WSOP: Main Event Day 2A

The first of two second-day flights in the World Series of Poker main event started at noon today in Las Vegas, and 1,252 players started the day. The players in the super-sized other half of the field in the $10,000 no-limit hold’em world championship will take their seats tomorrow — all 2,678 of them. The second day of play proved to be another devastating one for the field, as it was sliced down to just 469 when the final bell tolled for the evening.

Here is the long list of notable eliminations from day 2A:

Jordan Morgan, Ciaran O’Leary, Mickey Wernick, Dario Alioto, John Hennigan, Ray Romano, Nick Schulman, Billy Baxter, Jesse Jones, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren (pictured at left), Kathy Liebert, Ted Lawson, Paul Wasicka, 2002 World Champion Robert Varkonyi, Greg Mueller, David Grey, Alex Bolotin, Trond Erik Eidsvig, Loi Phan, Stu Patterson, Perry Friedmen, Philip Hilm, Anna Wroblewski, Susie Isaacs, John Shipley, Thomas Wahlroos, 1998 World Champion Scotty Nguyen, Lee Markholt, Harry Demetriou, Jimmy Fricke, Bill Edler, Jens Voertmann, Haralabos Voulgaris, Julian Gardner, Neil Channing, and Barry Shulman.

While many players hit the rail on day 2A, many others were setting themselves up for a nice run deep into the tournament. The chip-count benchmark of 300,000 set the precedent for the elite contenders in the tournament at this point, and by the end of the evening, only a handful of players could count themselves as a part of that promised land. Two players who really separated themselves from the field on day 2A were Brian Schaedlich and Jeremiah Smith.

Here are a few of the hands that took each of these players to their prominent positions at the top of leader board from CardPlayer.com’s live coverage of the main event today:

Brian Schaedlich Approaching 500,000

Brian Schaedlich raised preflop to 2,500 and was reraised by the player to his left to 8,000. He called, and both players checked the A K 4 flop. Schaedlich bet 17,000 on the 7 turn, and his opponent moved all in for 30,000. Priced in, Schaedlich called and showed 5 3 for a double-gutter against his opponent’s A-J. The river was the 6, and just like that, Schaedlich’s stack took another giant boost. He now has about half a million in chips.

Beware of the Smith and Wesson

Despite being seated at the same table with two world-class pros in Barry Greenstein and Stefan Mattsson, at the moment, Jeremiah Smith seems to have complete control of his table. On a recent hand, Smith raised to 2,500 before the flop, and the player in seat 8 made the call. The flop came 10 5 3, and Smith led out with 3,000. Seat 8 called, and the turn was the 2. Both players checked, and the river was the 7. Once again, both players checked, and Smith turned over A Q for the queen-high flush. Smith raked the pot, breaking the 200,000-chip mark in the hand.

The very next hand, Smith opened the pot with a raise to 2,500 from middle position, and Stefan Mattsson defended his big blind with a call. The flop came 9 9 5, and Mattsson checked to Smith, who bet 3,000. Mattsson folded, and Smith raked another pot.

The next hand after that, the player from under the gun limped into the pot for 1,000, followed by Smith from early position, and seat 8 from middle position. Walter Hall raised to 7,000 from late position, and the action folded around back to Smith, who made the call. The flop came 10 6 2, and Smith checked to Hall, who bet 6,000. Smith check-raised to 16,000, and Hall made the call. The turn was the 6, and Smith led out first, sliding a stack of orange chips (85,000) into the pot. Hall tanked for about four or five minutes, counting and recounting his stack until he finally mucked pocket jacks face-up. Smith raked his third consecutive pot, letting his table know who's boss as he brought his chip count up to 230,000 after the hand.

Smith Running Hot, Cracks Kings with 7-5

On a flop of 9 8 6, Walter Hall bet 20,000 and Jeremiah Smith put him all in for his last 80,000. Hall made the call, turning over pocket kings for the overpair, while Smith showed 7 5 for a flopped straight. The turn and river brought the 3 and the 9, bringing no help for Hall, and he was eliminated. Smith has dominated his table all day while climbing to 400,000 in chips — good enough for second on the leader board.


Shaedlich (745,000) and Smith (390,000) finished in the first and third spots on the leader board by the end of the night, and they were joined at the top (although everyone was far behind Shaedlich) by some prominent names in the game. Those names included Brandon Adams (371,000), David Rheem (320,000), Markus Golser (245,000), and Robert Mizrachi (237,000). This half of the field will now take a break tomorrow while day 2B is contested, and then, on Thursday, July 10, the entire tournament will combine in one room to play together for the first time.

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