The official numbers are in. With Jason Mercier late arrival at the start of Day 2, the total number of players for this year's National Championship in 127, which has created a prize pool of $1,270,000. That will distributed to the top 16 players, with $355,599 set aside for first.
After a preflop raising war, David Nicholson was all in holding against the of 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia. The queens held up, and Nicholson hit the rail.
After Joe Tehan opened for 3,200 from early position, Ari Engel grabbed the majority of his chips and dropped them in the pot. Technically it was a three-bet to 18,000, but given he only left 5,000 back it was essentially a statement that he was all in. The blinds folded and Tehan got a count before four-betting, which prompted Engel to call off.
Engel:
Tehan:
Engel, who started the day with a big stack on to lose almost all of it, is now on the comeback trail as his hand held up after the board ran out .
Meanwhile, Kevin "1SickDisease" Eyster, who was #62 of 62 on at-large qualifiers, was eliminated in unknown action one table over.
Dung Nguyen open-shoved for 17,400 from early position, and Kevin Eyster re-shoved for around 30,000 in the small blind.
Nguyen:
Eyster:
The flop didn't change much, but the on the turn put Nguyen into a bad spot. He was now drawing to just four outs, but low and behold the spiked on the river, and Nguyen made a pair of queens.
He doubled to 36,000 chips, while Eyster now only has 13,000.
Kyle Julius fired out 24,200 into a pot of around 35,000 on a board of . Chris Parsons tanked for a bit before calling, prompting Julius to rip over for a flopped set of deuces.
Parsons showed for a pair of kings, then mucked his hand.
Ari Engel has just doubled up another opponent, this time it was Jonathan Tamayo. Tamayo was all in and at risk with agains the of Engel, and the board came out .
Tamayo doubled to 55,000 chips, while Engel was left with just 8,000.
Joseph McKeehen opened to 2,500 on the button, and Jason Mercier, who slipped all the way down to 17,000 chips, moved all in from the small blind. The big blind tank-folded, and McKeehan snap-called.
McKeehen:
Mercier:
The flop was certainly an interesting one: . McKeehan had flopped a set of fours, but Mercier could still make the best hand with a six, seven, or club. The would even give him an unbeatable straight flush.
The on the turn was a brick, bringing Mercier one step closer to elimination, but the completed the board, giving him a seven-high straight. He doubled to 35,000 chips, while McKeehan is down to 21,000.
At-lage qualifier Trevor Deeter, who finished second on the National Leader Board with 225 points, opened for 2,600 from middle position only to have fellow at-large qualifier Josh Reichard, who was 38th on the list with 147.5 points, three-bet to 5,400 from the button. The blinds folded, Deeter moved all in for roughly 35,000 and Reichard made the call.
Reichard:
Deeter:
It was a classic flip, and all Deeter needed to do in order to survive was hold. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't do it for long as the flop paired Reichard's queen. The turn gave Reichard two pair, meaning Deeter needed a jack on the river to survive. The dealer burned one last time and out out the .
"Good luck, guys," Deeter said before taking his leave.
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against the 
.
flop didn't change much, but the 
on the turn put Nguyen into a bad spot. He was now drawing to just four outs, but low and behold the 
. Chris Parsons tanked for a bit before calling, prompting Julius to rip over 
for a flopped set of deuces.
for a pair of kings, then mucked his hand.
of Engel, and the board came out 
on the turn was a brick, bringing Mercier one step closer to elimination, but the 
flop paired Reichard's queen. The 
