Salazar Leads as $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha Heads to Final Day
Day 2 of Event #77: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha has been completed and at the end of the day, 11 players still have a chance to win the bracelet.
Aden Salazar ended the day in pole position with a massive chip count of
9,140,000, more than double than his closest competitor, Noah Bronstein, who bagged 4,200,000.
Salazar, who is only 21 years old, is having success in his first WSOP as he finished fifth in Event #53: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/ Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) for $161,239 two weeks ago and he now has his eyes on the bracelet and the $277,949 top prize that will be awarded Wednesday.
“I feel really grateful, blessed, and lucky for everything,” said a smiling Salazar, who plays a lot of live events in his hometown of Houston, Texas. “I hope now that it will continue tomorrow.”
Event #76: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aden Salazar | United States | 9,140,000 | 152 |
| 2 | Noah Bronstein | United States | 4,200,000 | 70 |
| 3 | Vincent Lam | Canada | 3,810,000 | 64 |
| 4 | Vegard Andreassen | Norway | 3,500,000 | 58 |
| 5 | Daniel Chuprun | United States | 2,040,000 | 34 |
| 6 | Robert Topham | United States | 1,805,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Richard Kellett | United Kingdom | 1,580,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Esther Taylor | United States | 1,385,000 | 23 |
| 9 | Sandeep Pulusani | United States | 1,210,000 | 20 |
| 10 | William Leffingwell | United States | 1,130,000 | 19 |
| 11 | Jordan Kaplan | United States | 1,000,000 | 17 |
The start of day chip leader, Vincent Lam, finished third in chips with 3,810,000, coming off a fairly steady day that saw him maintain a large stack throughout.
Vegard Andreassen (3,500,000) and Daniel Chuprun (2,040,000) ended the day as the middling chip counts, while Sandeep Pulusani, the only bracelet-owner left in the field, ended the day in ninth position in the counts with 1,210,000.
The day began with 151 players already in the money as the bubble burst at the end of Day 1. There was a pile of bracelet winners and notables to leave with some consolation prize money on Day 2 as Shea Quintin (144 - $2,625), Ryan Laplante (136th - $2,625), Dan Shak (127th - $2,625), Barny Boatman (116th - $3,000), Mike Watson (88th - $3,238), and Demosthenes Kiriopoulos (31st- $8,174) all failed to find a bag.
The six-time WSOP champion, Daniel Negreanu, was poised to make yet another deep run this series. Negreanu came into the day with more than the average stack and maintained his course along the day but busted in 18th place against Salazar when he shoved on a jack-high flop with aces and flush and straight draws while Salazar had hit two pair that held on the rest of the board.
The final 11 will return on July 13th at 1 p.m. local time with play resuming in Level 26, with blinds of 30,000/60,000 and 60,000 big blind ante. They will continue play until a winner is determined and as always, PokerNews will bring the action live as it happens.