Hand #5: KT Park opened for 20,000, James Park called and Shawn Silber called from the big. All three players checked the flop, the turned and KT bet 28,000 after Silber checked to him. James made the call, Silber folded and the completed the board on the river. KT checked, James bet 53,000 and KT thought for well over a minute before folding his cards.
Hand #6: Eric Shanks opened for 20,000 and Noah Schwartz called from the button. Shawn Silber came along from the small blind and then Brandon Crawford did the same from the big, leading to a flop. Three checks saw Schwartz fire out 38,000, only Crawford called and the dealer burned and turned the . Crawford checked, Schwartz bet 87,000 and Crawford hit the tank. Eventually he emerged and moved all in, which Schwartz snap-called.
Crawford:
Schwartz:
Schwartz had flopped the nut straight while Crawford, who if you recall finished as the Day 1 chip leader, held three pair. That meant Crawford needed one of his cards to pair on the river, and although the paired the board, it wasn't the card he needed.
Crawford exited the ESPN Main Stage to a nice round of applause on his way to the payout desk to collect $19,909.
The most accomplished player at the final table, Noah Schwartz, also happens to be the chip leader. The 29-year-old from Sunny Iles Beach, Florida has more than $3.2 million in live tournament winnings since 2006, with his career year coming in 2012. That is when he won $1,127,927 including a win in the World Poker Tour $3,500 Jacksonville bestbet Main Event for $402,972, fourth in the L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 Championship for $355,750 and sixth in a €25,000 High Roller Event in Monte Carlo for $219,162.
As far as the World Series of Poker is concerned, Schwartz, who earned a Bachelor's Degree in Finance from FIU, has 12 cashes for $589,408. Nearly half of that came back in 2009 in the special 40th anniversary Event #2 $40,000 No-Limit Hold'em when he finished eighth for $246,834. Other highlights include a 24th-place finish in the 2009 WSOP Event #40 $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $46,225 and fourth in the 2011 WSOP Europe Event #5 €10,400 No-Limit Hold'em Split Format for €112,092.
Schwartz has previously said that pot-limit Omaha is his favorite game, so how sweet would it be if he captured his first gold bracelet in that game? He has a good chance of doing it as he holds about a quarter of the chips in play, but only time will tell if he can find himself as the last man standing.
Thanks to a late-night charge on Day 2, local Shawn Silber begins the day second in chips. He gathered those chips in large part by eliminating some tough players like Pakinai Lisawad, Levon Khachatryan and David Johnson.
Today will mark Silber's largest career cash, with his previous best being a 217th-place finish in the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event for $10,000. You read that right, the 2004 WSOP. That means Silber has been playing for at least the better part of a decade. Toss in a fifth-place finish in the 2007/2008 WSOP Circuit Caesars Palace Las Vegas Event #10 $550 Pot-Limit Omaha for $3,667, and Silber has the experience to come out of relative obscurity to win the WSOP gold bracelet.
Brandon Crawford has had an up-and-down experience in Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. On Day 1, he ran and played better than everyone as he finished chip leader among the final 117. Crawford, who hails from Los Angeles, California and works in digital marketing, used that chip advantage to make it to the final table, albeit as the second shortest stack. That means he faces an uphill battle if he hopes to capture his first gold bracelet.
Even so, we happen to know Crawford is friends with Justin "Boosted J" Smith, who stopped by the tournament area to wish his friend well late on Day 2. If Crawford can get some advice from his experienced friend, he might just be able to make a run at the title.
Today marks Crawford's third, and largest, cash at the World Series of Poker. He also has one WSOP Circuit score for $32,990, which came from a sixth-place finish in the 2012 $1,600 Main Event at the Bicycle Casino. While that score was nice, his largest actually came in the 2011 L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 Championship Event when he finished 16th for $50,340. That career score could change today though if he can manage to finish fifth or better.
David Greene of Germantown, Maryland begins the day on the short stack with 163,000. While Greene no doubt enjoys the challenge and thrill of competition, poker isn't his primary game. That happens to be golf. With that said, the gold professional learned to play poker from members at his local country club.
He's put those lessons to good use as today he'll notch the largest score of his young poker career--his only other cash came from the 2012 WSOP Event #8 $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better when he placed 25th for $7,989.
Like the other Park at the table, little is known about Michael Parks, who told PokerNews on Day 1 that he prefers to go by KT Park. The 47-year-old consultant was born in South Korea but now resides in Los Angeles, California. Today marls his first-ever WSOP cash. He begins the day sixth in chips.
Very little is known about 24-year-old James Park other than the fact that he's from Birmingham, England and got his start playing poker by playing online. He'll obviously be getting some live experience here today!
Unlike many of the other finalist, 27-year-old Eric Shanks is not a professional poker player. He is actually an options trader from Santa Monica, California, though he originally hails from Syracuse, New York. Despite not making poker his full-time profession, Shanks is far from an inexperienced amateur. On the contrary, he he's been cashing at the World Series of Poker for the past five years.
The first of his three cashes came back in 2008 when he took 15th in Event #3 $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em for $9,732. Three years later, he took 27th for $21,933 in Event #36 $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Then, a little over a week ago, he got his third cash after finishing 47th in Event #12 $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em for $2,795. Needless to say, Shanks will notch the biggest cash of his career here today as long as he isn't the first person eliminated from the final table. Chances are that won't happen as he begins the final table fifth in chips.
Josh Pollock has been coming to the World Series of Poker since 2007, which is when he notched his first cash by placing 49th in Event #12 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed for $4,188. Since then, Pollock has added six more cashes to his WSOP résumé, with his best result being a 303rd-place finish in the 2011 WSOP Main Event for $35,492. This event marks Pollock's second cash of the summer after he previously finished 113th in Event #6 $1,500 "Millionaire Maker" No-Limit Hold'em for $7,278.
This may be the 29 year old's first final table here at the WSOP, but that's not to say he's inexperienced playing against top professionals for a lot of money. Back in August 2011, Pollock had his biggest career score when he made the final table of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker $3,500 Main Event, which included the likes of Will "The Thrill" Failla and WSOP bracelet winners Ken Aldridge and Owais Ahmed. Pollock finished fourth in that event for $128,500.
If Pollock, who begins the day fourth in chips, can finish in either first or second here today, he will enjoy an even larger payday and quite possibly his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Born September 9, 1985, Nicholas Blumenthal, who goes by Eddie, is no stranger to the World Series of Poker. The professional poker player from Stoughton, Wisconsin notched his first cash back at the 2009 WSOP when he took 123rd in Event #32 $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $3,908, but it wasn't until two years later that he really made his presence known in the poker world.
The 2013 WSOP is shaping up to be just as successful for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse graduate as he has already locked up his third cash of the summer. His other two came from a 440th-place finish in Event #6 $1,500 "Millionaire Maker" No-Limit Hold'em for $3,510 and seventh in last week's Event #15 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. for $28,778. If Blumenthal, who starts the day third in chips, can place seventh or better, he'll earn himself his biggest payout of the summer thus far.
flop, the 
turned and KT bet 28,000 after Silber checked to him. James made the call, Silber folded and the 
completed the board on the river. KT checked, James bet 53,000 and KT thought for well over a minute before folding his cards.
flop. Three checks saw Schwartz fire out 38,000, only Crawford called and the dealer burned and turned the 
. Crawford checked, Schwartz bet 87,000 and Crawford hit the tank. Eventually he emerged and moved all in, which Schwartz snap-called.
paired the board, it wasn't the card he needed.
