September 03 2012, Josh Cahlik

Another grueling day of tournament poker ended on Sunday at the WinStar World Casino’s River Poker Series Main Event. Players from three starting flights combined on Day 2 to wage war on the felt for their share of the $2,500,000 guaranteed prize pool. It took a mere 10 levels for the 141 players who began the day to become the final 15. Matt Newcombe, who finished Day 1a as the chip leader and was the overall chip leader coming into Day 2 has once again finished at the top of the field with a stack of 3,245,000.

Aaron Massey held onto the second largest stack at the end of the day with 2,890,000 in chips. Massey was able to gain a majority of his stack during a three-way all in that occurred fairly early on during Day 2 play. Mark Eddleman opened the action preflop with a raise to 9,000 and was called by Jerry Lorett. Massey moved out a three-bet to 24,000 from the button and both of his opponents called.

The flop fell and Eddleman checked. Lorett open-shipped all in for an unknown amount and Massey called. Eddleman then moved all in over the top and Massey snap called for his tournament life.

Showdown

Massey:
Eddleman:
Lorett:

Massey was in the lead with his flopped set, but needed to dodge Lorett’s straight and flush outs. The fell on the turn and the on the river. An excited Massey jumped into the air and gave powerful fist pump at the sight of two small black cards. This hand propelled him to 655,000 early on in the day and his stack continued to grow exponentially as the day progressed.

Day 2 saw a slew of notable names return to the felt from their various starting flights. Having already cashed, these players were searching for glory and the ever elusive final table appearance. Among those to finally see their tournament come to an end on Day 2 were Brett Schwertley, Chris Moneymaker, Maria Ho, Heath Herring, AP Phahurat, Kurt Jewell and 2012 World Series of Poker Octo-Niner Robert Salaburu.

David “Doc” Sands was expected to make a strong showing on Day 2 and did not disappoint. Sands seemed to be a magnet for action throughout the day as we saw him come from behind twice to double up for his tournament life during play. Sands remained one of the top stacks for a majority of the day, but finally met his untimely end before the field combined for the final two tables.

Sands moved all in on a board of only to have Peter Zhmutski quickly move all in over the top. The third player in the hand folded and Sands showed for a straight. Unfortunately for Sands, Zhmutski held for the nut straight and was able to send Sands home in 20th place.

While Sands was ultimately disappointed with his finish, he had nothing but positive words to say about the event and tournament staff after the fact.

Final 15 Chip Counts

At 1200 CST (1800 BST) on Monday the final 15 players will return to the Global Events Center in the heart of the WinStar World Casino to play down to a champion. Make sure to stay tuned to our live reporting page to follow as this exciting event reaches its dramatic conclusion!

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July 10 2012, Shari Geller

On Monday, the third and last starting flight of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event attracted the largest one-day field in Main Event history. By the time registration closed on Day 1c, 3,418 players had put up the $10,000 buy-in to take their shots at the most coveted bracelet in poker. At the end of five levels of play, Randy Haddox, who had final-tabled the $5K NLHE Mixed-Max earlier this summer, was the Day 1c chip leader with 188,275 chips.

The record-breaking field was packed with notables, including many players who have made deep runs in this event. Former Main Event bracelet winners Joe Cada (117,375), Johnny Chan (82,300), Jamie Gold (24,800), Tom McEvoy (24,125) and Doyle Brunson (81,400) will be among those moving on to Day 2c, but Chris Moneymaker and Jonathan Duhamel, were among those who failed to make it through the day. Early on Monday, it looked like Brunson would be skipping the Main Event entirely, but a late-in-the-day change of heart brought him to the Rio in time to build up a nice-size chip stack.

Other well-known players who survived Day 1c include Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari (78,925), $50K Poker Players Championship repeat winner Michael Mizrachi (60,050), 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen (33,525), and current 2012 WSOP POY frontrunner Phil Ivey (11,525) who won three back-to-back pots just to move back up to 20,000 in chips, but ended the day down almost a two-thirds of his starting stack.

They will be joined by plenty of other players including Brandon Adams (158,100), Jake Cody (124,675), Sorrel Mizzi (115,000), Matt Affleck (91,300), John Juanda (74,450), Gus Hansen (67,575), recent bracelet winner Nick Schulman (58,000) and former Seinfeld cast member Jason Alexander (49,550).

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who is playing his first WSOP Main Event, ended the day with a very healthy 110,225-chip stack. In one hand that helped propel him up the chip counts, an early-position raiser made it 700, a middle-position player called, and the player in the cutoff three-bet to 2,600. Blom then four-bet to 5,800 from the big blind, the other two players got out of the way, and the cutoff five-bet to 12,000. Blom tanked before putting out 18,400 for a six-bet. His opponent moved all-in and Blom somewhat reluctantly called. Blom was in trouble, to the of his opponent. But the board ran out and he doubled to 90,000 in chips.

Former November Niner Joseph Cheong built up a good-sized stack (84,775), courtesy in large part to two double-ups during the last level of the night. In the first, he was up against Brandon Adams, who had him well covered. Cheong led every street and moved all-in on the river of a board. Adams called and then mucked when Cheong turned over pocket jacks. Cheong then tweeted his next double up, “coolered a poor kid KK vs his AK after he told me he felt like this was my lvl.”

While Cheong thrived, a number of other notables failed to survive including Chino Rheem, David “Bakes” Baker, Olivier Busquet, George Lind, Max Martinez, Jimmy Fricke, Thor Hansen, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, David Bach, Jonathan Little, Nacho Barbero, Cory Zeidman, Bryan Micon, Andrew Robl, Lex Veldhuis, Matt Waxman, Humberto Brenes and Vincent van der Fluit, among many others experiencing a very brief Main Event run.

Coming back, though short stacked with 8,150, is Ted Forrest, who was very unlucky late in the day. In one hand, 17,000 was already in the pot when the dealer spread the flop. Forrest check-called his opponent’s all-in shove for 27,325. Forrest was way ahead, to the of his opponent. But his opponent went from two outs on the king-high flop, to 11 outs on the turn, to winning when the hit the river. Late in the day he was poised for a small double up when he had against his opponent’s on a flop. But the board ran out and the best he could do was a chop.

With the Day 1c field added to the previous two days’ flights, the 2012 WSOP Main Event had a total of 6,598 players creating a total prize pool of $62,021,200. The top 10 percent of the field, 666 players, will be guaranteed at least $19,227. Those making the final table will earn at least $754,798, with the first-place finisher cashing in an $8,527,982 payday.

On Tap

On Tuesday, the 657 players remaining from Day 1a and the remaining 1,387 players from Day 1b will return at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) to play five more levels. They will play in separate tournament rooms rather than be combined as in previous years, with players returning to either Day 2a or 2b and playing with just that group of players. On Wednesday, the remaining players from Day 1c will return for Day 2c and play five levels, as well. The entire field will finally be combined on Thursday for Day 3 action.

PokerNews will make sure you don’t miss any of the exciting Day 2 action as players try to build their stacks hoping to make a deep run. We will have all the updates, hands, chip counts, bust-outs and more from the Rio in our live reporting blog, so make to follow our coverage throughout the day.

Video of the Day

In the Video of the Day, Sarah Grant talks with 2011 WSOP POY Ben Lamb during a break in the action about what it takes to make a Main Event final table, strategy and advice for maintaining stamina, and to what he attributes his new toned and tanned self.

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