Walking through the crowded Amazon Room tournament floor, a few former WSOP Circuit event champions have been noticed accumulating chips at a rapid rate.
Aaron Massey, a young touring pro who has captured two Circuit rings this season (Foxwoods $580 NLH Six-Max & Horseshow Indiana $365 NLH Turbo) has quietly built an above average stack. Massey has made deep runs at the WSOP before, reaching the final table of a 2011 $1,000 NLH event and finishing 8th, and after his most successful Circuit season to date he may be poised to reach yet another final table.
Another Circuit veteran who has emerged as one of the chip leaders here on Day 2 is Alex Masek, the winner of a record-tying six Circuit championship rings. With the field still chocked full of amateurs, Masek continues to punish the smaller stacks and transfer their chips in his direction.
We will continue to track the progress of these WSOP Circuit winners, to see if either can make the leap from ring to bracelet.
Ryan Laplante raised to 1200 from early position. He had two callers, one on the button and another in the big blind. The flop came down and Laplante made a continuation bet of 2,700. The opponent on the button re-raised to 6,000. The big blind folded, and Laplante knew that he would have to commit the rest of his chips to continue. That is what he did as he put his 8,000 chips in the pot and his opponent quickly called.
Laplante:
Opponent:
Laplante would need to catch a nine or an ace to win the hand. The board bricked and , and Laplante headed off to play the $1,000 buy-in event that started today.
The under-the-gun player raised to 1,400, and Ted Lawson called for his last 475. Lawson turned over , and was behind his opponent's . The board gave him the help he needed though, as it ran out . Lawson now has 1,550, and is still quite short-stacked.
A player in the cutoff raised to 1,225. The small blind called, and Hellmuth reraised from the big blind. Hellmuth's raise almost put him all in, and the original raiser re-raised enough to put Hellmuth at risk. The small blind folded, and Hellmuth called, showing . His opponent tabled . The board ran out , and the turned pair of jacks was enough to knock Hellmuth out of this tournament. Bracelet #14 will have to wait for another day.
We recently saw a couple players with unusually large stacks, and after a bit of the old intrepid reporting, we now know that Walter Moorhead of Redmond, CA, and Brandon Uhl of "Southern Cali" have both topped the 75,000 chip plateau.
According to Uhl, who has worked as a commentator for Bicycle Casino's Live at the Bike event and is known in the poker world as "Two Hats," his huge stack came as a result of a misplay.
After trying to raise with , Uhl miscounted his chips and could only make the call. This moment of confusion apparently signaled weakness to an opponent with , and after his opponent shipped with the inferior pocket pair, Uhl made the move into the chip counts' upper echelon.
We are unsure of the details but Phil Ivey's seat is now occupied by someone else. We can only assume the nine time bracelet winner has been eliminated.
As level 10 begins, only about 200 players are still in the Pavilion room. Tables are breaking quickly, and pretty soon the remaining field will be consolidated in the Amazon room.
We caught the aftermath of a sizable confrontation between Harold Barton and an unknown opponent, with towers of yellow 1000T chips being transferred across the table in Barton's direction.
The board read , and with the in front of him Barton's ace-high straight was good enough for the win.
Barton's opponent held , and despite flopping a strong two pair, he was outdrawn on the turn.
and Laplante made a continuation bet of 2,700. The opponent on the button re-raised to 6,000. The big blind folded, and Laplante knew that he would have to commit the rest of his chips to continue. That is what he did as he put his 8,000 chips in the pot and his opponent quickly called.
and 
, and Laplante headed off to play the $1,000 buy-in event that started today.
. Lawson now has 1,550, and is still quite short-stacked.
. The board ran out 
, and the turned pair of jacks was enough to knock Hellmuth out of this tournament. Bracelet #14 will have to wait for another day.
, and with the