The action was capped four ways before the first draw, Eli Elezra, Erik Sagstrom, Nikolay Evdakov, and Phil Ivey putting in five small bets apiece. Elezra and Ivey drew two while Sagstrom and Evdakov each drew one. Elezra checked, Sagstrom bet and everyone called. All four players took one card each on the second draw and the action was checked around.
Elezra, Sagstrom, and Ivey drew one on the final drew while Evdakov rapped pat. Elezra checked, Sagstrom bet, Evdakov called, Ivey folded and Elezra raised. Sagstrom made it three bets, a move that folded Evdakov but earned a call from Elezra. Sagstrom rolled over a wheel, 7-5-4-3-2 and took down the massive pot. He's the new chip leader with 635,000.
Michael Binger is busto after losing the last of his short stack to Erik Seidel in a Stud 8/b hand. Binger calmly paid his favorite masseuse and took his leave. Maybe he should have taken his brother Nick's idea. Both won satellites to this event on Thursday, but Nick kept his lammers to cover most of his events for the rest of the Series.
Life is good for Mikael Thuritz right now. He made a 7-6-4-3-2 against Michael Watson after the first draw. Watson made an 8-6. With Watson already all in, both stood pat through the second and third draws. All that was left was to show the cards and for Watson to leave the tournament area.
Phil Hellmuth might want to ring up his life coach and ask for a new mantra.
Hellmuth's bustout-in-two-acts began in a hand against Andy Bloch. Hellmuth held and Bloch two red sevens. There were two hearts on the flop, another on the turn and a fourth on the river, Bloch making a flush to claim the pot.
"Of course, it's Andy f**kin' Bloch. Of course he's going to beat me with sevens," Hellmuth exclaimed, his blood pressure rising.
On the next hand, Hellmuth and Chris Ferguson each put three bets in on the flop. When the hit the turn, Hellmuth check-called all-in, turning up for second pair. Ferguson, however, had turned top pair with and it held up on the river, which fell the , eliminating Hellmuth.
The pace of eliminations has picked up as we approach the end of the night, with many opting to gamble now rather than return tomorrow to play a short stack. Isaac Haxton got his chips in pre-flop with but ran into the pocket tens of Scott Clements. Clements' tens held and his stack increased to 420,000 on a board of .
With 13,500 remaining in his stack, Amnon Filippi check-called Jeff Lisandro's 12,000 bet on a flop, and check-called all-in when the hit the turn. Although Filippi had the best hand on the flop with , Lisandro turned a queen-high straight with and sent Filippi to the rail in the closing minutes of Day 2.
Yesterday's Day 1 of Event #2 - The $50,000 Player's Championship, produced only 6 eliminations. Things moved with a bit more pace today on Day 2. The field of 110 survivors was cut in half to 54 by the end of the night.
In a tournament like this, almost everyone that is eliminated is a notable name. But a smattering of the departed includes Chad Brown, Tony G, Hoyt Corkins, Patrik Antonius, Ashton Griffin, Brian Hastings, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow and Shawn Buchanan.
At the end of the night our survey of the remaining seven tables revealed Kirk Morrison as the chip leader with 741,000 chips. He's followed by The Best Player Never To Win a Bracelet (tm), Andy Bloch, with 716,500 and Nick Schulman, who bagged 683,000.
There are still three whole days to go in this tournament, however. Anything can happen between now and the end of Tuesday's final table. Re-join us at 3pm tomorrow when the chip bags are brought back out and the remaining 54 players resume their journey towards inscription on the Chip Reese trophy and the receipt of one of the first gold bracelets of the 2010 World Series of Poker.
![[user25067]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Bloch two red sevens. There were two hearts on the flop, another on the turn and a fourth on the river, Bloch making a flush to claim the pot.
flop. When the 
hit the turn, Hellmuth check-called all-in, turning up 
for second pair. Ferguson, however, had turned top pair with 
and it held up on the river, which fell the 
, eliminating Hellmuth.
but ran into the pocket tens of Scott Clements. Clements' tens held and his stack increased to 420,000 on a board of 
.
flop, and check-called all-in when the 
hit the turn. Although Filippi had the best hand on the flop with 
, Lisandro turned a queen-high straight with 
and sent Filippi to the rail in the closing minutes of Day 2.
