May 21 2012, Donnie Peters

After a nice and easy Day 1 at the $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship on Saturday, the field was back in action on Sunday at noon for Day 2. The total field size grew to 135 players throughout the course of the day and registration will remain open until approximately 1700 PDT (0100 BST) on Day 3. From the 98 Day 1 survivors and 30 late registrants, 95 players advanced. Leading the pack was former WPT champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as he bagged up 428,200 in chips.

Mizrachi proved to be the only player able to finish above the 400,000-chip mark and will be looking to add WPT title number three to his collection. Previously, Mizrachi won the 2005 L.A. Poker Classic for $1,859,909 and the 2006 Borgata Winter Open for $1,173,373. Coming in behind him on the leaderboard was another former WPT champion Rinat Bogdanov with 381,000. Bogdanov won this season’s WPT Venice Grand Prize for “229,800.

Of those players who were eliminated on the day, were Isaac Baron, Hasan Habib, Dan O’Brien, Vanessa Selbst, Ryan D’Angelo and the WPT’s own Tony Dunst. Also falling were WPT Champions Club members Morten Christensen, Tommy Vedes, Matt Giannetti, Andrey Pateychuk, David Benyamine, James Demsey and Daniel Negreanu.

According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Negreanu fell in the last level of the night with the blinds at 600/1,200/200 in a hand that saw three players get all the money in.

It was reported that Negreanu had opened from middle position with a raise before Lance Steinberg reraised behind him. On the button, Guillaume Darcourt made the call before action folded back to Negreanu. Negreanu reraised all-in for 33,400. Steinberg and Darcourt both made the call.

The flop produced the and Steinberg moved all-in for around 80,000. Darcourt quickly made the call with the for middle set, but was behind the for top set from Steinberg. Negreanu was well behind, but still alive holding a straight draw with his . The turn and river both failed to give Negreanu the straight he needed and he was eliminated. Steinberg’s set of queens held up, allowing him to scoop the entire pot and double up through Darcourt.

Although some big names hit the rail on the day, plenty of them built nice stacks to take into Day 3. David Steicke, Isaac Haxton and Day 1 chip leader Steve O’Dwyer all finished above 300,000, while John Hennigan, David Chiu, Joe Serock and Nick Schulman bagged up plenty of ammo.

WPT World Championship Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

The remaining players will start back up on Monday at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) for another day on the grind. You can expect another batch of late entrants to jump into the fray as registration will remain open until Level 12. Be sure to stay tuned for the daily recap right here on PokerNews.

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May 02 2012, Chad Holloway

On Day 4 of the World Poker Tour Jacksonville BestBet Open, the final 16 players battled down to the final table. Will “The Thrill” Failla began the day as chip leader and used his big stack to coast to the final table, where he was joined by WPT personality Tony Dunst; however, both men trail the big stack of Shawn Cunix.

Action began in Level 20 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 1,000 ante, and there were two eliminations within the first 90 minutes of play. According to the WPT Live Reporting Team, the first came when Farid Jattin got his last 170,000 all in preflop holding and racing against Failla’s . The board ran out and Jattin hit the rail in 16th place for $16,263.

Not long after, Justin Conley open shoved for 137,000 holding and James Calderaro made the call from the big blind with . Conley was behind and failed to improve and was eliminated in 15th place for $20,699. From there, David Tuthill, Tony Parille and Robert LeBeau were eliminated in 14th, 13th and 12th place respectively.

In Level 23, with the blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a 3,000 ante, Calderaro opened for 45,000 under the gun only to have Peter Campo, who was next to act, move all in for 304,000. The rest of the field got out of the way and Calderaro made the call.

Showdown

The flop wasn’t very exciting, and neither was the turn. Campo needed a ten on the river to stay alive, but it was not meant to be as the appeared. Campo was eliminated in 11th place for $25,134, and the final 10 players were combined to one table.

On Hand #17 of the 10-handed final table, a short-stacked Blake Purvis moved all in from middle position for 28,000 and Darren Elias isolated. The rest of the field folded and Elias rolled over , which was way ahead of Purvis’ . The board ran out an uneventful and Purvis fell in 10th place for $25,134.

Eleven hands later, which coincided with the end of the level, Matt Marafioti opened for 70,000 from middle position and Cunix looked him up from the big blind. When the flop came down , Cunix checked and Marafioti moved all in for nearly 600,000. Cunix snap-called and rolled over , which dominated Marafioti’s . The turn gave Marafioti some hope, but the river took it away and sent him home in ninth place for $34,005.

With that elimination, Failla, who had won the WPT Legends of Poker earlier in the season, retook the lead in the WPT Player of the Year race.

On Hand #47, Amelio Amato met his demise at the hands of Cunix, ushering him out in eighth place for $39,919, bringing about the TV final table bubble. It took quite a while for the bubble to burst, 41 hands in fact, and came when Byron Kaverman moved all in under the gun for 415,000 and was called by Calderaro from middle position.

Showdown

It was a classic race at a crucial point in the tournament, but Kaverman needed to catch to stay alive. The flop meant a jack would give him Broadway, but of course Calderaro held two in his hand. The turn was a blank, as was the river. With that, Kaverman finished in seventh place for $47,312 while the final table was set.

Here is a look at the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Final Table:

WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Final Table

The players will return on Wednesday at 1600 EDT (2100 BST) to play down to a winner, which will be streamed on a 30-minute delay with hole cards and commentary from Darryll Fish and James Dempsey. You can also check back right here on PokerNews.com for the final table recap.

*Hands referenced from the WPT Live Updates Team.

*Photo courtesy of BJ Nemeth at WorldPokerTour.com

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