A total of 344 players returned for the official day 2 of the
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. The objective for all was to survive the five levels of play and move one day closer to the tournament's $2.1 million first-place cash prize.
Day 2 action, spread out at first between the Fontana Bar and 10 tables located in the poker room, started at noon PST with $400-$800 blinds and $100 antes.
As soon as the chips crossed the betting line, Joe Hachem made his contribution to trimming the remaining field. The 2005
WSOP champ eliminated Andrew Cimpan on the first hand of play when his K-Q paired a queen on the turn, besting Cimpan's A-5.
Others soon followed Cimpan to the rail, and, by the 20-minute mark, 15 players had dropped out of contention.
The eliminations continued with Tom Franklin, Allen Cunningham, Young Phan, Kathy Liebert, Gavin Smith, and tournament namesake Doyle Brunson all busting during early play.
Two hands at the end of the day's first level had significant effect on
Card Player's Player of the Year race. Current points leader Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi used pocket kings to eliminate Carl Olson (pocket queens) and climb to the top of the leader board with over $300,000 in chips.
Four minutes later, J.C. Tran made a $6,000 raise from early position, and then called when John Phan, sitting in the big blind, reraised him all in. Tran's K
K
made him a huge favorite over Phan and his 8
8
, but the 8
5
3
flop gave Phan the winning set.
The elimination of Tran, third in the POY standings and Mizrachi's closest competition still in contention at the
DBNAPC, all but wrapped up the Player of the Year race for "The Grinder." (However, an unconfirmed rumor circulated throughout the tournament area that Tran, in a last attempt to catch Mizrachi, boarded a 4 p.m. flight to Atlantic City to play in the
WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's).
While the Player of the Year race remained the topic of discussion, Dutch Boyd managed to generate his own buzz. The
WSOP bracelet winner received two 20-minute penalties for intentionally playing out of turn, walked through the tournament area with a pizza box pretending to be a delivery man, and played an entire hand blind, including folding, before telling his opponent, "I have a hard drive in a plastic bag stashed in the toilet in room 1805 at the Orleans…can you get it for me?"
At 5:05 p.m. Boyd's 2006
DBNAPC ended when he moved all in and his A-8 failed to improve against an opponent's A-10.
Approximately 153 players still had chips as the tournament moved into the final level of the day.
Seated at the same table since noon, Kevin O'Donnell and Daniel Negreanu provided one of the last big hands of the day. The action started with O'Donnell raising $6,000 from middle position. After a Negreanu call, and a 9
6
4
flop, O'Donnell bet $12,000. Negreanu fired back with $28,000, and then called when O'Donnell moved all in. With Negreanu's tournament life at stake, O'Donnell turned over A
Q
, only to have "Kid Poker" reveal A
A
. The win (2
turn and 5
river) put Negreanu at $230,000 and dropped O'Donnell to $10,000 in chips.
At 8:56 p.m., an eight-hand cap on play came to an end, and day 2 of the 2006
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship concluded.
The top five chip counts going into the tournament's next stage are as follows:
1. Keith "The Lehr Jet" Lehr - $425,800
2. Mads Andersen - $360,800
3. Clonie Gowen - $346,100
4. Devin "TranquilChaos" Porter - $345,000
5. Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi - $343,700
Other notables advancing include Scott Fischman, Chris McCormack, James "KrazyKanuck" Worth, Nenad Medic, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Joe Hachem, and
Card Player's own Jeff "Happy" Shulman.
Some pros who failed to survive play were Victor Ramdin, John Phan, Jennifer Tilly, Mark Newhouse, Liz Lieu, and Mimi Tran.
For a complete list of chip counts and eliminations, please click
here.
Play resumes at noon PST when the 139 remaining players return for day 3 of the 2006
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship.
Stay tuned to
CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, photos, videos, and for a news episode of "The Circuit."
Quote of the Day: "You know what I love about you, bro? Sometimes I think you've never played the game before." - Dutch Boyd to an opponent seated at his table.
