2012 World Series of Poker

Event 4: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better
Day: 2
Event Info

2012 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kk84272
Prize
$201,559
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$839,700
Entries
622
Level Info
Level
29
Limits
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
15,000

The Ladies Make Their Mark On Day 2

Level 18 : 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
Xuan Liu - chip leader with 23 left
Xuan Liu - chip leader with 23 left

Day 2 of the Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo Event #4 saw 198 of the initial 622 players returning to the Amazon Room for the bursting of the bubble, among other things. Ten levels were booked with a dinner break in the middle, and play has just concluded for the night with 23 players remaining. As the dust settles, we see that it's the charming Xuan Liu who'll carry the chip lead into tomorrow's finale. She bagged up 330,500 to set the pace for Day 3. Hot on her heels is Chris Tryba and his stack of 307,500.

First, though, the bad news. The list of notables who failed to survive this Day 2 is an impressively long one. A few highlights on the list: Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, One Drop participants Cary Katz and Dan Shak, defending champion Chris Viox, David Bach, Chau Giang, Dutch Boyd, Jon Turner, Chris Klodnicki, Mike Watson, Dan O'Brien, and Daniel Idema.

The money bubble burst shortly before the dinner break, and it was Jamie Kaplan receiving the wooden spoon. Kaplan had a pair of sixes and a big low draw on his final hand, but Vladimir Shchmelev made a pair of aces on fourth street. And they held. Kaplan was out in 65th place, and that was a big relief to one player, in particular. Andrey Pateychuk limped into the money with just 1,600 lonely chips left to secure his second career WSOP cash. It will not be his last, that's a near certainty for one of the upcoming superstars of international poker.

We've already begun to transition into the good news there, so let's continue.

Day 2 was highlighted by some great table matchups that kept things interesting when the split pots started to lull the action. All the way in the corner, a trio of poker's royalty assembled for several hours of play. It was quite a showcase of luminaries with Hall of Famers Linda Johnson and Mike Sexton, and Jan Fisher (a member of the Women's Poker Hall of Fame) all sitting around the same side of the oval. The three of them were mostly responsible for the creation of PokerGives.org, a charitable poker-based fund raiser — among many, many other contributions to the game. Needless to say, today's seating assignments provided a friendly and talkative reunion for the bunch. Owais Ahmed was in there too, and he was keeping up with the conversation.



Sexton was in and out, though. He was busy running back and forth between this Stud/8 event and the $3,000 heads-up Event #3 where he was picking his way deftly through Day 2. Sexton defeated Justin Bonomo and Andy Seth in consecutive matches this afternoon, each time returning to the Stud/8 felt to work on that stack. The multitabling ended eventually, though, as Andy Frankenberger reduced Sexton to just one chip stack over here on our side of the room. Sexton was the runner-up to Chris Viox in this event last year, and he's poised for another trip back to this final table in 2012.

Also seated together for much of the day were brothers Michael and Robert Mizrachi. Michael held the second biggest stack coming into Day 2, and he treaded water for a long time to finish with 110,000 chips. Robert was not so lucky, though. A late-night run-in with Todd Brunson relieved him of all his chips and sent him off with a small paycheck for his efforts.

Next door, one more fantastic matchup. And another Hall of Famer. Marsha Waggoner is a member of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame, and she drew a seat on the direct left of her countryman, David Steicke.



The two played a few pots together before Steicke was cut down, but Waggoner staved off elimination for the rest of the night. She finished with 77,500 chips in her bag, and she's one of four women remaining in our field. In addition to the Waggoner, Liu, Johnson (175,000), and Bonnie Rossi (57,000) will all have their shots at snagging an open bracelet for the ladies before this time tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, this event is shaping up to be an early can't-miss at the WSOP. We've already touched on some of the remaining field, but we haven't even talked about double bracelet winner and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year, Frank Kassela. (He's the WSOP's all-time leading Stud/8 casher, just for good measure.) And then there's Chris Bjorin, the two-time bracelet winner and serial casher. And 2011 bracelet winner and Players Championship final tablist, Owais Ahmed. Are you seeing a theme here? Jerrod Ankenman has a bracelet. So does John Monnette. And David Singer. As well as Todd Brunson. Frankie O'Dell has two of his own, both in Omaha/8. Adam Roberts: Stud bracelet. And you can't forget about Cory Zeidman who narrowly missed winning a bracelet in this same event last year.

