Michalowski Leads the Remaining 28 Players
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Event #2: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Eight Handed continued on Thursday with Day 2 action, and after another 10 levels of play, only 28 players remain. The chip leader is Rafal Michalowski, and he bagged 632,000. Joining him atop the counts are Markus Gonsalves (502,000), Trevor Pope (465,000), Ismael Bojang (463,000), and Tom Marchese (446,000).
The day began with 194 players, but only 56 would make the money. Among the first players to hit the rail were Grayson Ramage, Randy Haddox, Scotty Nguyen, James Dempsey, Benjamin Palmer, Leo Wolpert, Faraz Jaka, Victor Ramdin, and Jonathan Little. Palmer and Wolpert were both eliminated by Aaron Jones when they wagered all of their remaining chips with pocket nines and eights respectively. Jones had them both dominated with pocket jacks, and held when the board brought all blanks.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, also exited before the money bubble burst. According to two-time WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst, Phelps four-bet shoved for a little less than 20 big blinds with ace-queen, and David Diaz looked him up with ace-six. Diaz flopped a pair of sixes, and Phelps hit the door when the turn and river both produced bricks.
Selbst also busted during the first few levels, while Diaz went on to make the money, ending the day with 130,000.
Three players started the day with more than 100,000 chips: Marchese, David “Doc” Sands, and Scott Baumstein. Baumstein added to his stack to start the day, but then lost a massive pot to Lithuania’s Kristijonas Andrulis. The money went in on a board of 
, and Baumstein showed 
for the second-nuts. Andrulis had the stone nuts with 
, and held when the 
completed the board.
Baumstein took another big hit against Andrulis a few hands later, but was still able to make the money, busting in 37th place for $11,235.
Sands and Marchese both maintained big stacks throughout the day, and bagged 172,000 chips and 446,000 chips respectively.
In Level 15, the bubble burst after an hour of hand-for-hand play. Lloyd Mandel was the unfortunate bubble boy when he blinded down to less than a big blind and was forced to go all in with three-two suited. Sam Stein called in the big blind with queen-ten, and held.
After the bubble burst, there was a flurry of eliminations, including Angel Guillen, Sergey Rybachenko, Andreas Hoivold, and Steve Brecher. Twenty more players fell and eventually there were only four tables remaining. Michalowski and Markus Gonsalves rocketed up the charts after the money bubble burst. Michalowski was fortunate in one hand where he busted Alexander Kuzmin in Level 18. Kuzmin open-shoved for around 10 big blinds with pocket sixes, and Michalowski called with pocket fours. Michalowski binked a four, and Kuzmin was eliminated.
Michalowski and his 27 opponents will return tomorrow at 2 p.m. to play down to an official final table of eight. Join us then for live updates straight from the tournament floor.