Event #45: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Day 2 Completed
Event #45: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Day 2 Completed
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
1,247,000 | |
![]() |
1,133,000
197,000
|
197,000 |
![]() |
723,000 | |
![]() |
663,000 | |
|
||
|
650,000 | |
![]() |
528,000 | |
|
512,000 | |
![]() |
509,000 | |
![]() |
413,000 | |
|
308,000 | |
![]() |
266,000 | |
|
252,000 | |
![]() |
226,000 | |
![]() |
224,000 | |
|
224,000 | |
![]() |
215,000 | |
![]() |
169,000 | |
|
||
![]() |
150,000 | |
![]() |
141,000 | |
![]() |
106,000 | |
![]() |
91,000
819,000
|
819,000 |
After ten more grueling levels of competition, Day 2 of Event # 45: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em has come to a close with just 21 players surviving to make the final day. The day was dominated by two professionals with impressive resumes, Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari, making deep runs in search of WSOP gold. The Poker Brat played a patient and calculated game for hours, grinding a short stack until he won a large pot with pocket aces and doubled through. From there, Hellmuth went on a tear and built a formidable stack, and he appeared to be on the brink of his third final table of the series. Unfortunately for him, and poker fans around the world, Hellmuth went card dead at the wrong time an ultimately busted out in 28th place.
With the exit of the 11-time bracelet winner, Antonio Esfandiari was left as our headliner, and “The Magician” did not disappoint, steadily climbing the leaderboard and never putting himself at serious risk. Esfandiari will enter the final day of play in 4th place with a stack of 663,000 chips, looking to cement his reputation as one of the best players in the world today.
During the day, we watched notables fall by the wayside, including Lee Childs (130th), Joe Tehan (103rd) and Andrew Lichtenberger (52nd). Amateurs also managed to capture our attention, including one of the first deaf players in WSOP history, Radu Junc. After maneuvering his way through the nearly 3,000 player field, Junc’s dream run was ended at the hands of a two-outer on the river.
After the killing fields of Day 1, and moving day today, just 21 players have survived to claim a seat on tomorrow’s third day of play. Jonathan Driscoll of Quebec, Canada, who happens to share a house in Vegas with defending Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel, is our chip leader entering the day after building a massive stack of 1,247,000. He will be trailed closely by Kenneth Griffin (1,133,000), an amateur who earned his first WSOP cash in this event.
Check back with PokerNews tomorrow at 2:30 PST to follow the action as Esfandiari tries to outduel the amateurs and capture his second WSOP bracelet.
Jonathan Driscoll made a late surge at the end of the night to become our chip leader heading into day 3. Driscoll raised to 20,000 and George Kapalas re-raised to 40,000. Driscoll then made it 105,000 to go and Kapalas shoved all in for around 400,000. Driscoll (who had Kapalas covered) snap-called and tabled his . Kapalas'
was going to need a lot of help to stay alive.
The board ran out blanks and Kapalas was sent to the rail while Driscoll stacked up well over a million chips. A few hands before play ended for the night.
With 10 minutes remaining on the clock it has been announced that each table will play four more hands and then bag and tag for the night.
In what would be Phil Hellmuth's last hand, Hellmuth limped from early position and Jonathan Driscoll checked his option from the big.
The flop came and Hellmuth checked. Driscoll led out for 10,000 and Hellmuth raised to 20,000. Driscoll promptly re-raised to 30,000 and Hellmuth decided to ship his entire stack in. Driscoll called.
Hellmuth:
Driscoll:
The turn and
river bricked for Hellmuth and he immediately shot up out of his seat and exited the Amazon Room, leaving his stuff behind.
Hellmuth eventually came back to shake Driscoll's hand. However, during the handshake, Hellmuth couldn't resist the urge to berate Driscoll's play. Driscoll replied by asking Hellmuth why he would come back just to berate him.
"It's not you, I'm just steaming right now. I just played perfect for two straight days and lost it all..."
Hellmuth eventually composed himself and left. Driscoll is up to 640,000.
Radu Junc, one of the few deaf players to ever play in a WSOP event has been eliminated from the tournament in what can only be called an "ugly" hand.
After a flop of , Junc ended up all in against Ken Griffin for a very large pot. Junc's
was way ahead of Griffin's
. The turn brought an insignificant
but then the river card brought the devastating
giving Griffin trip sixes and the win.
Junc and his rail all were shocked at the unfortunate turn of events and he sadly headed to the payout table but his deep run in this event is still very impressive and we're sure to see more great things from him in the future.
After the hand, Griffin's stack was bumped to one of our chipleaders with around 603,000.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
603,000
238,000
|
238,000 |
|
Busted |
We caught up with the action on a flop. Phil Hellmuth checked from the big and the player in the cutoff bet 30,000. Hellmuth tanked, which accounted for about two minutes of the hand, but then announced he was all in for 103,000.
His opponent appeared to fall hard into the tank. Several minutes passed and he eventually said, "Sorry to do this to ya, but I've gotta call the clock," much to the confusion of the table.
"I went all in!" Hellmuth said. Suddenly realizing this, Hellmuth's opponent immediately mucked.
"You tanked for seven minutes with ace-queen high!" Hellmuth joked.
"I did have ace-queen," his opponent said.
In any case, Hellmuth is up to 220,000.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
345,000
105,000
|
105,000 |
![]() |
337,000
89,000
|
89,000 |
|
268,000
234,700
|
234,700 |
![]() |
245,000
187,200
|
187,200 |
|
230,000
165,400
|
165,400 |
![]() |
180,000
170,400
|
170,400 |
![]() |
155,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
||
|
155,000
125,100
|
125,100 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
|
650,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
![]() |
540,000
481,900
|
481,900 |
![]() |
400,000
379,900
|
379,900 |
|
370,000
288,900
|
288,900 |
![]() |
365,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
![]() |
345,000
129,000
|
129,000 |
![]() |
290,000
254,700
|
254,700 |
![]() |
225,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
|
220,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
![]() |
206,000
121,500
|
121,500 |
![]() |
200,000
163,000
|
163,000 |
|
190,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
![]() |
165,000
126,600
|
126,600 |
|
||
![]() |
150,000
126,900
|
126,900 |
![]() |
125,000
105,500
|
105,500 |
|
85,000
77,400
|
77,400 |
![]() |
Busted |