For the majority of the day, there hasn't been much talk about the High Roller Champion, Mike McDonald. McDonald came into Day 2 with more than double the average chips but has not been very active. He has held steady around the four million chip mark for most of the day but with only two levels of play left, McDonald has started to push the action a bit.
There was around 300,000 in the pot preflop with the board reading , and McDonald was heads-up with his opponent who checked to him. McDonald bet 175,000 and his opponent called.
The turn was a and again his opponent checked. This time McDonald bet a much larger amount of 800,000 but again his opponent called.
The river was another deuce , and his opponent checked for the third time. McDonald fired 1,800,000 which finally forced his opponent to fold. McDonald will look to keep up the aggressive action for the remainder of the day in order to head into Day 3 with a reasonable chip stack.
Michel-Claude Baroud has recently taken over the chip lead by staying aggressive and winning multiple pots. There are many players over ten million chips now, and a few that are fairly close to Baroud. Let's have a look:
Action folded around to Dzmitry Urbanovich in the small blind and he moved all in, already short-stacked, and Santiago Plante called from the big blind.
Plante tabled queen-jack while Urbanovich held queen-eight.
Plante flopped top two pair, and Urbanovich was unable to catch up, sending the partypoker pro to the rail towards the end of Day 2.
On a board reading , with about a million in chips in the middle, Griffin Benger checked from the big blind.
Vojtech Ruzicka was on the button and bet 510,000. Benger went deep into the tank before putting in a check-raise to 1,800,000.
Ruzicka, the partypoker MILLION Nottingham High Roller Champion, had a pained look on his face. He spent about a minute, clearly weighing his options in his mind. Eventually, he called.
Benger tabled for a pair of kings, and Ruzicka tabled for the king-high flush.
Kevin Schulz raised to 180,000 and the player in the hijack called. Jimmy Lee was in the small blind and three-bet to 530,000. Schulz thought for a moment and put in a four-bet to 1,800,000. The hijack quickly got out of the way, and the action was back on Lee. He thought for a minute before looking back at his cards, and eventually called.
The dealer fanned a flop reading and Lee promptly checked. Schulz fired out a bet of 1,300,000. Lee thought for a moment and check-raised all in for 4,570,000. Schulz called.
Lee tabled while Schulz showed for a classic cooler among the big stacks at the table. Another player at the table said, "Again? Same aces for the same player", clearly indicating that Lee got them in a similar spot earlier.
The turn was the and the river was the , giving Lee a massive double up to propel him towards the top of the counts.
Ever since Ema Zajmovic was moved to table 51, just before the dinner break, she has been on a mission to get all the chips. After busting several smaller stacks throughout the day she is now starting to feast on the larger stacks.
Zajmovic was three handed on the flop that read with around 800,000 in the middle already. The big blind checked and the initial raiser in middle position bet 425,000. Both Zajmovic and the big blind called.
The turn was a fourth heart and the action was checked to Zajmovic. She laid out a bet of 1,400,000 causing both of her opponents to lay their hands down.
Zajmovic now sits among the chip leaders with over 15 million chips. Can you say...mission accomplished?!
Action folded around to Maria Ho on the button and she moved all in for 850,000 on the button. Viet Van Vo was sitting with a mountain of chips in front of him and decided to call.
Vo:
Ho:
Ho was ahead, but not by much. The flop came , putting Vo in the lead with top two pair, but Ho also flopped an open-ended straight draw.
The turn was the and the river was the , ending Ho's run in this event just before the end of the day.
, and McDonald was heads-up with his opponent who checked to him. McDonald bet 175,000 and his opponent called.
and again his opponent checked. This time McDonald bet a much larger amount of 800,000 but again his opponent called.
, and his opponent checked for the third time. McDonald fired 1,800,000 which finally forced his opponent to fold. McDonald will look to keep up the aggressive action for the remainder of the day in order to head into Day 3 with a reasonable chip stack.
, with about a million in chips in the middle, Griffin Benger checked from the big blind. 
for a pair of kings, and Ruzicka tabled 
for the king-high flush.
, but to her disappointment she was up against Michael Smith's 
.
, and the river was the 
for a classic cooler among the big stacks at the table. Another player at the table said, "Again? Same aces for the same player", clearly indicating that Lee got them in a similar spot earlier. 
, giving Lee a massive double up to propel him towards the top of the counts.
and the action was checked to Zajmovic. She laid out a bet of 1,400,000 causing both of her opponents to lay their hands down.
, putting Vo in the lead with top two pair, but Ho also flopped an open-ended straight draw. 
and the river was the 
, ending Ho's run in this event just before the end of the day.
