Powell in Front at the Halfway Pole
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This unique "Mixed-Max" event began with 125 players in the hunt, and after two days of play, that number now sits at just sixteen. Entering tomorrow's heads-up bracket, it's Brian Powell wielding the big stack, bagging up an impressive 484,000 to make himself the betting favorite at the halfway point.
Nearly everyone in this elite field would qualify as "notable", but a few particularly big names were among the early casualties. November Niner Ben Lamb started the day with just 8,100 chips (from a 30,000-chip starting stack), and he managed an early triple up before the bottom fell out. After working up to about 25,000, he promptly ran his pocket kings into Joseph Elpayaa's pocket aces, and Lamb was relegated to the rail within the first few minutes of the day. November's Matt Giannetti didn't fare much better, and he was very short on chips when his pocket tens fell to an opponent with ace-four.
Others to hit the rail on this brutal day included Phil Hellmuth, Jonathan Duhamel, and Carlos Mortensen, as well as France's own Bruno Fitoussi, David Benyamine, and Vanessa Rousso. And Olivier Busquet, who only sounds French.
The bubble was pretty brutal, but all 16 who survived this day are guaranteed to make some money this week. They'll return to the tables tomorrow at 3:00 P.M when the bracket will be drawn and we'll find out who plays who. We'll play the Rounds of 16 and 8 tomorrow, finishing up with our final four for the run to the bracelet.
That's all for now, but there's plenty more to come over the next two days. Until tomorrow, all that's left is goodnight.