It was a classic case of young meets old at the close of Day 2 at the
World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods as poker's youngest stars battled some of the game's seasoned pros at the top the leader board. Online phenom Matt "mattg1983" Graham was the chip leader at the end of the day with 587,300 but
Freddy Deeb was close behind with 451,900. These two were followed closely by some other notable players such as Tom "durrrr" Dwan (387,800),
Victor Ramdin (316,000), and
Nick Schulman (307,900).
With 575 total entrants spread out over the two first days, the fields combined on Day 2 with 366 players. Graham managed to jump out in front with an early lead by hitting the 450,000 mark before anyone else had even broken 225,000.
With so many players sprinting out of the gate early on, it was the Day 1 chip leader, Teddy Adalis that would be the first to break stride after forfeiting his once commanding chip lead of over 200,000, only to make an early exit after a series of tough boards and missed opportunities. As young guns Graham, Dwan, and Season IV
WPT World Poker Finals Champion Schulman climbed their way up the leader board, poker veterans, Deeb,
"Miami" John Cernuto, and
T.J. Cloutier proved to the world that experience is still king.
Tactfully quiet and often unnoticed in a room full of big personalities and loud-mouthed characters, Graham found his groove early. The tournament director yelled, "Shuffle up and deal," and Graham began hacking away at his opponents' stacks until his side of the table was so heavy that it almost tipped over by the end of the seventh level. Graham took a massive chip lead very quickly (doubling that of the next closest player) and if one were to blink they might have missed him put all of that distance between himself and the field.
No stranger to the game of no-limit hold'em and the
World Poker Tour, three-time
WPT final tablist, and Season IV
Aruba champion Freddy Deeb, spent the day putting the squeeze on his opponents. In his usual fashion, "Fast" Freddy spent the afternoon schooling the youngsters on how to knock out opponents at an alarming rate and spent the night pulling their chips to his side of the table. Starting the day with just over 100,000, Deeb ended the night with 451,900, after taking a sizeable pot off of internet guru
Kyle "kwob20" Bowker. Deeb forced Bowker to fold to a 60,000 continuation bet after firing out on a three-club flop. Deeb has his eye on yet another final table, where he would love a rematch with Schulman, who he finished runner-up to in Season V's
Battle of Champions. Deeb might get that chance here, seeing as Schulman currently sits in Day 2's top ten.
Barely old enough to play land-based poker in the U.S., Schulman came on the scene in 2005 as the youngest player to ever grab a
WPT title, earning one of the largest cash prizes to date ($2.14 million). Claiming victory in this very same tournament just two years ago, Schulman has certainly gained respect on the tour. Schulman made a slow creep to the top ten today, methodically chipping away at his opponents' stacks and ending the night with 307,900.
With so many players traveling from all corners of the globe to capture a
WPT title, it was hometown hero
Frankie Flowers that managed to put himself into contention. This Foxwoods regular ended an impressive day by finishing in the top five with 393,000.
Online aficionado, Tom "durrr" Dwan ended Day 1b third in chips with 134,500, and five levels later he would remain on the Day 2 leader board with 387,700. After severely punishing his opponents in yesterday's match up, the onslaught continued as Dwan dominated his table yet again. Although he got off to a rather slow start today, he finished the night strong with a last minute push that propelled him to 387,800 heading into Day 3.
One hundred and thirty players remain at the close of Day 2, with an average chip stack of 132,692. Many notable players young and old are still fighting and Day 3 promises even more exciting action. Play resumes sharply at Noon EST tomorrow, so be sure to check back with
CardPlayer.com for all of the live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos.
