A short-stacked Anthony Mender exchanged preflop raises with Bradley Anderson preflop until his last 125,000 chips were in the middle.
Anthony Mender:
Bradley Anderson:
The flop gave Mender hope with the best low draw, but the turn and river allowed Anderson's aces to hold without a low chopping his pot to send Mender to the rail 30 minutes before the end of the day.
All the chips went into the middle on a flop of , with Robert Erickson on the button at risk for a gargantuan 1,234,000. Erickson was up against Michael Popejoy in the big blind.
Robert Erickson:
Michael Popejoy:
Erickson flopped the joint by hitting a boat of jacks full of twos. There was no help for Popejoy as the runout of completed the board to give Erickson a double and the chip lead.
After stacking his chips Erickson asked the PokerNews reporter to confirm what hand he had. After being told of his hole cards Erickson chirped "That is a f**king good hand!"
Tournament staff has announced that the final 25 players will play three more hands before racing off the yellow T-1,000 chips and bagging for the night.
Michael Popejoy got his last 68,000 chips in preflop against Marc Erickson and Paul Lenkeit.
Erickson and Lenkeit checked down the board and revealed their hands.
Michael Popejoy:
Paul Lenkeit:
Marc Erickson:
Erickson's jacks and eights took down the high half of the pot, while Lenkeit's ace-four got him the low as Popejoy was sent home a few minutes early in 25th place.
Meanwhile, at an adjacent table, Marc Perlman was also eliminated leaving 23 players in the field for Day 3 on Saturday.
A wild and fast-paced day of eliminations has left some familiar names from the poker history books to battle for a bracelet on Saturday on the final day of the World Series of Poker Event #72: $1,500 Mixed Omaha.
Hendon Mob co-founder and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Barny Boatman (2,480,000) and seven-time bracelet winner Men "The Master" Nguyen (2,480,000) hold two of the three biggest remaining stacks, trailing just Mark Erickson (2,580,000) for the chip lead entering Saturday’s final day of play.
They'll be joined by some other big names, including five-time bracelet winner Adam Friedman (1,190,000), who'll be looking for his second bracelet of the summer. Last year's third-place finisher in this event, Scott Abrams is still in the mix with 890,000, and another old-school legend in two-time bracelet winner Mel Judah has a competitive stack of 815,000 to work with. Two-time bracelet winner Rami Boukai will return with one of the shorter remaining stacks with 385,000.
They'll all strive for the $195,565 first prize and that prestigious WSOP gold bracelet.
Event #72: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
PLACE
PLAYER
COUNTRY
CHIP COUNT
1
Mark Erickson
United States
2,580,000
2
Barny Boatman
Great Britian
2,480,000
3
Men Nguyen
United States
1,630,000
4
Stanley Krimerman
United States
1,620,000
5
William Slaght
United States
1,565,000
6
Jarod Minghini
United States
1,515,000
7
Adam Friedman
United States
1,190,000
8
Scott Abrams
United States
890,000
9
Anthony Nguyen
United States
855,000
10
Mel Judah
Great Britian
815,000
Recap of the Day
With 223 players returning Friday, the potential for a wild day of rapid eliminations was certainly there, and the action did not disappoint. Before the second break of the day, the field was already down to the 116-player bubble with no hand-for-hand play even needed as Michel Abecassis was busted by Anthony Nguyen to ensure everyone left earned at least $2,413.
Among those unfortunate to not cash were Daniel Negreanu, Sam Farha, Shaun Deeb, and last year’s runner-up in this event Hernan Salazar.
Those who managed to make the money but fell short of Day 3 included 2021 fifth-place finisher Damjan Radanov (112th - $2,413), Day 1 chip leader Kate Krickl (95th - $2,639), two-time bracelet winner Brandon Shack-Harris (72nd - $3,016), three-time bracelet winner Chance Kornuth (45th - $4,113), and two-time bracelet winner Nathan Gamble (38th - $4,713).
As for those still in the hunt Saturday, Boatman scored a huge double knockout late in the day to boost his stack amidst the leaders, while after dropping below 400,000, Nguyen rebuilt "masterfully" to finish with his healthy stack. Erickson helped with a knockout late in the day to ensure his spot atop the chip counts for Saturday's finale.
With so many events running Saturday at the WSOP, this event will be wrapping up in the green section of the Paris Ballroom at 2 p.m. Las Vegas time. Play will begin with Level 26 and as many 60-minute levels as needed to crown a champion.
PokerNews will be there for all the action, so keep it locked right here for updates throughout the day from the new home of the WSOP at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas.