Jeff "Boski" Sluzinski had raised from early position and was three-bet by Bryan Campanello in the big blind. Boski called to see the 7♥5♠A♠ flop, leading to a pot 14,500 chips.
He then called the 3,500 bet of Campanello and did so too when Campanello sized up to 11,000 on the 9♣ turn.
Campanello slowed down on the 10♠ river and checked, after which Sluzinski bet 19,000 chips. Campanello flicked in a call but mucked his cards when Sluzinski showed 7♠7♦ for a flopped set.
Arriving on a flop of 6♠7♣4♦, Seun Oluwole checked to Oleksii Ievchenko. The latter then pushed his final 18,700 chips into the pot of roughly 60,000 chips.
Oluwole thought about it for a bit before making the call to put Ievchenko at risk.
Oleksii Ievchenko: Q♠Q♥
Seun Oluwole: A♣K♥
"That is fine," Oluwole stated, but he did not pair his hole cards on the 8♥7♥ runout and was left with just under half of a starting stack.
With about 18,500 in the middle the flop read Q♣6♦5♠, and Robert Hankins led for 14,000. Sejin Park was on the button and made the call.
The 5♥ fell on the turn and Hankins continued for 9,400. Park stuck around with a call.
When the 10♣ landed on the river, Hankins bet 23,100 and Park went into the tank for about 45 seconds before announcing an all-in for about 35,000. Hankins snap called and Park rolled over K♥K♣ before seeing the bad news as Hankins tabled Q♠Q♥ for a flopped set.
Heads-up on a board of 3♦7♠7♦6♠, Giuseppe Pantaleo bet 6,000 from the big blind and Jesse Lonis called on the button.
The river was the J♠ and Pantaleo bet 17,000. Lonis then moved all in.
Pantaleo, with around 33,000 remaining, tanked for several minutes before slamming his cards down into the middle of the table and surrendering the pot to Lonis.
Hugh Cullen opened to 1,600 from the cutoff and Bruno Lopes defended in the big blind.
Lopes check-called a 1,500 continuation following the 2♠4♣3♥ flop.
The 9♣ turn saw Lopes check again before raising to 15,000 after Cullen bet 4,500. Cullen moved all in and Lopes quickly called with the covering stack to put his opponent at risk.
Hugh Cullen: Q♥Q♣
Bruno Lopes: 9♥2♥
Lopes had turned two pair to leave Cullen on the ropes. The 5♣ river kept Lopes ahead to confirm Cullen's exit early on Day 2.
Alvaro Vasquez only brought 6,900 chips to Day 2, and he put them all in from the small blind. Richard Wight made the call in the big blind and the cards were tabled.
Alvaro Vasquez: A♥8♣
Richard Wight: A♦J♠
The 4♣A♣10♦Q♠9♠ board made both players top pair, but Wight's kicker remained in play to eliminate Vasquez.
"Well, that was fun," Vasquez noted as he headed to the exit.
Winning the World Series of Poker Main Event is every poker player’s dream. It marks one lucky player out as a world champion forever. Their banner will hang inside the Horseshoe Las Vegas Event Center among the other legendary names in WSOP history.
It’s usually a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but for 13 players returning for Day 2abc at noon local time, they’ll be looking to defy the odds and do it all over again. They include 2019 champion Hossein Ensan, who takes a massive stack of 166,000 into the day that marks him out as one of the largest among the returning players. Other past champions who are back for Day 2 include Jerry Yang (118,800), Jamie Gold (111,100), Koray Aldemir (94,300), Joe Hachem (72,000), Phil Hellmuth (66,700), Chris Moneymaker (64,300), Robert Varkonyi (58,000), Scott Blumstein (53,800), Johnny Chan (45,000), Qui Nguyen (39,000), Greg Merson (36,800), and Jim Bechtel (31,300).
The four starting flights saw more than 9,200 players take their shot at poker glory, making this already the second-largest Main Event field in WSOP history with two more days of late registration remaining. A total of 4,274 players entered the first three starting flights, and 3,144 return to play today. Zyad Qasem (390,300), George Dolofan (314,000), and Joshua Feiger (311,900) were the three chip leaders from their respective opening days and are the three biggest stacks coming into today.
Day 2abc Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Zyad Qasem
United States
390,300
488
2
George Dolofan
United States
314,000
393
3
Joshua Feiger
United States
311,900
390
4
Leonard Herrmann
Germany
306,000
383
5
Ardit Kurshumi
United States
297,400
372
6
Matthew Sabia
United States
297,400
372
7
Colin Beveridge
United States
295,500
369
8
Assaf Zeharia
Israel
276,600
346
9
Mo Nuwwarah
United States
273,300
342
10
Patrick Hagenlocher
United States
270,300
338
The rest of the field is littered with notable names who started their Main Event journey with a strong first day. They include recently-crowned two-time bracelet winner Frank Funaro (265,000), Arthur Morris (221,800), Connor Drinan (192,000), Erik Seidel (183,600), Phil Galfond (182,700), and Justin Bonomo (174,100). Canadian reality TV star and poker vlogger Jon Pardy (161,700) is also among the big stacks, as are Chris Brewer (156,800), Bin Weng (152,000), Adrian Mateos (143,100), Ben Lamb (124,600), and Jesse Lonis (113,900).
Frank Funaro
Poker commentator Jeff Platt will be pulling double duty today, both interviewing players and trying to build up his stack of 96,100. Daniel Negreanu, meanwhile, returns with a short stack of 37,900, but as history has shown, anything is possible with the deep structure and long days of the Main Event.
The action begins on Level 6 with blinds of 400-800 and an 800 big blind ante. The schedule for Day 2abc calls for five two-hour levels, with a 20-minute break after every level. There is also a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 8 around 6:40 p.m. Late registration remains open through the end of Level 7, when a starting stack will still be worth 50 big blinds.
The opening days of the Main Event are an atmosphere unlike anything else in poker, when amateurs and home game heroes get to fulfill their dreams of competing against the pros in the biggest tournament in the world. But on Day 2, that initial excitement gives way to a fight for survival as players try to set themselves up for a run at the title. Thousands of players survived the opening day, but the road to the bracelet is still a long one. For a select few, their journey is only just starting. For others, it will end here today.
Stay tuned as PokerNews follows the action throughout the day providing live updates and chip counts from the 2024 WSOP Main Event.
