The
World Poker Tour Turks and Caicos Poker Classic was originally scheduled to play for six days. But, after a low turnout of 137 players and a day one (A) cancellation, it looks like it will be over in just four.
Eighty-four players came in to today's action looking to put themselves in position to grab a seat at the final table. With only nine spots getting paid, the play started out aggressively as players looked to either accumulate chips early or hit the beach. In the first level alone, 17 players were lost. Among the early casualties were
Mike Matusow,
Nenad "Serb" Medic,
Bill Edler and
Fred Goldberg.
Rami "ARBIANIGHT" Boukai (pictured right), bullied his table with bets and raises to build a massive stack and end the day with the chip lead, at $235,700.
Well-known online player
Matt "SamENole" Smith played most of day one short-stacked, and day two was no different. Eventually, Lou White raised from under the gun to $4,400 and Smith moved all in from middle position for $6,100. White called with A
A
and Smith showed 6
6
, needing improvement to stay alive. The board came 10
8
7
5
J
and Smith missed all of his 10 outs on the river to head to the rail.
Steve Buckner (pictured below on left) has made a name for himself on the
WPT tournament trail, although he hasn't exactly done it with his performances. The self-proclaimed "rookie" is best known for his loud antics, shouting "one time" every time he is all in, singing his favorite song "I'm in love with a stripper," or just calling everyone he meets "Cuz." Buckner yelled his trademark "one time" so many times that the rest of the tournament began to ask the dealers to bust him … just one time.
In fact, one player laid down a huge hand to Buckner just so he wouldn't have to hear him yell. On a flop of 7
6
5
, Buckner's opponent bet $2,200. Buckner moved all in for an additional $5,000 and his opponent mucked 6
3
face up. The table was surprised, until he explained that the last person he wanted to double up was Buckner. Buckner showed top two pair and dragged the pot with his usual chatter. Eventually, the players got what they asked for, and Buckner's A-K failed to improve against
Mark Seif's pocket deuces.
Gavin Smith (pictured below on right) and
Joe Sebok spent half of the day sitting just a few chairs from each other at the same table. Smith hung on with a short stack and eventually tripled up with A-K against A-Q and K-Q in a three-way all in. When the table was broken, Sebok was moved to a stacked table featuring big stack Seif. Four players limped into the pot and the flop came out 10
8
2
.
Alan "TheUsher" Sass bet $2,500 from the small blind and seat four folded in the big blind. Sebok called and Seif raised an additional $10,000. Sass got out of the way and Sebok moved all in. Seif went into the tank for quite some time as he agonized over the decision. He eventually called and Sebok flipped up 10
6
. Seif slammed J
10
down on the table and the turn and river came K
and A
, giving Seif the massive pot and eliminating Sebok from the tournament.
Smith joined another table and quickly added some fireworks of his own. Hieu Nguyen raised from late position to $3,500 and Quentin Jones called from the small blind, as did Smith from the big blind. The flop came Q
10
8
, and all three players checked. The turn card was the 7
. Jones checked and Smith bet $7,700. Only Nguyen called and the river card was the 6
. Smith bet $9,900 and once again Nguyen made the call. Smith flipped over 10
9
for the nuts, a 10-high straight flush, and raked the pot.
Sass made a late push, doubling through
Johan Storakers. Sass raised from middle position to $3,500 and both Donavan Ryan and Storakers called from the blinds. The flop came A
J
10
, both blinds checked, and Sass bets $6,600. Ryan called and Storakers asked for a count on Sass before announcing he was all in, which represented the rest of Sass' $50,000 stack. Sass very quietly made the call and Ryan folded. Storakers showed A
J
, but Sass flopped the nuts with K
Q
. The turn and river came 9
10
to give Sass the pot and more than double him up.
Thirty players will come back tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET to play five more levels and possibly down to the final six players, giving them an unexpected day off on Saturday.
Here are the top 10 chip counts for the end of day two:
1. Rami Boukai - $235,700
2.
Erik Cajelais - $208,100
3. Chris Smith - $181,600
4. Alan Sass - $177,100
5. Trevor Hebert - $175,000
6. Johan Storakers - $147,500
7. Jumphol Srinak - $145,100
8.
Isaac Baron - $132,700
9.
Will "The Thrill" Failla - $126,500
10. Donavan Ryan - $125,500
