WPT -- Doyle Brunson Classic Championship Day 2The Tournament Field Shrinks by Leaps and Bounds as Five Players Chase John Phan for POY Honors |
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Day 2 at the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic Championship was the final day of major tournament poker for a lot of players in 2008. The day began with a field of 376 who had survived from day 1A and 1B flights, but by the end of play, only 139 remained. The field shrank at an accelerated rate throughout the day, and it is very likely that the money bubble will burst tomorrow in this $15,000 no-limit hold'em event.
Lost during the carnage were the following notable professionals: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Paul Wasicka, Alan Gohering, Phil Laak, Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng, Ralph Perry, David Singer, Vivek Rajkumar, Isabelle Mercier, Greg Raymer, Justin Bonomo, Jordan Morgan, Beth Shak, Steve Billirakis, Quinn Do, Alex Jacob, Michael Gracz, Lee Markholt, Steve Brecher, Jonathan Aguiar, Jennifer Harman, Bob Stupak, Alex Bolotin, Andrew Robl, Ivan Demidov, Erik Seidel, David "The Dragon" Pham, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
Another player who fell on day 2 was Card Player Player of the Year leader John Phan. He busted out during the second level of the day, leaving Michael Binger as the only remaining player who can catch him.
POY Contender Chip Counts
Michael Binger: 64,000
Finish Needed to Win POY
Michael Binger: 4,416 -- points behind 2,288 (first)
Today was also all about those players who have set themselves up for a deep run in this tournament. Among them was another player who had a very strong 2008 -- David Benyamine. Clonie Gowen and Antonio Esfandiari made an assault on the leader board, as well, and at the end of play they found themselves seated together at a very tough table to end day 2. Here is a look at the seating chart for that table:
Table 49
Seat 2: Clonie Gowen
Seat 3: Jimmy Tran
Seat 4: Howard Lederer
Seat 5: Tim West
Seat 6: Matt Giannetti
Seat 7: David Oppenheim
Seat 9: Antonio Esfandiari
The player who sat in second place on the leader board got there courtesy of a peculiar hand that came late in the day. Chuck Kelley decided to move all in preflop while holding Q
3. He had both Surinder Sunar (A
K
) and the player on the button (2 2
) covered, but he was way behind. That was until the board hit the table Q 9 9 4 8 to help Kelley knock out two opponents. Play came to a close shortly before 9 p.m., and the remaining field will return tomorrow to play five more levels of poker and advance one step closer to the final table. Here were the top 10 chip counts at the end of play:
Justin Young: 552,900
Chuck Kelley: 540,900
Evan McNiff: 485,300
Tuan Le: 480,000
Kido Pham: 445,000
Clonie Gowen: 430,000
Antonio Esfandiari: 336,000
David Benyamine: 335,000
Phil Hellmuth: 335,000
Scott Bohlman: 310,000
Tune in to CardPlayer.com tomorrow at noon to catch all of the action in live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos from Bellagio.
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