Ben Heath Leads Final 12 in $50,000 High Roller
Although ten levels were scheduled on Day of Event #5, the 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em, just eight were needed to burst the money bubble and whittle the star-studded $50,000 High Roller down to 12 players.
Big names entered, re-entered and busted in a tournament field littered with multiple bracelet winners and big names looking for their first taste of WSOP glory.
Ben Heath is the only player in the top five chip counts not to have won a WSOP bracelet, but will start Day 3 in pole position to change that, having sent Daniel Negreanu to the rail earlier in the day after Negreanu ran queens into the British player's kings. Heath was a continuous threat to big reputations throughout the day.
The Brit's best WSOP cash came in 2015 when he finished sixth in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Event for $77,591, but since then has never finished higher than 30th in a bracelet event.
However, following High Roller cashes in both the Caribbean and Monte Carlo, Heath will be taking 5,255,000 chips through to Day 3 having already locked up his largest career WSOP cash.
The remaining 12 players are all guaranteed $101,604 but will be eyeing up the $1,484,085 for first place. Other big stacks still in the field include Dmitry Yurasov (4,800,000), Elio Fox (4,695,000) and Chance Kornuth (4,510,000).
Day 2 Recap
With late registration open for two more levels on Day 2, the likes of Scott Seiver and Michael Addamo were both new faces once cards were in the air. Both Ben Heath and Barry Hutter enjoyed strong starts, with Heath eliminating Roger Teska as Hutter did the same to Thomas Winters.
Other early eliminations included Kenny Hallaert, Rainer Kempe, Igor Kurganov, Isaac Haxton and Adrian Mateos.
The Hellmuth Show
Another new face on Day 2 was 15-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth who rocked up to the $50,000 High Roller midway through the second level of the day.
However, on returning from break Hellmuth was involved in a pot against Chance Kornuth, where Hellmuth check-called all three streets with top pair only for Kornuth to have made a backdoor flush.
That led to the first Hellmuth blow-up of the year, with Hellmuth blowing his top at Kornuth's stroke of fortune.
And then, after using his single re-entry, he lasted just two hands before losing house over house against overnight chip leader Ali Imsirovic to bust for the second time in quick succession.
Registration Closes; Bubble Bursts
There were only 27 players in the field as registration closed, with the payouts being confirmed shortly thereafter. Just 17 players would get paid and the winner will take home $1,484,085.
The bubble burst when Todd Ivens fell foul of the pocket aces of Nick Petrangelo. This was then followed by the first four eliminations in the money.
Markus Gonsalves (17th - $75,789) ran eights into tens of Heath, but it was Dmitry Yurasov who lead the final two tables. Eric Wasserson (16th - $75,789) and Johannes Becker (15th - $75,789) followed him out the door.
Meanwhile, Heath was quietly chipping up and his chip lead was secured as Bryn Kenney (14th - $86,543) and Elias Talvitie (13th - $86,543) became the last eliminations of the night.
Here are the remaining payouts:
| Place | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,484,085 |
| 2 | $917,232 |
| 3 | $640,924 |
| 4 | $458,138 |
| 5 | $335,181 |
| 6 | $251,128 |
| 7 | $192,794 |
| 8 | $151,755 |
| 9-10 | $122,551 |
| 11-12 | $101,604 |
On Sunday, the tournament is scheduled to play down to a final table of six ready for the final table to be live-streamed on Monday. PokerNews will be catching all the action and every elimination as we get closer to crowning the next bracelet-winner.