Day 2 of the Season XII WPT World Championship is set to begin in a few minutes, and the players are starting to file into the Signature Room at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The overall chip leader is Jason Koon, who enters the day with 252,800, and he is closely followed by Athanasios Polychronopoulos (223,100), Keith Lehr (220,900), Lee Markholt (217,700), and Day 1a chip leader Paul Volpe (215,300).
There are obviously several huge names still vying for a place on the WPT Champions Cup, including Tony Gregg, Scott Seiver, Shannon Shorr, Phil Hellmuth, and Greg Merson. Season XII WPT Player of the Year Leader Mukul Pahuja is still alive and well as is Shaun Suller, who can capture that title if he wins this event and Pahuja fails to cash.
The prize pool information will be released at some point during Day 2, and we will bring that to you as quick as possible.
The cards are about to be in the air, so be sure to stay tuned for all of your live updates straight from the tournament floor here on PokerNews!
Back in the poker boom of the mid 2000's, it wasn't surprising to see a poker player look across the table or room, see a poker superstar and run over and ask for a picture with that player... even if it was in the middle of a hand. That doesn't happen as much any longer but the other day, while bagging up one of the biggest stacks of the night, that's precisely what She Lok Wong did.
Wong was looking at Phil Hellmuth, looking much like a kid who just walked into a candy store. "That's Phil Hellmuth," he said, barely able to spit the words out of his mouth. That's how excited he was. Wong had his phone in hand. "You think he would let me take a picture with him?"
Of course he would. We got Phil's attention and he obliged and Wong looked at the picture on his phone over and over again while waiting for his chips to get counted down.
The next day, Wong would walk into the room. "What are you doing here," we asked him.
"I'm looking for poker players. Where's Daniel Negreanu. He's my favorite!"
We broke the bad news that Kid Poker would not be playing in this event and a look of disappointment came over Wong's face.
Taking all of this in mind, it would be easy to confuse Wong as a rank amateur at the tables. That would be a mistake for those playing against him. Wong took 2nd place at the 2013 Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship Event for $203,394. He also has three wins in the last year, including one that was good for $95,000.
"I am really nervous," Wong told us at the beginning of Day 1a. He overcame those nerves to bag 176,200. Regardless of how things turn out today for Wong, one thing will be certain. He'll be smiling and having fun. And trying to take everyone's chips.
We passed by the table to catch the tail end of a confrontation between Matt Glantz and Matthew Waxman, with the latter coming up on the short end of the stick.
The final board and there was a sizable pot already built, one that appeared to contain around 30,000 or so. Glantz held the button and a bet of 17,000 was pushed up near it, as Waxman had checked the river. After finishing up his nutritious breakfast of a banana (paging Harry Kaczka), Waxman made the call to see Glantz roll over the for a turned set.
"Ahh..." said Waxman when he saw the bad news. "If I had to guess a hand there, that's the one. Nice hand sir."
After two recent casualties took to Twitter for a quick postmortem of their respective bustout hands, we learned that Loni Harwood just chipped up in a major way by busting fellow pros Chris Moorman and Alex Rocha.
According to Harwood, she opened to 2,800 from under the gun and called when Alex Rocha three-bet jammed for his last 16,000. Harwood found herself dominated with against Rocha's , but "Luscious Lon" found the lady she needed on the turn.
Soon afterward, Harwood went toe-to-toe with the best player to ever grind the virtual felt, opening to 3,000 before engaging in a raising war with Moorman. He popped it to 6,800, Harwood four-bet to 19,000 and Moorman five-bet shipped for his last 75,000 or so with Harwood making the call to put him at risk.
Harwood:
Moorman:
The board ran out clean for Harwood's tens and with that she sent two players to the rail while building a big stack early on in the day.
Maurice Hawkins made a disciplined laydown on the river
With a flop of already on board Maurice Hawkins check-called a bet of 5,000 by Chris O'Rourke.
