No shortage of poker commentators over here in the Red section today.
Mike Sexton is here, currently nursing a short-stack of 11,500. And just two tables over is his World Poker Tour co-host, Vince Van Patten. Van Patten is sitting with an above-average stack of 74,000 at the moment. And across the way we see Gabe Kaplan, host of High Stakes Poker, who like Sexton is on the short side with just 13,000.
All three have been quiet thus far -- both literally and with their play -- although we imagine Sexton and Kaplan may try to make some noise soon.
Dennis Phillips was all in preflop for 9,225 with against the of a player in middle position.
The flop came , propelling Phillips into the lead. The on the turn changed nothing and neither did the on the river. Phillips got off to a quick start here on Day 2a with an early double up to 19,000.
Tournament Director Jack Effel's opening remarks were quick today, punctuated by him wishing the players luck and telling them he hopes to see them at the end of Day 2. That won't be a reality for more than a third of these players before us.
Regardless, the cards are in the air, and Day 2a is under way. We'll play four total levels today, so that means we'll open with the first half of Level 5 and conclude halfway through Level 9.
A total of 2,412 players survived Days 1a and 1c, and that has earned them a reserved seat in the room today. It's Friday, and it's Day 2a of the Main Event, the first of two moving days. Everyone has picked their way through the pitfalls and perils of the opening day, and now it's time to to some work and accumulate some chips and put oneself in a position for Day 3 and a deeper run thereafter.
Corwin Cole is the leader of our field today, and in fact, the leader of both Day 2s. He's one of only two players to crest the 200,000-chip mark, and he's the only one in the room today. Cole's stack of 228,200 puts him well out in front of his nearest challenger, but there are plenty of sharks circling the waters below him. Double Main Event champion Johnny Chan is in fourth place to start the day, and he's trying to work his 163,700 chips toward another deep run in the 2010 edition. The $50,000 Players' Champion, Michael Mizrachi also has chips -- 142,650 of them to be exact. Lauren Kling, Barny Boatman, Carter Phillips, and Hoyt Corkins are also right up there near the top of the pack as their Day 2 begins.
On the flip side, a few notables have some work to do in the early going. Noah Schwartz survived Day 1 with less than 3,000 chips, and Ted Forrest, Thomas Bichon, and Steve Brecher aren't doing much better. They'll be on death watch right off the bat, and we'd expect to see a lot of the short stacks flying out of here within a few minutes of the starting gun.
Speaking of play starting, we're just about twenty minutes away from our date with Day 2a. The players are stacking up outside in the corridors, and soon the double-door floodgates will open and nearly 2,500 players will come streaming into the two tournament rooms.
Don't wander off. We'll be back when the cards go flying.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
against the 
of a player in middle position.
, propelling Phillips into the lead. The 
on the turn changed nothing and neither did the 
on the river. Phillips got off to a quick start here on Day 2a with an early double up to 19,000.