Hairabedian Leads Final 9, Mizrachi Gunning For Second Bracelet of 2012
The second day of play started with only 25 players, but it was far from easy for the nine finalists to reach that last table. French pro Roger Hairabedian emerged as the chip leader followed by the dangerous Fin Ville Mattila. Michael Mizrachi however is the story of this final table as he will be trying to win his second bracelet of 2012, and also second bracelet at the WSOPE in back-to-back years. Joe Hachem, the 2005 Main Event champion, also reached the final table. He will be trying to win his second bracelet.
Erich Kollmann started the day as chip leader, but just about everything went wrong for the Austrian. After bluffing off some chips he got himself involved in a huge pot against Mattila. In a limped pot Kollmann fired out 4,000 on a 
flop, and Mattila was his only caller. On the turn, the 
, Kollmann check raised the 9,000-chip bet to 25,000 and Mattila called. the river was the 
and Kollmann moved all in for 45,000. Mattila called with a set of kings and that beat Kollmann's set of eights.
French bracelet winner Aubin Cazals took down the $5,000 Mixed Max at the World Series of Poker this summer, but he would not add a second bracelet in his home country. Vanessa Selbst knocked Cazals out who narrowly missed out on the money. Shortly after this hand it was $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha winner Jan-Peter Jachtmann who made his exit. He fell to Jani Sointula.
Ran Azor was one of the main characters on Day 1, but Day 2 was far from kind to him. The jovial Israeli busted to Selbst who seemed have everything under control. After this though she could not get a lot going, and busted right in the money, 12th for €9,696.
Jussi Ryynanen and Michael Mizrachi had many clashes, and both players held the chip lead for quite some time. We expect to see big things from these two players at the final table. Sam Chartier was the eventual bubble boy when his kings could not beat Jason Mercier's aces. Mercier was patient throughout the day and one big double up gave him high hopes for another WSOP bracelet. His final level was far from good and he will be one of the shorter stacks going into the final table.
Bruno Fitoussi made the 2012 $50,000 Players Championship final table, where he was the first to be knocked out. Today he bubbled the final table finishing in 10th place. Fitoussi ran into Mizrachi's aces and he failed to improve.
With that the final table was set, and we welcome you back tomorrow at 12:00 PM GMT for the conclusion of this star-studded final! Tune into PokerNews.com as we bring all the live updates throughout the day.