2012-13 WSOP Circuit Foxwoods Day 2: Ben Reason Leads Final 16; Kevin Saul Lurking
The 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Foxwoods Main Event continued on Sunday as the surviving players from two Day 1 starting flights returned to Mashantucket, Connecticut, to play through the money bubble toward the final table. After 13 levels of play, 16 players remained, with Ben Reason and his stack of 1.704 million in chips leading the way. Other still in contention include Paul Snead, Pete Campo and Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul.
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Rando | 458,000 |
| 2 | Pete Campo | 442,000 |
| 3 | Mike Massri | 585,000 |
| 4 | Paul Snead | 568,000 |
| 5 | Bobby Corcione | 862,000 |
| 6 | Ethan Foulkes | 916,000 |
| 7 | Lall Bharat | 680,000 |
| 8 | Alex Wilson | 693,000 |
| 9 | Chris Mintchev | 910,000 |
| 1 | Cory Waaland | 821,000 |
| 2 | --empty-- | N/A |
| 3 | Chris Schonbach | 663,000 |
| 4 | John McNabola | 1,468,000 |
| 5 | --empty-- | N/A |
| 6 | Ben Reason | 1,704,000 |
| 7 | Kevin Saul | 484,000 |
| 8 | Eric Blair | 298,000 |
| 9 | Stephen Dare | 769,000 |
Reason got his big stack with 25 minutes remaining in Level 25 (8,000/16,000/2,000), which was the last of the night. Saul opened for 35,000 under the gun and Reason three-bet to 86,000 in middle position. The rest of the table folded, and Saul opted for a four-bet to 163,000. He then began a one-sided chat with Reason, a chat that could be construed by some as needling. Saul told Reason he looked tired and should give up on the hand. "Live until tomorrow," Saul said.
Reason didn't seem to pay any attention and eventually came out with a five bet to 351,000. "So you're telling me you are not going to fold," Saul said. "I might be priced in to see a flop." Saul thought about it for a solid minute while talking aloud before he added, "There is another option." A few moments later he moved all in, and Reason called off to create a monster 1.4-million pot, by far the largest of the tournament.
Reason: J♦J♣
Saul: A♥K♥
The dealer rolled out a flop of 10♠3♦2♥, and Saul recognized his poor position in the hand. "That's not a good flop," he told his rail, which consisted of Ralph and Aaron Massey. Indeed it wasn't, but the A♠ turn looked nice. Saul paired his ace and was suddenly a huge favorite in the hand. In fact, if he could avoid one of two jacks on the river he would take a massive chip lead into Day 3. Just when it seemed that was going to happen, the dealer burned and laid out the J♠! Reason hit his two-outer to stay alive and take over the chip lead.
Meanwhile, Day 1 chip leader Aryeh Cohen had a rocky Day 2 right out of the gate and was eliminated within two hours. It began in Level 15 (1,000/2,000/300) when Cohen got involved in a monster pot with Erek Gaines, who was a top-six stack at the time. Kurt Jewell opened the action with a raise to 4,200, Cohen responded with a three-bet to 12,500 from the hijack, the cutoff called, and Gaines four-bet to 30,000 from the small blind. Jewell folded, Cohen moved all in, the cutoff got out of the way, and Gaines, who had 109,400 total, called off his remaining stack.
Gaines: Q♣Q♥
Cohen: 10♠10♥
Cohen was crestfallen upon seeing the cards, and with good reason. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, he had just an 18.23% chance of winning the hand. That dropped to 8.38% on the 6♦5♣3♠ flop, and the 6♠ turn knocked it down even further to 4.55%. Cohen needed a ten on the river to eliminate Gaines and take down the monster pot, but it wasn't in the cards as the K♠ peeled off. Gaines vaulted to 240,000 while Cohen was left with approximately 45,000. He was eliminated less than ten minutes later.
Other players who failed to secure a payday included Micah Raskin, Chris Tryba, Will “The Thrill” Failla, Greg Raymer, Andy Frankenberger, Ronnie Bardah, John Dibella, Nancy Birnbaum, Victor Ramdin and the aforementioned Jewell.
With 64 players remaining, hand-for-hand play was initiated, though it didn’t take long for the money bubble to burst. In the first hand, Bob Ricciuti shipped all in for 90,500 from middle position and Eric Rando, who was the Day 1a chip leader, called from the button. Action was halted until all other tables finished their hands, and then a crowd surrounded Table 4 to watch the action. "Of course I would be the bubble boy," a disgusted Ricciuti stated upon seeing his QxQx was dominated by Rando’s KxKx. As has happened to so many men in the past, the ladies proved to be the end of Ricciuti as the board ran out an uninspiring 5♣10♣5♦J♦7♠.
From there, the in-the-money eliminations began to mount, including those of Aditya Prasetyo (58th-$3,051), Tim Reilly (56th-$3,051), Justin Pechie (53rd-$3,329) and Luke Vrabel (44th-$3,606), who was eliminated in Level 21 with the blinds at 4,000/8,000/1,000. Eliminations began when a preflop raising war resulted in Vrabel being all in preflop for 248,000 holding the J♦J♥ against the Q♦Q♥ of Lall Bharat, who had 3,000 more in chips. Vrabel, known as "Bdbeatslayer" online, was no doubt hoping to deliver a bad beat of his own, but the board ran out 10♣3♠5♣K♥K♣, sending him to the rail.
The eliminations kept coming over the next four levels as Shawn Suller (37th-$3,606), Fabio D’Agata (32nd-$4,438), John Yale (29th-$5,178), John Pito (27th-$5,918), Z Stein (26ht-$5,918), Buck Ramsay (25th-$5,918), Ylon Schwartz (22nd-$6,935) and Greg Folchetti (19th-$8,229) all fell short of the final table.
The third and final day of the WSOP Circuit Foxwoods Main Event will kick off at noon EST and the final 16 will play down to a winner. Who will take home the $194,178 first-place prize and earn a coveted spot in the National Championship? Follow the PokerNews Live Reporting page as we bring you all the latest and greatest poker action from the great state of Connecticut!
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us both Facebook and Google+!
PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