The turn card came and Hawkins sprung to life, firing out a 7,200 bet which was called without much hesitation by O'Rourke. When the came down on the river Hawkins led into O'Rourke once again (the bet looked to be about 8,000), but O'Rourke flicked a few of the baby blue T5000 chips forward for the raise.
Hawkins could only shake his head and flash as he folded, asking "I was good until the river?" as he did so.
"Maybe..." replied O'Rourke, planting the seed of doubt in Hawkins mind while dragging the pot in.
Allen Kessler paid off a river bet, but he still has plenty of chips and can't complain (yeah right)
On the last hand before the recent break we saw Allen Kessler paying off a big bet on the river, and a scan of the board showed that his had been bested by Hans Winzeler's .
The board read by the river, with Winzeler's straight trumping the Chainsaw's top two, and although we missed the action ourselves, Winzeler was kind enough to run us through the play by play.
According to Winzeler, Nick Schulman opened to 2,500 before the flop and found four flatters, including Kessler in the big blind. On the flop Schulman c-bet and both Winzeler and Kessler came along to see the turn (which completed Winzler's straight draw while giving Kessler top two pair).
On fourth street Kessler checked to Shulman, who did the same, prompting Winzeler to bet 5,000. Only Kessler called that wager and on the river he paid off a 28,000 value bet.
Ronit Chamani moved her last 18,400 into the middle with the open-shove, and Jeff Gross slid a tower of chips forward for the isolation three-bet.
That move did its job and the table folded dutifully around, leaving Chamani to table her while peering over to see what she was up against. Gross held the and was far out in front (even further than the cards would suggest, as another player at the table piped up to mention he folded ace-king).
Flop:
Chamani found one of the two aces still in the deck, and she was in great shape to double through, but the turn () and river () four-flushed the board to give Gross the winner.
The WPT World Championship is underway at Borgata, and Rich is on hand to talk with Jared Jaffee, a Season XII WPT Champion. Rich and Donnie also discuss Vicky Coren Mitchell's historic win at EPT Sanremo, making her the first ever two-time European Poker Tour champion. Don't forget to tune in for the DraftKings Fantasy Minute, where the crew offers information on an exclusive bonus code.
Yesterday we met Harry Kaczka and found out that he prefers the name "Harry Banana," - with his online handle "ugotabanana" too good to abandon even in the wake of Black Friday.
Mr. Banana is still contending for the WPT World Championship here today, chipping up a bit after a recent clash with Andy Frankenberger.
Kaczka opened to 3,300 from under the gun and an unidentified player flatted in middle position, with Frankenberger doing the same in defense of his big blind. The flop rained down and all three players checked, but after Frankenberger tapped the table on the turn, Harry Banana took the pot down with a 6,300 wager. Both players still have some work to do though if they hope to run their stacks back up to the average and beyond.
The PokerNews MyStack App is available for players here in the Season XII WPT World Championship, allowing players to directly update their chip count on the PokerNews Live Reporting page for their friends and family to see.
You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.
Be forewarned, however, any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and there was a sizable pot already built, one that appeared to contain around 30,000 or so. Glantz held the button and a bet of 17,000 was pushed up near it, as Waxman had checked the river. After finishing up his nutritious breakfast of a banana (
for a turned set.
against Rocha's 
, but "Luscious Lon" found the lady she needed on the turn.
already on board Maurice Hawkins check-called a bet of 5,000 by Chris O'Rourke.
and Hawkins sprung to life, firing out a 7,200 bet which was called without much hesitation by O'Rourke. When the 
came down on the river Hawkins led into O'Rourke once again (the bet looked to be about 8,000), but O'Rourke flicked a few of the baby blue T5000 chips forward for the raise.
.
by the river, with Winzeler's straight trumping the Chainsaw's top two, and although we missed the action ourselves, Winzeler was kind enough to run us through the play by play.
while peering over to see what she was up against. Gross held the 
and was far out in front (even further than the cards would suggest, as another player at the table piped up to mention he folded ace-king).
) and river (
turn, Harry Banana took the pot down with a 6,300 wager. Both players still have some work to do though if they hope to run their stacks back up to the average and beyond.
