WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Day 2: Madsen Last Shooting Star to Fall; Sung Leads Final 36

Jeff Madsen

On Wednesday, the Season XII World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star continued as the remaining 297 players of a 718-entry field returned to the Bay 101 in San Jose for 11 more levels of play. By the end of the night, the field was reduced to the final 36 with Steve Sung and his stack of 1.812 million leading the way.

Additionally, no more “Shooting Stars” remain in the tournament as Jeff Madsen, who was one of 23 to start the day, became the last to fall in 45th place. Historically, a Shooting Star, who has a $2,500 bounty on their head, has made it all the way to the final table, but that’s not going to happen in this year's record-breaking field.

Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks heading into Day 3:

PlacePlayerCount
1Steve Sung1,812,000
2Bryce Yockey1,919,000
3Larry Odegard1,051,000
4Mukul Pahuja908,000
5Brian Park884,000
6Nicky Nikan861,000
7Lucas Ke858,000
8Justin Young854,000
9David Randall851,000
10Candace Collins842,000

According to the WPT Live Blog, action recommenced in Level 11 (600/1,200/200) and it didn’t take long for the eliminations to mount. Among the first to go was WPT Season IX Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger, who got his last 24,000 all in holding the A10 and was racing against Thomas Lutz’s 99. Unfortunately for Frankenberger, who recently wrote an op-ed for PokerNews regarding the shot clock debate, the board ran out a dry QQ645 and he was eliminated from the tournament.

With just 72 players slated to get paid, dozens of players hit the rail empty handed including Giorgio Medici, Faraz Jaka, David “Doc” Sands, Dominik Nitsche, Fabrice Soulier, Eugene Katchalov, Erik Seidel, Joe Serock, Jonathan Duhamel, Jason Mercier, Jeff Gross, Antonio Esfandiari, Brad Booth, Phil Laak, Scott Seiver, Vanessa Selbst, and Justin Zaki.

Zaki actually finished as the bubble boy in 73rd place in Level 18 (3,000/6,000/1,000).

From there, Kyle Julius (70th - $14,430), Jason Koon (65th - $14,430), David Chiu (63rd - $16,410), Joe Hachem (54t - $18,400), Andrew Lichtenberger (52nd - $18,400), Darren Elias (47th - $18,400), and Madsen (45th - $20,890) all hit the rail.

Madsen fell in a particularly brutal hand in Level 20 (5,000/10,000/1,000). It began when Brandon Crawford opened for 23,000 under the gun and Madsen moved all in for 141,000 from middle position. Action folded back to Crawford, he made the call, and the two turned over the same hand.

Madsen: KQ
Crawford: KQ

Madsen held two hearts, but it’d be Crawford who’d pick up a runner-runner flush draw on the A102 flop. The 8 turn kept Crawford’s freeroll alive, and then the 3 river completed it. The railbirds erupted in disbelief and Crawford was shipped the last $2,500 bounty and accompanying autographed t-shirt. Crawford would go on to finish in 39th place for $20,890.

By the end of the night, Ryan Riess (43rd - $20,890), William Davis (41st - $20,890), Tai Tran (40th - $20,890), Bruce Kramer (38th - $20,890), and Kelsey Hendriks (37th - $20,890) all made their way to the payout desk.

While dozens fell, plenty of notables punched their ticket to Day 3 including Tai Nguyen (766,000), Dylan Wilkerson (723,000), David Paredes (667,000), Noah Vaillancourt (537,000), Nam Le (503,000), Keven Stammen (482,000), Isaac Baron (469,000), Ben Hamnett (336,000), and Jonathan Little (219,000).

Day 3, which will begin six-handed, will kick off at 12 p.m. PT on Thursday and play down to a final table of six. PokerNews will bring you a full recap of the action upon completion of play.

*Photos and data courtesy of the WPT Live Blog.

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Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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