Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the 2014 World Series of Poker! While much of the room is abuzz regarding the record-breaking Event #51: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack and the final table of the prestigious Event #46: $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, the 50th event of the summer quietly prepares for its second day of play. Just 106 players bagged up last night with Eric Crain's stack of 71,600 topping the field.
Yesterday's play saw a grand total of 485 runners hit the felt with the hopes of becoming the WSOP's newest mixed game bracelet winner. After ten full levels of play, a majority of the field hit the rail. While Crain leads the charge coming back, several other notable players are peppered through today's returning field. Names like Mike Gorodinsky (45,000), Aaron Steury (35,575), Brandon Cantu (30,200), Martin Staszko (26,725), Ali Eslami (26,700), Dan Heimiller (23,950), Justin Bonomo (21,900), Amnon Filippi (20,450), Joe Hachem (13,000), Maria Ho (11,575), Bill Chen (11,575), and Calvin Anderson (10,025) are all in contention to make a deep run in today's tournament.
While those players will be returning, yesterday also saw the demise of several notable players. The starting field for this event included the likes of Mike Sexton, Barry Greenstein, Bryan Micon, Dan Shak, David Williams, Layne Flack, Cyndy Violette, Brett Richey, Brian Rast, Gavin Smith and many more.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. local time where the field will play down through the money bubble and beyond. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the latest from the tournament felt!
Phil Ivey completed with an eight showing and Matthew Rasco raised with a seven. Action came back to Ivey and he called. Both players pulled paint on fourth street and Ivey checked. Rasco fired out a bet and Ivey stuck around. Rasco pulled a second paint card on fifth, prompting Ivey to lead out with a bet. Rasco called for sixth street.
By sixth, both players had king-queen showing with Rasco holding the lower of the two. He led out and Ivey called. Rasco fired one last bet on seventh and Ivey plopped forward a call.
"You win," sighed Rasco.
Ivey fanned in the hole for a ninety-eight. Rasco flashed before tossing his cards into the muck. Ivey picked up the pot and now has about 23,000 in chips.
We arrived on fourth street to find Don Zewin call all in for his tournament life against Allen Chang, Chang led with a pair of aces over Zewin's pair of queens. By the end of the hand, Chang made trip aces but Zewin was drawing live with four to an open-ended straight. Zewin ultimately squeezed the , bricking out and securing his elimination. Chang raked in the pot and now has about 49,000.
We found Joe Hachem all in on third street against Dustin Leary. Hachem hoped to improve to clinch the double, but was unable to make a hand better than a pair of queens. Leary, on the other hand, made deuces full of aces for the win. Hachem was sent to the rail and Leary now has about 50,000 in chips.
We arrived at the table on fifth street to find Greg Raymer call all in against Alex Rocha. Raymer showed a pair of queens but was ultimately behind Rocha's pair of kings. Neither player improved on the subsequent streets and Raymer was sent to the rail early in the money. He autographed one of his signature fossils for Rocha and took his leave from the tournament area. Rocha now has about 114,000.
Picking up with the action on a completed board of , Thomas Butzhammer committed the last of his chips against Yehuda Buchalter. Buchalter called and the two hands were revealed.
Butzhammer showed for a flush and the second nut low. Buchalter, however, had him beat in both regards with for a higher flush and the nut low. Buchalter scooped and Butzhammer was sent to the rail.
On a board of , Howard Smith got the last of his chips in against Christoph Haller.
Haller:
Smith:
The finished off the board on the river, giving Haller a winning straight to the queen. Smith was sent to the rail and Haller's stack soared to 305,000.
Andrei Kaigorodtcev opened under the gun to 6,000 and found a call from Dan Heimiller in the big blind. The flop fell and Kaigorodtcev moved all in for his last roughly 8,000. Heimiller called and held for bottom set. We missed Kaigorodtcev's hand, but he failed at improving to beat Heimiller's set and he fell in 16th place.
Kaigorodtcev collected $5,721 in 16th place prize money. Heimiller, on the other hand, has about 165,000 in chips.
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in the hole for a ninety-eight. Rasco flashed 
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finished off the board on the river, giving Haller a winning straight to the queen. Smith was sent to the rail and Haller's stack soared to 305,000.
