Stud 8/b
We arrived at Erik Seidel's table and found him involved in a hand with Steve Diano. Their boards read:
Seidel: {X}{X}/
Diano: {X}{X}/
Seidel bet on sixth street and Diano made the call. Both checked on seventh street and Seidel tabled 
for a pair of queens. Diano spent a good ten seconds staring at his own cards, before tossing them into the muck.
Seidel is up to 6,100.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
The crush of players that late registered and started playing at the beginning of Level 2 have caused some logistical hurdles for tournament staff here. Six tables are set up in the White Section of the Pavilion Room. We spotted Victor Ramdin, Greg Pappas, Brandon Cantu, CK Hua, Oleg Shamardin, Gavin Smith and Sam Grizzle over there.
2005 Main Event winner Joe Hachem was also wandering around the White Section, looking for his starting table -- which is in the back of the OrangeSection in the Amazon Room. It took Hachem several minutes to make it over there and take his seat.
Level: 2
Blinds: 50/75
Ante:
Razz:
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy: {X}{X}/
/{X}
Opponent: {X}{X}/
/{X}
Josephy completed on third street, then bet fourth street and fifth street. His opponent called until sixth, when Josephy's board paired. Josephy's opponent check-called bets on sixth and seventh street and was surprised to hear Josephy announce, "nine."
"Ninety-six,", said Jospehy's opponent.
"Oh wait, I misread my hand. I have a seven," replied Josephy. He tabled down cards of 
for a 7-6-5-4-2 low to win the pot, upping his stack to 4,800.
Razz:
Opponent 1: (X)(X) / 
FOLD
Opponent 2: (X)(X) / 
FOLD
Van Alstyne: (X)(X) / 
One player limped into a razz pot with a 9 at James Van Alstyne's before a 5 completed the bet. Van Alstyne had brought it in with a king and called. The original limper also called.
On fourth street, the player who had completed had the low board and bet. Only Van Alstyne called. Van Alstyne caught a baby to his opponents bad one on fifth. His opponent checked, prompting Van Alstyne to bet.
"I can't believe you stayed with a king," the player said. Then he mucked his hand.
The structure for this event calls for a button ante for the stud games in Level 1, due to the fact that the limits are so small. However, it was first announced that the blinds should continue posting in the Stud games (which was clearly wrong). Eventually it was sorted out that the button should ante 25. This is better but also seems to be wrong. Most likely the button was intended to ante 75 chips, but now that the decision has been made to ante 25 they're sticking with it.
Overall the decision won't have much impact on the tournament because once Level 2 starts, every player will ante during the stud rounds. But Daniel Negreanu recently posted to Twitter, "That essentially breaks down to $50-$100 limit with a $3 ante. If you play anything but the nuts it's pure spewage."
In an 800-player field, it is inevitable that a few players will wind up with tougher table draws than others. None of the tables we've seen so far are "Tables of Death", but a few are pro-heavy. In Orange, mixed-games specialist Marsha Waggoner is seated with Cliff Josephy and ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad. Over in Blue, Michael Craig, Al Barbieri and Daniel Negreanu all drew the same table at the back of the room. In the front of the room are a couple of bracelet winners and a November Niner: David Sklansky, Katja Thater and Ylon Schwartz.
The bulk of the field (for now) is in the Blue Section of the Amazon Room. Some players are late to their seats but here's who we've seen:
Chip Jett
Michael Craig
Al Barbieri
Daniel Negreanu
Scott Clements
Perry Friedman
Lacey Jones
George Lind III
Katja Thater
David Sklanksy
...and more. Check out the chip counts page for a complete breakdown of who we've noticed so far.
After our initial walk through the orange section, the following players have been spotted.
Alex Kravchenko
Cliff Josephy
Norman Chad
Marsha Waggoner
Paul Wasicka
Mel Judah
Tom Koral
Adam Geyer
Anthony Yeh
Shannon Elizabeth
Marc Hodge
Fabrice Soulier
