It looks like the eliminations of Hasan Habib and Nikolai Yakovenko have brought us to the money bubble. Tournament Director Bob Smith has initiated hand-for-hand play.
We missed the hand as it happened, but we can confirm that the defending champ, Adam Friedman, has been eliminated from the tournament.
A quick check with Matt Kelly at Table 426 revealed that Friedman was "angry" and "rambunctious" after losing a bunch of hands. In what was his final hand, Friedman made two pair only to have "Crazy Marco" Johnson make a higher two pair.
We heard a hubbub from Friedman after the hand and then he made a hasty exit from the tournament. One thing is now for sure... we will have a new champion (though Eric Rodawig could still win the title for the second time in three years).
Mike Sexton is a Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better beast. His one and only WSOP bracelet came in the game back in 1989, and all told he has 12 cashes in the variant. Sexton had high hopes of cashing for a thirteenth time today (which according to WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla would have been a Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better record), but his dreams of doing so just came to an end when he was eliminated from the tournament in unknown action.
He may be gone, but we haven't seen the last of Sexton at the 2013 WSOP. In fact, we expect he'll be playing more than ever with the side bets he's booked.
Even though the Poker Hall of Famer is no longer with us, we thought it'd be worthwhile to take a look back at Sexton's Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better accomplishments:
We caught the action on sixth street when Hasan Habib check-called a bet of 1,600 from Jason Mercier. Habib checked for a second time on seventh and Mercier fired once again. Habib took his time before making a reluctant call, and Mercier said, "Just a low."
Mercier:
Habib:
Habib just had a pair of deuces, but it was good enough to win the high.
Even though they chopped that pot, both Mercier and Habib are up on the day. On the flip side, Ali Eslami, Norman Chad, John Bunch, Scott Bohlman and Joseph Damore are all down on the day; in fact, they're all down and out.
Welcome to Day 2 of Event #13 $5,000 Seven-Card-Stud Eight-Or-Better. We will resume play today at 2 p.m. PDT, when chip leader Matt Woodward will be one of 130 competing for a gold bracelet and a first place prize of $266,503.
The plan for the day is to either play ten levels or down to a final table, whichever may come first. Our guess it that it will be the former. Play will resume in the Purple Section of the Amazon Room, which is also hosting Event #11: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em (Six Handed).
Last year's champion Adam Friedman (33,600) and runner-up Todd Brunson (38,500) are still in contention for a bracelet in today's event. Other notables looking to scoop their way to victory include: Yuval Bronshtein (57,200), Ilya Gorodetskiy (56,300), Gavin Smith (51,900), Matt Lefkowitz (50,300), David Bach (49,700), Toby Hausen (49,300), Sanjay Pandya (49,000), Kevin Vo (48,500), Mike Leah (46,900), Michael Chow (45,900) and Maria Ho (44,000).
Could we have a repeat champion? Friedman seems confident: