2013 World Series of Poker

Event 24: $3,000 Mix-Max No-Limit Hold’em resumed Saturday with 181 hopefuls gunning for the top prize of $372,387. Action shifted from nine-handed play to six-handed on Day 2, and the money bubble burst midway through the day with 68 players locking up a minimum cash of $4,694. The dynamic will shift again tomorrow when the remaining 32 players will face off in a heads up format until there is a winner.

The chip leader going into heads-up play was none other than Brandon Cantu, who bagged up 519,600. He was followed by Jeremy Ausmus with 471,400 and Isaac Hagerling with 453,500. Ausmus had the chip lead for much of the day despite only starting the day with 15,000. His rise to the top was propelled when he eliminated David Sands earlier in the day when he got his in against Sands' for a massive preflop pot. His kings held, and for the rest of the day he crushed everyone in his path.

Another big story was the emergence of Barry “Big Dog” Lang. He may have been an unknown coming into the day, but his relentless battling and big bark gave people a reason to remember him. He even tripled up with jack-deuce to keep him alive. He will enter Day 3 with 124,300.

Several notables fell short of advancing to the heads-up round, including Jason Mercier (63rd), Tommy Vedes (56th), Daniel Negreanu (49th), Martin Staszko (43rd), and Sean Jazayeri (33rd).

For a full look at tomorrow's heads-up bracket, check out the table below.

Play will resume at 1:00 p.m. PST tomorrow and they will play until at least the final four players. There is a lot of play left with many players still deepstacked. They will battle it out with 22:22 left in Level 15. Be sure to tune in to PokerNews to follow all the heads-up action in Event #27 as we get closer to crowing a champion.

Below is a list of the first-round match-ups. If you want to view the entire bracket, click here.

If you missed anything that happened in the world of poker this week, have no fear, the PokerNews girls have all the details in the latest PokerNews Weekly.

Mark Rose was all in and at risk preflop holding agains the of Jeremy Ausmus. Ausmus held as the board came , and Rose hit the rail.

There was another elimination to bring us to 33 players, and then Sean Jazayeri exited in 33rd-place. Jazayeri was all in with on a jack-high board with two hearts, and Dan Healey held . The turn and river were both bricks, and Jazayeri was eliminated.

We are now down to 32 players, and after the stacks are verified, we will bring you full counts and the heads-up bracket. Play has concluded for the evening.

Isaac Hagerling and Thomas Fuller were up against each other on the board of and Fuller had a bet of 8,800 out in front. Hagerling decided to push Fuller all in. Fuller made the call and tabled . The kings were no good as Hagerling showed . The river came the and Hagerling eliminated Fuller.

Max Steinberg raised to 7,000 in the hijack seat, Brandon Cantu called on the button, and both blinds released. The flop fell , Steinberg led out for 9,000, and Cantu called.

The turn was the , Steinberg checked, and Cantu fired out 23,000. Steinberg called.The completed the board, Steinberg checked again, and Cantu tossed out 50,000. Steinberg folded.

A few hands later, Cantu three-bet Steinberg, and Steinberg folded.

Chris Johnson opened for a raise on the button, and Dominik Nitsche moved all in for 62,900 in the big blind. Johnson called.

Johnson:
Nitsche:

Nitsche took the lead when the dealer fanned to give him a pair of nines, and the German held as the turn and river bricked , respectively. Nitsche now has 130,000 chips, while Johnson slipped to