2015 HPO Championship Event Day 2: Stammen, Keating, Taylor, Greer, Kuether Remain

Rudy Lucas

Day 2 of the Hollywood Poker Open $2,500 Championship Event from the M Resort Casino Spa wrapped up with 16 players remaining. Leading the charge into the third and final day will be Rudy Lucas with 1.759 million in chips. On Sunday, all the remaining competitors will come back for Day 3 to play for the $347,052 top prize and the right to be called champion.

Under 200 players returned for Day 2, with Portuguese player Pedro Oliveira leading the way. Oliveira began the day by picking up right where he left off, but he soon took some hits and fell back down to Earth. When it was all said and done, Oliveira bagged 256,000 in chips, but still remains as one of those vying for the title.

Of the 684 total entries in this event, only the top 63 reached the money. After the day began, players hit the rail fast and furious. When the dinner break hit after the first six levels were in the books, just 65 remained. When the field returned, Jim Collopy was the first to go in 65th place, and his elimination set up hand-for-hand play on the bubble.

There were several short stacks fighting hard to hold on and squeak into a cash, and they all made it when Louis Salter, the brother of Jack Salter, decided to get a little crazy with the AJ against Oliveira and his KK. Oliveira had opened from the cutoff seat with a raise, and Salter reraised to 31,000 from the button with the blinds at 3,000/6,000/500. Play folded back to Oliveira, and he made it 78,000 to go. Salter then moved all in for approximately 325,000, and Oliveira snapped it off. The board ran out Q107Q7, and Salter was the tournament's official "bubble boy."

From there, the line at the payout desk began to grow as players such as Russell Thomas (60th - $5,553), Brent Hanks (57th - $5,553), Darryll Fish (50th - $6,015), Cord Garcia (43rd - $7,095), Ryan Riess (42nd - $7,095), Calvin Anderson (31st - $8,483), Michael Rocco (24th - $10,180), Brian Yoon (22nd - $10,180), and Oleksandr Gnatenko (20th - $10,180) all went bust.

To view the entire list of payouts, click here.

Others remaining in the final bunch are Alex Keating, Garrett Greer, Joe Serock, Keven Stammen, and Joe Kuether.

Esther Taylor-Brady also advanced to Day 3, continuing her best year ever on the live felt. In terms of live tournament results, Taylor-Brady is having the best year she's ever had, already having won over $195,000. The largest chunk came when she placed fifth in the World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Open $3,500 Main Event for $174,188, and she's already locked up another $13,573 here in this one. She'll enter Day 3 with 826,000 in chips.

Day 3 Table and Seat Draw

TableSeatNameChipsHometown
41Joe Serock581,000Albuquerque, NM
42Rudy Lucas1,759,000Mountain City, TN
43--empty------
44Alex Keating1,470,000San Jose, CA
45Esther Taylor-Brady826,000Havertown, PA
46Andrew Fisher788,000Harrisburg, PA
47Kyle Frey265,000Somerville, MA
48Diogo Cardoso1,051,000Porto, Portugal
49Garrett Greer631,000Hemet, CA
     
51Keven Stammen1,574,000Coldwater, OH
52Tom Dobrilovic289,000West Nyack, NY
53Jiachen Gong859,000Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada
54Paul Vas Nunes540,000Newbury, United Kingdom
55Michael Laake1,255,000Sarasota, FL
56Joe Kuether130,000Elm Grove, WI
57--empty------
58Steve Warburton1,185,000Manchester, United Kingdom
59Pedro Oliveira256,000Coimbra, Portugal

The cards will be in the air at 12 p.m. local time on Sunday, and you can follow all of the action live right here on PokerNews.com.

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  • Just 16 players remain in the Hollywood Poker Open $2,500 Championship Event, including Joe Serock, Alex Keating, Esther Taylor-Brady, Garrett Greer, Keven Stammen, and Joe Kuether.

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