See what we mean? The 23 survivors will be back here tomorrow at 2:00pm to finish this thing off. We'll be back here too, and we hope you'll join us as we crown another bracelet winner in this young summer. It's shaping up to be a good one.

Until then, all that's left is goodnight!

Tags: Xuan Liu

Tryba Eliminates Madsen

Jeff Madsen
Jeff Madsen

"A lot of chips went in fast," Chris Tryba explained after he busted 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen. It appeared a lot of chips went in on the turn, with bets following on each subsequent street. Madsen got the last of his chips in on seventh, but much to his surprise his hand was no good.

Tryba: {A-Clubs}{K-Clubs}{7-Clubs}{3-Hearts}{5-Clubs}{8-Clubs}{Q-Clubs}
Madsen: {10-Diamonds}{3-Clubs}{5-Spades}{6-Clubs}{6-Spades}{6-Diamonds}{7-Hearts}

We're not sure of the cards' order, but as you can see Madsen held trip sixes only to run into Tryba's flush. Madsen was eliminated in 36th place and takes home $3,921 for his efforts.

Player Chips Progress
Chris Tryba us
Chris Tryba
WSOP 1X Winner
222,000 112,000
Jeff Madsen us
Jeff Madsen
WSOP 4X Winner
Busted

Tags: Jeff Madsen

Shak is Chopped Liver

Dan Shak
Dan Shak

Todd Brunson and an unknown player were betting a side pot while Dan Shak, who was all in, looked on. We're not sure when Shak got his money in, but he was packing his things and didn't look confident as his opponents fired away all the way through seventh street. The cards were all tabled and we apologize as we didn't catch the exact order for Brunson.

Brunson: {3-Spades}{2-Diamonds}{4-Clubs}{2-Spades}{7-Spades}{9-Clubs}{6-Spades}
Unknown Player: {K-Clubs}{Q-Diamonds}{4-Spades} / {A-Spades}{K-Spades}{Q-Spades}{8-Hearts}
Shak: {4-Hearts}{5-Spades}{6-Diamonds} / {K-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{3-Hearts}{J-Diamonds}

The unknown player and Brunson chopped the high and low, and with that Shak was eliminated in 37th place for $3,921.

Player Chips Progress
Daniel Shak us
Daniel Shak
Busted

Tags: Dan ShakTodd Brunson

Schneider Out in 55th Place

Tom Schneider
Tom Schneider

At the end of dinner break we made our way to the payout desk to get the updated order of eliminations and were surprised to see Tom Schneider's name listed in 55th place. We're not sure how we missed it, but he has been eliminated and will take home $3,073 for his efforts.

Likewise, Thomas Bessoir and Sharad Mehta preceded his elimination by finishing in 57th and 56th for $2,754 and $3,073 respectively.

Player Chips Progress
Sharad Mehta us
Sharad Mehta
Busted
Thomas Bessoir us
Thomas Bessoir
Busted
Tom Schneider us
Tom Schneider
WSOP 4X Winner
Busted

Tags: Tom Schneider

Billirakis Value-Towned

Linda Johnson
Linda Johnson

Here comes Linda Johnson!

We picked up a pot as Steve Billirakis completed with the {A-Diamonds} up and Johnson called with the {4-Diamonds}.

