Since we last checked in with Huy Nguyen, the 2011 WSOPC Choctaw Main Event Champion added about 100,000 to his stack. Unfortunately, we caught him in a rare losing hand according to his tablemates.
Nguyen raised from middle position and was called by both blinds, landing an flop. It was checked to Nguyen and he bet 5,100, chasing away one of his opponents. The hit the turn and the player in the big blind check-called 12,200 from Nguyen to see the river. Another check from the big blind led to a Nguyen bet of 18,800.
His opponent called and Nguyen flashed for a missed flush draw. His opponent took it down with , but Nguyen is still going strong with about 200,000.
We've lost another notable, the WSOPC Champion from January's trip to Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
Kevin Calenzo was getting short on chips when he called a raise to 4,200 from his big blind. The dealer spread out , and Calenzo put the rest of his ~20,000 chips into the pot. His opponent quickly called, and the cards were on their backs.
Showdown
Calenzo:
Opponent:
They had an open-ended straight flush between them, but Calenzo needed to fill in his straight draw or find some runners to stay alive. The turn was a blank, though, and so was the river, and that's the end of the line for Calenzo.
Danny Suied had built up his stack earlier to the 170,000 range before it went back down to below 100,000.
We picked him up in a pot where action was on Suied following an opponent's three-bet shove for 21,800. Suied, having committed 5,100 already, opted to call and tabled . He slightly trailed his opponent's , but caught up when the board ran out .
Brian "Stinger 88" Hastings was one of the couple dozen players to wait until the start of Day 2 to buy-in to this Main Event. With a starting stack of 20bb, most of those latecomers have been forced to the exits early. Hastings, though, is going strong. Every time we check on him, his chip count goes up, and this most recent update sees that he's sextupled his starting stack to about 120,000 now.
We'd like to catch John Riordan in a pot, but our timing so far has been unfortunately off. Luckily for us, the young Floridian has been more than willing to tell us how his day has gone.
The defending champ bagged up 57,000 chips yesterday afternoon, but his early Day 2 trend was very much downward. In fat, he was set all the way back to 15,100 at one point before the heater kicked in. Riordan got himself all in with pocket nines against both pocket queens and ace-queen in a 140,000-chip pot. As he tells it, it was "all skill" when he managed to get there and triple up.
From that point on, it's been one knockout after another for Riordan, and he's picked off about a half-dozen players, adding their chips to his ever-growing stack. That stack sits at about 440,000 chips now, and if there was any doubt before, there's none now. He is the chip leader. By a big margin.
After an early-position player opened to 5,300, Danny Suied three-bet to 14,300 on the button. The small blind tanked for a bit before giving it up, as did the big blind. The raiser four-bet jammed for 50,300 and was met with a quick call from Suied with .
Unfortunately for Suied, he was unable to hold up against when the board ran out .
John Riordan is closing in on 600,000 just prior to the second break of the day.
We caught his latest hand on the river as the board read . The pot had what looked to be about 55,000 in the middle and Riordan's opponent was all in for roughly 73,000. After a good minute in the tank, Riordan called.
His opponent immediately began to push his stack Riordan's way as last year's champ tabled . His opponent flashed before making his exit.
John Riordan's table was just broken, and there was a bit of a problem. He's got heaps of chips.
Rather than summoning a wheelbarrow to move his 8 or 10 racks, the staff brought a few new T25,000 chips in and colored off 200,000 of his stack. The new chips are yellow, and T.D. Bill Bruce made sure to indicate the new chips several times so that Riordan's table was aware of the change.
Mr. Riordan is the only one with yellow chips in play for now, so if we seem them appear elsewhere, we'll know whence they came.
We've put six levels in the books, and that's the end of the 40-minute rounds. The players are off for another ten-minute break, and the black T100 chips are being colored up and raced off.
When the players return, the levels switch to 60 minutes, and we've got another eight of those to play before putting a bow on Day 2.
flop. It was checked to Nguyen and he bet 5,100, chasing away one of his opponents. The 
hit the turn and the player in the big blind check-called 12,200 from Nguyen to see the 
river. Another check from the big blind led to a Nguyen bet of 18,800.
for a missed flush draw. His opponent took it down with 
, but Nguyen is still going strong with about 200,000.
, and Calenzo put the rest of his ~20,000 chips into the pot. His opponent quickly called, and the cards were on their backs.
was a blank, though, and so was the 
, but caught up when the board ran out 
.
.
. His opponent flashed 
before making his exit.
