Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and the 2014 World Series of Poker for Day 2 of Event #42: $5,000 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha!
Yesterday saw 452 players take to the felt to create a $2,124,400 prizepool that would leave $541,747 reserved for the victor after crushing the mark this event set last year when Steve Gross topped a 400-player field. Gross would unfortunately find himself on the rail along with second place finisher Salman Behbehani before the likes of Philipp Gruissem, Sammy Farha, Paul Volpe, Antonio Esfandiari, Noach Schwartz, Stephen Chidwick and Greg Merson would also find themselves watching from behind the rail.
Once the call to bag and tag was made, 96 players would survive as Belgium's Davidi Kitai bagged an impressive 308,300 to be in line to make a run at his fourth WSOP gold bracelet and second for the series. Nipping at Kitai's heels include Brandon Crawford (202,900), Kory Kilpatrick (202,000) and Brant Hale (189,200).
Mike Gorodinsky, Scott Bohlman, Brian Rast, Mike Watson, Michael Mizrachi, Scotty Nguyen, David "Bakes" Baker and Ashton Griffin all posses six-figure chip stacks while a plethora of notables still remain as they firstly eye the money-paying top 48 before making a run at that elusive WSOP final table.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing extensive live coverage once play commences at 1:00 p.m. (PDT) as we look to write the victory path of the future Event #42 Champion.
"Mother f***er," we heard 13-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth shout as he shot out of his chair. We immediately made our way over to find out what happened.
From what we pieced together, Phil Laak had opened the action with a raise to 2,400 from the cutoff. Hellmuth then called from the small blind, and David "Bakes" Baker three-bet it to 9,600 from the big. Laak got out of the way and Hellmuth made the call to see a flop of .
Hellmuth checked, Baker continued for 20,000, and Hellmuth shoved all in for roughly 60,000. Baker made the call and Hellmuth was in a dominating spot.
Hellmuth:
Baker:
Hellmuth had flopped top set, which was well out in front of Baker's aces. The turn gave Hellmuth a full house, and that meant all he needed to do was dodge an ace on the river to stay alive. Well, you already know about his outburst, so you can probably guess what came next. The dealer burned and put out the !
"How do you put 60K in there?" a stunned Hellmuth asked before making a beeline for the exit.
"Phil talks s**t to me every time we play together," Baker told the table afterwards. "I've been waiting for that for awhile."
Hellmuth then took to Twitter to vent his frustrations:
Jason Somerville limped in for 1,600 and Christian Harder raised to 4,500 with Ismael Bojang calling from the big blind. Somerville committed his final 2,600 total and the dealer fanned a flop.
Both active players checked before Bojang announced a bet of pot when the turn landed the . Harder folded and the cards were tabled.
Somerville:
Bojang:
The river landed the repeating and Somerville hit the rail as Bojang climbed to over 40,000 in chips.
The exact action escaped us, but we do know that Brandon Crawford bet pot on an flop and his opponent, who had roughly 40,000, called off.
Crawford:
Opponent:
Crawford was sitting pretty with aces and the flush draw, and he was no doubt happy to see his opponent get marred to pocket kings. The turn gave Crawford the said flush, and the river gave him the pot.
On a flop of with Calvin Anderson all-in preflop, Jose-Luis Velador checked to Joseph Leung who bet out 8,200. Velador check-raised all in for 18,200 and after some deliberation, Leung made the call.
Anderson:
Velador:
Leung:
The turn and river landed the and and Leung eliminated both Anderson and Velador while simultaneously moving to over 160,000 in chips.
Leonardo Martins opened to 5,000 in the cutoff and both Ashton Griffin and Kyle Julius making the call to see a flop of .
Julius and Martins checked to Griffin who bet pot of 16,200 before Julius moved all in and Martins quickly folded. With approximately 10,000 behind, Griffin made the call to be at risk.
Griffin:
Julius:
With Julius in dominating shape with his set, the turn and river landed the and to see Griffin eliminated, and since Iddo Feinberg was eliminated just a few moments early, there would be no need for hand-for-hand play as Griffin became the tournament's bubble boy in 49th place.
Brian Rast put out a pot-sized bet of 12,000 on a flop only to have Brant Hale raise the pot. Rast thought for a few moments before sliding his stack of 150,000 or so forward, and Hale made a quick call.
Rast:
Hale:
Rast had pocket tens with an open-ended straight draw, which was behind the aces and wheel draw of Hale. The turn failed to change anything, and neither did the that followed it on the river. Rast missed, wish the table luck, and then took his leave in 40th place for $10,409.
We noticed that the start-of-the-day chip leader, Davidi Kitai, was no longer in his seat. Not long ago he was sitting on a big stack, but it seemed those chips disappeared. We asked Jonathan Little what happened, and as it happened he was responsible for Kitai's demise.
As Little told it, Kitai was crippled after the two played a big hand. It began when Kitai raised on the button with and Little defended from the big with with three hearts. The flop contained two hearts, and Little check-called a bet from Kitai.
Little then check-called another bet when he made a flush on the turn, and did the same on the river. Kitai had been bluffing with the , and Little's flush was good to crippled the Belgian.
Not long after, Kitai got the remainder of his chips in holding and was behind the of little. The board failed to help Kitai and he was eliminated in 39th place for $10,409.
Mike Gorodinsky limped and Phil Galfond completed from the small blind before Kyle Julius checked his option.
The dealer spread a flop with the blinds checking to Gorodinsky who bet out 8,000. Galfond called but Julius moved all in for 42,500 and Gorodinsky responded by iso-shoving to force Galfond out - who later stated he had clubs and .
Julius:
Gorodinsky:
The turn and river landed the and to see Julius eliminated and Gorodinsky's stack soar to nearly 250,000 in chips.