[user139916]
Erik Seidel in the Hunt for Bracelet #9
Welcome to Day 2 of coverage of Event #15: $10,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship.
There are 32 players remaining from a starting field of 129, each looking to capture a coveted World Series of Poker gold bracelet and the first-place prize of $336,656.
Among those left in the field include eight-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Erik Seidel, five-time bracelet winner Jason Mercier, past WSOP Main Event champions Joe Cada, Ryan Riess, and Joe McKeehen, and bracelet winners Adrian Mateos, Chance Kornuth, Ryan Hughes, Taylor Paur, Jack Duong, Ryan Fee and Thiago Nishijima.
Some of the biggest names in the game without a bracelet are also still in the hunt. Dan Smith, Olivier Busquet, Dario Sammartino, Jason Les, Russell Thomas and Eric Wasserson have all come close in the past, and their first bracelet is just five heads-up match victories away.
Only 16 players make the money and by night's end, only four players will remain. The Round of 32 is set to begin at 3:00 p.m., so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews for live updates of all of the action.
As recounted by Adrian Mateos, he opened the button to 5,500. Eric Wasserson three-bet to 17,000 from the big blind, Mateos shoved, and Wasserson called all in for about 100,000 with , racing with Mateos' .
Wasserson found no help from the runout, securing the victory for Mateos.
Dario Sammartino raised from the button, and Chou Chou defended his big blind.
The flop came down , and Chou check-called 4,000 from Sammartino.
The turn was the , Chou checked, Sammartino bet 18,000, Chou check-raised to 75,000, Sammartino shoved with the bigger stack, and Chou called all in for about 180,000.
Sammartino:
Chou:
The river was the , giving Sammartino a flush to win the match and advance to the Sweet 16.
As recapped to us by Jason Les, Albert Daher opened the button to 7,000. Les three-bet to 21,000 from the big blind, Daher four-bet shoved for about 150,000, and Les called with , racing with Daher's .
The flop fell to give Daher the lead with a pair of aces, but the turn was a to give Les the lead with a set of tens. The river was a , safe for Les to notch the victory and punch his ticket to the Sweet 16.
Erik Seidel moved all in and was called by Jack Duong, putting him at risk.
Duong tabled , and Seidel showed .
The board ran out , and Duong took down this back-and-forth match.
After the win, Duong stepped aside for a chat, and he was clearly elated with his victory.
"All my friends laughed and messaged me saying I was gonna get my ass kicked when they saw I was against (Seidel)," he said. "He's, like, one of the most winning players on the planet, and I can't believe that this just happened. Like, is it real? So crazy man."
Duong is no slouch in his own right. When comparing themselves to Seidel, almost any player pales in comparison, but Duong does have a WSOP bracelet from back in 2015, along with 14 WSOP cashes and over $1.6 million in live recorded tournament earnings. He is from South Plainfield, New Jersey and is in his late 20s, with lots of poker left ahead of him.
On another table, Joe Cada was defeated by Chris Moore. Moore was in control of things from start to finish, as Cada was always fighting from behind.
Jack Duong defeated Erik Seidel
Chris Moore defeated Joe Cada
Chance Kornuth raised all in for about 70,000 from the button, and John Smith called from the big blind.
Kornuth:
Smith:
The flop came down , giving Smith the nut straight to take a commanding lead in the hand. The turn was the , which gave Kornuth a few outs to survive, but the river was the to lock up the victory for Smith.
![[user139916]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, racing with Mateos' 
, and Luca showed 
.
, and Luca was eliminated, sending Hughes into the money round.
against Riess' 
.
, and Chou check-called 4,000 from Sammartino.
, giving Sammartino a flush to win the match and advance to the Sweet 16.
.
to give Daher the lead with a pair of aces, but the turn was a 
, safe for Les to notch the victory and punch his ticket to the Sweet 16.
, and Dietrich checked. Martini bet, Dietrich check-raised to about 70,000 effective, and Martini called all in.
turn and 
, and Duong took down this back-and-forth match.
, giving Smith the nut straight to take a commanding lead in the hand. The turn was the 
, which gave Kornuth a few outs to survive, but the river was the 
to lock up the victory for Smith.
