Kenny Hallaert Leads the Final 18 After Day 2
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Tables were once again filled by six-packs of players on Monday for Day 2 of Event #36: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed. The day began with 191 hopefuls and after ten more hour-long levels, just 18 remain.
Many of poker’s best entered play on Day 2, led by Faraz Jaka. Jaka had another solid day on the felt, bagging 1,213,000. Jaka led for a large portion of the day until he was eclipsed by 2016 November Niner Kenny Hallaert.
Hallaert tangled with fellow big stack Moritz Dietrich in a preflop blind versus blind battle ending with a six-bet jam from Dietrich which Hallaert snap-called. Hallaert’s pocket aces held to beat Dietrich’s ace-king suited, catapulting Hallaert to the top, and eliminating Dietrich.
Hallaert ended play with 1,767,000 to claim the lead heading into Day 3. Sitting second in chips is Chris Hunichen with 1,622,000 while Nadar Kakhmazov (1,262,000), Jaka (1,213,000), Rob Kuhn (1,041,000), and Dan Abouaf (1,041,000) round out the top five.
Also heading to Day 3 are Sam Soverel (845,000), Garrett Greer (626,000), James Obst (585,000),Jonathan Jaffe (442,000), and Mike Leah (246,000).
Players returned on Day 2 quite far from the money as just 87 would get paid. Notables lost along the way before the bubble burst include Nick Petrangelo, Antonio Esfandiari, Mohsin Charania, Greg Merson, Pablo Mariz, and 888poker ambassador and recent $3k 6-Max WSOP bracelet winner Chris Moorman.
Once Joseph Alban busted, getting his pocket kings cracked by Christian Rudolph’s ace-jack, on the bubble, the floodgates opened and the post-bubble bust-out bonanza kicked into overdrive.
Michael Mizrachi (31st - $13,159), Adam Owen (40th - $11,187), Ankush Mandavia (47th - $9,756), Dario Sammartino (49th - $8,734), Jonathan Little (59th - $8,031),John Racener (62nd - $8,031),James Mackey (74th - $7,591), and Sergi Reixach (75th - $7,591) are just some of the notables leaving with some consolation during play today.
Play will resume with Day 3 action kicking off at 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. In all likelihood, the remaining players will play down a winner but a fourth day may be required if ten more hour-long levels are not enough. Stay tuned to PokerNews for live coverage as we will be on the floor updating the live blog until a new WSOP champion is crowned.
Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Dan Abouaf | France | 1,041,000 | 87 |
| 1 | 2 | Christopher Staats | United States | 427,000 | 36 |
| 1 | 3 | Sam Soverel | United States | 865,000 | 72 |
| 1 | 4 | Nadar Kakhmazov | Russia | 1,262,000 | 105 |
| 1 | 5 | Mohsin Virani | United States | 449,000 | 37 |
| 1 | 6 | James Obst | Australia | 585,000 | 49 |
| 2 | 1 | Giuseppe Pantaleo | Germany | 585,000 | 49 |
| 2 | 2 | Louis Linard | France | 268,000 | 22 |
| 2 | 3 | Chris Hunichen | United States | 1,622,000 | 135 |
| 2 | 4 | Christian Rudolph | Germany | 1,005,900 | 84 |
| 2 | 5 | Garrett Greer | United States | 626,000 | 52 |
| 2 | 6 | Robert Kuhn | United States | 1,041,000 | 87 |
| 3 | 1 | Faraz Jaka | United States | 1,213,000 | 101 |
| 3 | 2 | Jacob Haller | United States | 651,000 | 54 |
| 3 | 3 | Mike Leah | Canada | 246,000 | 21 |
| 3 | 4 | Timothy Cramer | United States | 210,000 | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Jonathan Jaffe | United States | 442,000 | 37 |
| 3 | 6 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 1,767,000 | 147 |