Two 12-hour days and there is still no cash in sight. A day after playing down from 560 players, 350 returned to do it all over again. This time around, 215 players were lost to finish the day with 135, still about 80 spots from the money. In a day when many professionals kept their heads down and powered through, the daunting task of staying focused throughout the grind proved to be too much for some.
Early on, Gavin Smith was showing signs of life with his short stack, especially after winning a $1 side-bet with his cocktail waitress. But his tournament ended shortly afterwards and he hit the rail along with his friend Peter "Nordberg" Feldman.
Joining him on the rail were notables David Williams, John D'Agostino, Clonie Gowen, Barry Greenstein and "Captain" Tom Franklin.
Danny Wong, who has made three WPT final tables, was down to his last $2,400 before attempting his best Bill Edler impression. Wong raised all in for his last $2,400 from early position. One player called, and Ari "BodogAri" Engel raised to $7,300 to isolate. The limper folded and Engel showed A
Q
. Wong showed pocket queens and the board came 10
8 7 8 K to triple him up to $9,400. A short time later, Wong would quadruple up after flopping the nut straight with K-Q suited. He ended the day with $98,200 in chips.
Brian Strahl came into today's action with the chip lead at $170,550. He spent most of the day taking out players and picking on his table to build up a huge stack, but he took a hit late to end the day with $174,000. Strahl is infamous for his past legal troubles but has put it behind him to play solid poker and become a force in this tournament.
Mike Matusow spent the day getting repeatedly hit in the face with the deck, though, to his credit, he was able to extract the maximum and ended the day with $262,400. On one hand, Matusow bet $4,500 on a flop of A
10 2 and his opponent called. The turn was the A and Matusow checked. His opponent bet $5,000 and Matusow quickly raised to $15,000. His opponent announced all in and Matusow called, showing pocket tens. He was up against A-Q but dodged the river, which was the 9.
Two well-known online professionals would survive the day, as well. Joseph "JOEYTHEB" Brooks finished with $62,600, but his nephew, Joe "hoodini10" Udine, had a nice run to put himself in contention. Udine put a bad beat on Mark Seif late in the day which caused him to refer to himself as "hoodonkey10." Udine raised to $4,200 on the button and Seif made it $11,000 more in the small blind. Udine pushed all in for over $100,000. Seif instantly called with A-K and Udine sheepishly turned over A-4. Udine flopped a 4 and Seif screamed out in disgust. Udine finished the day with $218,400 while Seif hung on to finish with $177,900.
Another big mover from the online world was respected heads-up player Steve "stevebets" Jacobs. Jacobs took advantage of some of the weaker players at his table to finish the day high on the leader board. In one hand, in particular, he used his aggressive image to squeeze extra chips out of his opponent. His opponent limped and he haphazardly raised to $13,000. It was folded around to the limper, who stared Jacobs down before making the call. The flop came 10 7 2 and both players checked. The turn was the K and Jacobs' opponent bet $20,000. Jacobs rechecked his cards and called the bet. The river was the 3 and his opponent shrugged his shoulders before betting $25,000. Jacobs rechecked his cards once more and placed a chip on top. He took a few moments before loudly announcing that he was all in and making a gesture with his hands. It was another $50,000 to his opponent, who went into the tank before calling and showing K Q for the second nuts. Jacobs, of course, showed the nuts with A 5.
Not all of the online players had such a smooth day, however. Matt "All_In_At420" Stout took a bad beat at the hands of Erik Cajelais to cripple his stack. Cajelais was all in with pocket kings against Stout's pocket aces. But the board came KQ 10 6 8 to put Stout on the brink of elimination. A few hands later, Stout lost a coin-flip to bring an end to his day.
Other online notables to bust before the day ended included Engel, Luke "bdbeatslayer" Vrabel, Noah "fouruhaters" Schwartz, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, Justin "ZEEjustin" Bonomo, Adam "csimmsux" Geyer, Scott "gunning4you" Seiver, and Mario "Pwnasaurus" Silvestri.
The remaining 135 players will return tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. ET to play down to the final 27. Fifty-four places will be paid, so stay tuned to CardPlayer.com for all of your live updates, chip counts, photos, and pro blogs.
Click here for the unofficial chip counts.
