Philip Long Poised For Back-to-Back Final Table Runs; Jean Gaspard Trails Close Behind After Day 2 of $3,000 Nine Game Mix
Philip Long is having a case of deja vu in Event #36: $3,000 Nine Game Mix.
Just a year ago, the British pro found himself at the final table of this event before bowing out in third place for $90,411. Now he’s back at it again and chasing a second consecutive run for mixed-game supremacy after bagging up the chip lead among the remaining 22 players after Day 2.
Long went on a late-night rush to catapult up the leaderboard. He hit a pair on the river to bust Doug Lorgeree, then won a big Razz pot against Travis Erdman near the end of the night to finish at 1,215,000. Long is proving himself to be a mixed game specialist, his lone bracelet coming in 2018 in the $1,500 Eight Game Mix event.
Right behind Long is a player who’s hard to miss for his boisterous table talk and ability to accumulate chips quickly. Jean “Prince” Gaspard busted Randy Ohel near the money bubble and never looked back from there, becoming the first player to move past 1,000,000.
Gaspard spent most of Day 2 in the top spot of the leaderboard, running hot and making audacious plays. “Do you think I’m really going to come here and try to outplay everybody? All these great players,” Gaspard told his tablemates during the day. He ended up outlasting most of them.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philip Long | United Kingdom | 1,225,000 |
| 2 | Jean Gaspard | United States | 1,100,000 |
| 3 | Justin Liberto | United States | 999,000 |
| 4 | Allan Le | United States | 880,000 |
| 5 | Per Hildebrand | Sweden | 875,000 |
| 6 | Shawn Buchanan | Canada | 856,000 |
| 7 | Tamon Nakamura | Japan | 848,000 |
| 8 | Scott Clements | United States | 814,000 |
| 9 | Ryutaro Suzuki | Japan | 737,000 |
| 10 | Christopher Adams | United States | 715,000 |
Two bracelet winners trail Long and Gaspard, Justin Liberto (999,000) and Allan Le (880,000). Shawn Buchanan (856,000), Japanese star Tamon Nakamura (848,000), three-time bracelet winner Scott Clements (814,000), and two-time winner Christopher Vitch (557,000) are also still in the running for the bracelet.
Day 2 began with 183 players remaining out of a starting field of 361. Only 55 would make the money, and Brian Hastings, Robert Campbell, and Anthony Zinno all had their day end early. Maksim Pisarenko burst the money bubble in 56th place. David “ODB” Baker (39th), Todd Brunson (29th), and German soccer star Max Kruse (27th) then made their way to the payout desk.
Viktor Blom, the online legend known as “Isildur1,” built up a big stack early in the day after winning a massive pre-flop all-in showdown with pocket kings. He nearly carried that stack all the way through Day 2 until running into Andres Korn’s quad kings and busting in 24th place, his first live WSOP cash in Las Vegas since 2012.
The remaining 22 players will return tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time to play down to a champion. They’re already guaranteed $7,149, but all eyes will be on the $221,124 top prize and WSOP gold bracelet tomorrow.
PokerNews will be following along until a new mixed-game master is crowned at the 2023 WSOP.