Ryan Leng Sits Atop the Counts as $1,500 Mixed Hold'em/Omaha Heads to Day 3
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Day 2 of Event #72: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed saw the field narrowed down from 123 to the final 15. Leading the charge heading towards the final day is Ryan Leng with the likes of Day 1 chipleader Jordan Polk, Yuval Bronshtein and Kevin Iacofano giving chase.
Day 3 Seat Draw and Chip Counts
| Room | Table | Seat | Player Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasilia | 45 | 1 | Takashi Ogura | Japan | 40,000 | 4 |
| Brasilia | 45 | 2 | Fernando Brito | Brazil | 478,000 | 48 |
| Brasilia | 45 | 3 | Dan Matsuzuki | United States | 320,000 | 32 |
| Brasilia | 45 | 4 | Jonathan Bryan | United States | 154,000 | 15 |
| Brasilia | 45 | 5 | Samuel Welbourne | United Kingdom | 370,000 | 37 |
| Brasilia | 45 | 6 | Ryan Leng | United States | 813,000 | 81 |
| Brasilia | 45 | 7 | Michael Rocco | United States | 55,000 | 6 |
| Brasilia | 45 | 8 | Jerome Bradpiece | United Kingdom | 436,000 | 44 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 1 | Jesse Vilchez | United States | 561,000 | 56 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 2 | Empty | |||
| Brasilia | 60 | 3 | Alexander Ziskin | United States | 244,000 | 24 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 4 | Yuval Bronshtein | Israel | 511,000 | 51 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 5 | Jordan Polk | United States | 479,000 | 48 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 6 | Kevin Iacofano | United States | 389,000 | 39 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 7 | Thomas Kim | United States | 230,000 | 23 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 8 | Charalampos Lappas | Greece | 224,000 | 22 |
The returning players entered Day 2 just 16 spots from the money and would get down to bubble within the first level. Hand-for-hand play would last about an hour though before Matthew Kelly would be eliminated in 108th place. Kelly was in the big blind, moving all in for his last 12,300 over an early raise to 2,500 from Polk. In the thrill of the moment, Kelly accidentally flipped over his hand, showing pocket kings. Polk was actually not paying attention but would eventually be given the information. Polk still tanked for a while and liked his odds enough with ace-eight of spades. Polk called and the board delivered two aces, leaving Kelly empty-handed.
There was a pile of two-time bracelet winners to leave with some consolation on Day 2 as Mark Radoja (101st), Jason DeWitt (90th), Cliff Josephy (72nd), Steve Sung (65th), Steve Zolotow (61st), and Eric Baldwin (57th) all failed to find a bag. The 2005 WOOP Main Event champion, Joe Hachem, also saw his deep run come to an end falling in 58th.
Poker's all-time leading money earner, Daniel Negreanu, was poised to make yet another deep run this series. Negreanu came into the day with just 22 big blinds but quickly raked in pot after pot and soon after found himself among the top stacks in the room. Negreanu had start-of-day chipleader, Polk, on his left the entire day until Negreanu picked up ace-king and ran into the Polk's pocket aces in a sizeable pot to bust in 29th place.
One of the last players to register late on Day 1, Rainer Kempe, managed to slide into the money and even climbed a ladder before busting in 96th place. Justin Liberto, who joined Kempe at the end of the reg line made an even better run and more impressively, did it while multi-tabling the Little One for One Drop. Liberto bagged a final 14 stack in the Little One heading to Day 4 but sadly was eliminated in the mixed event in the penultimate level of the night for a 21st place score.
Leng has been near the top of the counts for much of the event thus far rising to the top early on Day 1 and maintaining the position throughout play on both days. Leng took down a big pot in the final level on Day 2 from Takashi Ogura. Leng flopped a king-high flush and got two big bets paid out on the turn and river before Ogura mucked the river. Leng bagged the top stack after ten levels of play and will return with 813,000 on Day 3.
Chasing Leng atop the counts are Jesse Vilchez (561,000), Bronshtein (511,000), Polk (479,000), Fernando Brito (478,000), and Iacofano (389,000).
The final 15 players will return to play down to a winner on Thursday afternoon with Day 3 action kicking off at 2pm Blinds will be 5,000/10,000 when the cards get back in the air.
Stay tuned to the blog as PokerNews will be on the floor providing live coverage until the last card comes off the deck and the WSOP's latest champion is crowned.