The defending champion, Daniel Alaei, has just been eliminated by Mike Sexton. With his exit, it means we'll have a new champion this year.
The defending champion, Daniel Alaei, has just been eliminated by Mike Sexton. With his exit, it means we'll have a new champion this year.
Eric Baldwin raised and then Phil Hellmuth called, even after thinking for a moment and saying, "I'm either going to three-bet or fold." The big blind also called.
The flop came down 

and the big blind checked. Baldwin bet and Hellmuth called. The other player in the hand mucked.
The turn card was the
and Baldwin check-called a bet from Hellmuth. The river completed the board with the
. Baldwin check-called again.
Baldwin tabled the 


for trip tens with an ace and Hellmuth mucked with the parting words from Baldwin, "How could I ever have you beat?"
We're continually updating the chip counts. Here are the most recent ten updates:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
94,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
|
88,000
77,100
|
77,100 |
|
|
||
|
|
73,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
62,000
900
|
900 |
|
|
51,000
19,600
|
19,600 |
|
|
42,000
10,600
|
10,600 |
|
|
||
|
|
35,000
4,900
|
4,900 |
|
|
25,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
22,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
18,000
22,900
|
22,900 |
|
|
||
On the turn, the board read 


between Brock Parker, Jean-Robert Bellande and John Monnette. Parker was first up and fired a bet. Bellande called and then Monnette called.
The river card completed the board with the
and Parker bet out once more. Bellande called again and then Monnette also called, finishing off the action.
Parker tabled the 


for an ace-high club flush and a low of 8-7-6-4-A. Bellande showed the 


for the same low and a king-high club flush. Monnette tabled the 


for the best low. Parker wound up scooping the high with his flush and Monnette held the nut low.
Parker moved to 87,000, Monnette moved to 49,000 and Bellande slipped to 46,500.
Sam Farha, Todd Brunson and a third player all went to the flop,
. Brunson was already all in. Farha bet and was called, then bet the
turn and was called again. When the river fell
, Farha bet one last time. His opponent raised, then said, "nut-nut" after Farha called. Farha got one quarter with
; the other three-quarters went to his opponent with
. Brunson got nothing andi s out.
Annie Duke got crafty against Sam Farha, but Farha managed to avoid any pitfalls. Duke bet a flop of
, with Farha calling in position behind her. When the turn fell
and Duke bet again, Farha raised. Duke called to the
river and checked. Farha either didn't like that card, smelled a trap, or wasn't strong enough to bet. Whatever the reason, he checked behind and it was an excellent check. Duke showed down
, a full house. The pot propelled her stack to 38,000.
Here's a look at some of the field on Day 2 of action.
It's been a rough orbit for Phil Ivey. Two hands in a row, he raised pre-flop. Two hands in a row, the player on Ivey's left re-raised. Both times Ivey called and eventually wound up at a showdown. Both times Ivey's opponent had aces and managed to scoop the whole pot to drop Ivey's stack down to 29,000.
On a different table, Andy Bloch's short stack wound up in the middle. We didn't see the hand, but Bloch's seat is empty now. he's out.
Five members of Team PokerStars made it through Day 1 of this tough World Championship field, and all are poised for great things today. George "Tiny" Danzer, of PokerStars Team Pro Germany, is leading the remaining five with 114,000 chips. In fact, that count puts him near the top of the whole field. He'll have to contend with Team Pro Russia member Alexander Kravchenko, whose 58,000 chips share a table with Danzer.
Pat Pezzin, recently of Team Pro Canada, is putting in yet another strong showing, as he has done all WSOP. His current stack is 60,000, just a shade above the 52,500 average. Team Pro USA members Chad Brown and Barry Greenstein have more work to do. They have 34,000 and 40,000 chips, respectively, at a point when the limits have risen to 2,000 and 4,000. They're not critically short yet, but some bad luck could end their days in a hurry.