early chip leader, being the first to cross the 500,000 mark but tailed off later in the day, winding up with 300,000.

There are four previous Main Event champions moving on to Day 3 thus far, looking to make history as repeat champions. Chris Ferguson (160,000), Johnny Chan (107,200), Scotty Nguyen (74,300), and Greg Merson (68,300) all punched their ticket to Day 3.

Everyone will be returning on Saturday, July 7 at 11am along with those that are fortunate enough on Day 2c which resumes on Friday, July 6, at 11am. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back with you tomorrow to wrap up all of the Day 2 coverage, so don't miss out on the action!

Tags: Alex FoxenAntoine SaoutBen YuBrian AltmanCasey McCarrelChris FergusonChris HunichenChristopher KrukEric HicksEric LiebelerGaelle BaumannGreg MersonJeremy AusmusJim SchweitzerJoe HachemJohn HespJohnny ChanKelly MinkinKristen BicknellRyan RiessSamuel BernabeuScotty NguyenShawn DanielsSmain MamouniTony DunstWSOP

Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

Day 2ab Completed