When we reached the table, Ari Engel had a cold four-bet of 14,000 sitting in front of him, and Robert "Uncle Krunk" Panitch had a five-bet of 27,000 splashed in front of him. Engel opted to six-bet, making it 50,000 or so, and Panitch moved all in for 96,300. Engel quickly called.
Engel:
Panitch:
"I don't like it," Panitch sighed.
The dealer fanned , changing very little, and the turned, giving Engel straight outs while also taking away all of his diamond outs.
Panitch was still unhappy, but he was allowed to exhale once the completed the board. He doubled to 200,000 chips, while Engel plummeted to 30,100.
We're not sure of the preflop action but we do know a blind-versus-blind battle resulted in Adam Teasdale being all in for roughly 30,000 holding the against the of Joe Kuether. Both players paired their ace on the flop, but Kuether's king kicker had him firmly in the lead.
The turn meant Teasdale needed a jack on the river to survive, but it was not meant to be as the peeled off. With that, Kuether is now over 100K in chips.
One player registered on Day 2 of the Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship, and that was Jason Mercier. Mercier, the proud owner of two World Series of Poker bracelets, will have to find a way to captain a 25 big blind-stack, but with the run he's currently on anything is possible.
Mercier just crushed the EPT Grand Final, winning a €2,000 Open-Face Chinese side event, finished seventh in the Main Event, and finished runner-up in the €100,000 Super High Roller. After busting the WPT World Championship and the $100,000 Super High Roller (twice), the American is here in NOLA, looking for WSOP bracelet number three.
Mark Bonsack, who qualified for this event after finishing as the Casino Champ at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs, seems to have nine lives.
After he got his short stack all in preflop holding and ran into Jeremy Ausmus' , Bonsack got lucky and chopped the pot.
Not long after, Bonsack got his last 15,000 all in preflop holding the and was once again dominated by Ausmus, who held the . "I can't do it twice," Bonsack said as he stood from his chair.
The flop gave Bonsack running straight opportunities, but the turn closed the door on them. Bonsack needed an eight on the river to survive, and he just so happened to find it when the spiked. Bonsack couldn't seem to believe his luck, which he attributed to the "lucky raccoon penis" he bought at a New Orleans voodoo shop yesterday.
On the first hands of the day, Austin Buchanan opened to 2,400 from under the gun. Jason Koon moved all in for 30,000 on his direct left, and the action folded back to Buchanan, who snap-called for 27,400.
Koon:
Buchanan:
Buchanan held as the board rolled out , and Koon was left with just 600 chips.
He tripled up the next hand with against Buchanan, who held , but was soon eliminated by Nancy Birnbaum. Birnbaum had aces this time, holding , which crushed Koon's . The aces held as the flop, turn, and river produced , and Koon was out.
"Mercier, man," Koon sighed after he was crippled on the first hand. "I booked a last long with Mercier."
Jason Mercier, who just sat down, has already won that bet, and now he's looking to build.
We arrived a bit too late to catch all the details, but we do know that Josh Palmer was just eliminated over at Table 44. We're not sure of when the money went in, or even what the board ran out, but we do know Palmer held the while Sam Panzica, who won the pot, had the .
Meanwhile, Thomas Beckstead has also been eliminated from the tournament.
Welcome back to the World Series of Poker Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship! Yesterday 126 players — a combination of 62 at-large bids, 38 Circuit Main Event winners and Casino Champions and 26 WSOP POY buy-ins — took to the felt at Harrah’s New Orleans to compete for the first-ever WSOP bracelet to be awarded on American soil outside of Las Vegas. Today, the surviving 62 players, as well as any late entries (i.e. Jason Mercier), will return to play down to the final table, which will be filmed by ESPN and broadcast on Tuesday, July 30.
The man best positioned to make the final table is Harrah’s Rincon Casino Champion Valentin Vornicu, who bagged up 203,200 and finished as the Day 1 chip leader, which is quite a bit ahead of the next closest competitor, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Brock Parker (133,900).
Others who enter Day 2 with big stacks are The Lodge Casino Champion Chris Parsons (133,000), at-large qualifier Jarod Ludemann (128,100), “Professional Best Friend” Jeff Gross (117,100), National Points leader Ari Engel (113,800) and October Niner Jeremy Ausmus (109,200).
In addition, there are plenty of other story lines to keep an eye on. In fact, pretty much everyone in the field has a story to tell thanks to the unique way they qualified for one of the year’s most prestigious tournaments. Rest assured, we’ll be following as many of them as we can as the day progresses.
Action is set to kick off at noon CST. Registration closes at the start of play, which means we’ll have final numbers, including the total field size and prize pool, relatively quickly. Be sure to check back then for all the latest and greatest from the Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship!