Al Decarolis Leads Final 16, Tran and Selbst Round Out Top Three
Day 2 of Event #2: $25,000 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold'em has come to a close here in the Amazon Room. The day began with 60 players returning to the felt, all vying to be part of the top 16 and make the money. At the end of the day, it was Al Decarolis who finished with the largest stack among that elite group, bagging up 1.261 million in chips.
Decarolis, a restaurant owner from Los Angeles who spends most of his time in Costa Rica, had no live tournament cashes to his name prior to today. Now, this restaurateur leads the final 16 players in the third-largest buy-in event of the 2014 WSOP. On his path to the top, Decarolis scored a key double up early in the day against start-of-day chip leader Vanessa Selbst. In that hand, Decarolis flopped a set of tens against Selbst's top two pair and held for a double up. Decarolis was able to springboard his early success into domination later in the day as he sent 2013 WSOP ONE DROP High Roller champion Tony Gregg to the rail.
While Decarolis holds the top position coming into Day 3, several notable names are hot on his heels. JC Tran, who finished in fifth place in the 2013 WSOP Main Event, bagged up the second largest stack of the day with 1.251 million. Rounding out the top three is none other than Selbst, who rode her start-of-day chip lead to finish with 1.224 million.
The returning field was positively stacked with notable names and faces. Unfortunately for most of those players, their run at the second bracelet of the 2014 WSOP would come to an end by the bag and tag. Players like Tim West, Daniel Negreanu, Andrew Lichtenberger, Mark Radoja, Jason Mercier, David Benefield, Sam Trickett, Phil Hellmuth and Eugene Katchalov all fell before the day came to a close.
Phil Ivey was on the hunt for his tenth bracelet today but ended up falling just short of the money. In a late-day confrontation with Tran, Ivey flopped a Broadway straight against Tran's flopped flush. Tran held up as the board finished and Ivey was eliminated in 18th place. Soon after Ivey's elimination, John Juanda became the official bubble boy when he fell at the hands of Robert Tepper.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. local time in the Amazon Room where the players will take their seats for four-handed action. Play will continue four-handed until the final four players are reached. From there, heads up matches will occur to determine the winner. As always, PokerNews will be on hand to provide all of the latest from the tournament felt! Goodnight!