"That was a horrible spin down," said Simon Deadman as we talked about his untimely demise from Event #49. One minute Deadman was flying high, the next he was heading to the rail via the cashier's cage.
The start of Deadman's downward spiral saw him open to 12,000 from the cutoff and face a three-bet to 29,000 from Sergei Stazhkov on the button. Deadman went into the tank before emerging with an all-in bet, a bet that was instantly called.
Deadman:
Stazhkov:
Deadman was in a typical coinflip with Stazhkov, a coinflip he would ultimately lose as the board ran out . To add insult to injury, Deadman had to help Stazhkov count his stack after the dealer seemed to refuse to count them! The amount was 225,500 and it left Deadman with just 62,000 chips.
Down to 10 big blinds, Deadman open-shoved from the hijack seat and the big blind called. Deadman tabled and was up against for another race. Once more, Deadman lost as the flop improved the big blind to a full house, rendering the meaningless and the river even more so.
Kevin MacPhee has just lost the majority of his stack in a hand with Brian O'Donoghue.
There was already 68,000 chips in the middle by the time the flop came into view. MacPhee was in early position and O'Donoghue on the button. MacPhee was in the tank and the next thing we knew, MacPhee had check-shoved, was called and the cards were on their backs and the players were all in.
When the stacks were counted, MacPhee had O'Donoghue covered by only 22,000 chips, or three big blinds.
MacPhee:
O'Donoghue:
MacPhee needed to spike a six to win the hand, otherwise he faced the prospect of handing over almost all of his stack. The turn was the and the river the , gifting O'Donoghue the hand and the huge pot.
Day 2 of Event #49, the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, has ended and only 21 players remain in the field. Of those 21, Robin Ylitalo is the man to catch; his 1,151,000 stack being the largest of the surviving players.
Ylitalo, a Swedish professional poker player, has some excellent results in major live tournaments in Europe including a final table appearance at the EPT Campione Main Event and at the WP Copenhagen Main Event. Ylitalo has one cash at the WSOP, ironically it came in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event at the 2012 WSOP where he finished 32nd. He’s guaranteed to beat that finish in this event.
Paul DaSilva goes into the third and final day’s play as the only other player to bag up a seven-figure stack. We have been unable to uncover any major live cashes belonging to DaSilva, but he and the rest of the field in Event #49 are guaranteed to take home at least $15,622 for their efforts so far.
Taras Kripps and Valentin Messina both ended with over 900,000 chips each, too.
Other notables to look out for on Day 3 include British pro Barny Boatman (347,000) and Kevin MacPhee (136,000). The latter lost all but three big blinds of his stack during the second half of play on Day 2, but managed to grind his way through to make Day 3. He will start with less than 10 big blind, but if anyone can claw his way back into contention from such a position it is MacPhee.
Play resumes at 1 p.m. Las Vegas time and will continue until one man has won all of the chips in play. This player will become Event #49’s champion, a title worth more than the WSOP bracelet and the $546,080 awarded to them.
. To add insult to injury, Deadman had to help Stazhkov count his stack after the dealer seemed to refuse to count them! The amount was 225,500 and it left Deadman with just 62,000 chips.
and was up against 
for another race. Once more, Deadman lost as the 
river even more so.
, gifting O'Donoghue the hand and the huge pot.
