Chips are flying around the room here in the early going, and Faraz Jaka appears to be one of the big beneficiaries. We didn't see the hand that chipped him all the way up to 260,000, but we notice that Ari Engel and his ~120,000 chips are now conspicuously absent from the table.
As we were counting him down, Jaka dropped a little chunk of that back. Guang Pu Lu open-shoved for 15,600 with , and Jaka's couldn't win the flip. He's back down to about 245,000 now, still good enough for the chip lead as far as we can tell.
Picking up the action on a board with what looked to be a little more than 30,00 in the pot, Adam "Roothlus" Levy bet 18,000. One opponent called while John Racener folded.
Levy tabled for a set, getting his opponent to shake his head and muck.
PokerStars Team Pro Vanessa Selbst and [Removed:163] saw a flop of . Sheikh checked, Selbst fired 2,600, and Sheikh called. Both players checked after the turned.
The river was the , and Sheikh checked a third time. Selbst thought for nearly a minute before tossing out 7,700, sending Sheikh deep into the tank. He grabbed two blue $10,000 chips and began toying with them, but then returned them to his stack. After a solid five minutes, Sheikh decided to make the call, but mucked when Selbst tabled for Broadway.
Professional golfer Sergio Garcia survived to make this Day 2, but he only had about 12,000 chips in his bag to start. So, when we saw him wander over to Juan Manuel Pastor and strike up a minutes-long conversation, we assumed the worst. Our Spanish isn't good enough to distinguish a bad beat story from a good one, so when Garcia finished his story with, "Vamos, Pastor!", and walked away, we followed along.
It must have been a good story. Garcia does indeed still have chips, and his count of 81,000 puts him above average and back in the match.
Vanessa Selbst was involved in yet another big hand just moments ago. With the board reading , the action checked to her in the hijack seat and she bet 3,300. Matt Waxman called from the small blind, and Jesus Sanchez check-raised to 9,100 from the big blind. Selbst tank-called, and Waxman mucked.
The river was the , and Sanchez led for 17,500.
"Why so much?" Selbst asked him.
Sanchez removed his head phones. "What?"
"Why so much?"
He didn't understand the question.
"¿Por qué tanto?" Selbst asked in Spanish.
He shrugged, then sat back in his seat. Selbst tanked for a little longer, then eventually mucked her hand.
It's not unexpected, but it's worth mentioning. We're just a few minutes from the end of the first level, and the number on the board has already ticked down to 473 players left. That means we've already lost more than 70 of our Day 2 players, and the tables are breaking as fast as the staff can break them.
When we walked up to the table, Andrey Zaichenko had 6,700 chips out in front of him in middle position (a four-bet?), and the gentleman in the big blind had moved all in for 45,200 total. Zaichenko took a good soak in the tank, then made the call for a bit more than half his stack.
Zaichenko:
Opponent:
Any fool knows you always bet on red. The flop came out , and Mr. Opponent shot out of his chair and pounded a fist on the felt in frustration. He was standing behind his chair, shaking his head and looking pretty grumpy as the blank turned.
River:
Mr. Opponent clutched his hands over his mouth in silent disbelief, and now it was Zaichenko with a pound of the fist. He was less than thrilled about the re-suck, and paying off his debt drops him back around 40,000.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Jaka's 
couldn't win the flip. He's back down to about 245,000 now, still good enough for the chip lead as far as we can tell.
board with what looked to be a little more than 30,00 in the pot, Adam "Roothlus" Levy bet 18,000. One opponent called while John Racener folded.
for a set, getting his opponent to shake his head and muck.
. Sheikh checked, Selbst fired 2,600, and Sheikh called. Both players checked after the 
turned.
, and Sheikh checked a third time. Selbst thought for nearly a minute before tossing out 7,700, sending Sheikh deep into the tank. He grabbed two blue $10,000 chips and began toying with them, but then returned them to his stack. After a solid five minutes, Sheikh decided to make the call, but mucked when Selbst tabled 
for Broadway.
.