Billirakis: (x-x) / {A-Diamonds} {K-Spades} {4-Spades} {K-Diamonds} / (x)
Johnson: (x-x) / {4-Diamonds} {Q-Spades} {Q-Diamonds} {5-Diamonds} / (x)

Billirakis barreled on fourth street, then Johnson bet her lead on fifth. When she did, Billirakis took a brief pause. He had a line of T100 gray chips racked up, and he went ahead and slid out the 10,000 — rack and all — with a verbal "Raise."

"Okay," Johnson said as she quickly matched the bet.

Johnson called another bet on sixth. On seventh, Billirakis took a long squeeze and knocked the table. Johnson quickly bet the 5,000, and Billirakis was stopped in his tracks. It would be about 90 seconds of deliberation before he finally stacked the last call into the pot.

"I have two pair," Johnson declared. "I think they're good." She opened up {6-Spades} {4-Clubs} {3-Clubs} for queens up.

"They're good," Billirakis admitted as he tucked his own cards under. The last call represented a significant chunk of his stack, and he's been reduced down under 20,000 in grays.

"I feel stupid for betting for value," Johnson said quietly as the dealer pushed the pot. No need to feel stupid about that one, Ms. Johnson. Short-stacked just a short while ago, she's now quite healthy with close to 80,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Linda Johnson us
Linda Johnson
WSOP 1X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
77,000 49,000
Steve Billirakis us
Steve Billirakis
WSOP 2X Winner
17,000 -32,000

Tags: Linda JohnsonSteve Billirakis

Singer Puts an End to Ivey

Phil Ivey is gone.
Phil Ivey is gone.

We just passed by Table 406 and discovered Phil Ivey was missing. A quick check with the table confirmed that he had been eliminated from the tournament by David Singer. "I got lucky," Singer said before filling us in.

According to him, Ivey brought it in with the {3-Spades} and Singer limped showing the {8-Hearts}.

Ivey: {7-}{7-} / {3-Spades}{4-Spades}(X)(X) / (X)
Singer: {4-Hearts}{2-Hearts} / {8-Hearts}{7-Hearts}{J-}{4-} / {4-}

Ivey was short stacked and got the money in early on, but he failed to improve while Singer caught back-to-back fours on sixth and seven for trips and the win.

Player Chips Progress
David Singer us
David Singer
68,000 18,000
Phil Ivey us
Phil Ivey
WSOP 10X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
Busted

Tags: Phil IveyDavid Singer

Kassela Cripples Ma

Tony Ma
Tony Ma

Tony Ma was dealt the {3-Hearts} and brought it in only to have Frank Kassela complete with the {A-Diamonds}. Action folded back around to Ma and he made the call.

Kassela: {3-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}{A-Clubs} / {A-Diamonds}{2-Hearts}{4-Clubs}{A-Hearts}
Ma: {3-Clubs}{5-Diamonds}(X) / {3-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{9-Spades}{2-Spades}

Ma proceeded to check-call bets on fourth and fifth streets, and then called a bet when Kassela led out on sixth. On the final card, Kassela bet once again and Ma made the call, leaving himself just 5,000 behind.

"Wheel," Kassela proudly said as he turned over his cards.

"How do you always have it?" Ma asked as he flashed his cards and then sent them to the muck.

Player Chips Progress
Frank Kassela us
Frank Kassela
WSOP 3X Winner
63,000 5,000
Tony Ma us
Tony Ma
WSOP 2X Winner
5,000 -6,000

Tags: Frank KasselaTony Ma

There Will Be No Title Defense as Viox Falls

Chris Viox after winning this event in 2011.
Chris Viox after winning this event in 2011.

We saw Chris "PiMaster" Viox standing at Table 405 and putting on his backpack, which prompted us to rush over and see what happened. Unfortunately we were too late to catch the cards, but Viox informed us that he had just lost a five-way monster pot after he missed a flush. Another opponent took half the pot with a seven low, while the high went to someone with a full house.

"It was a big hand," he said with the hint of a smile. With Viox's elimination, a new champion is guaranteed, though the door is now open for Mike Sexton as the sole man that stood in the way of his second gold bracelet last year is now gone.

Player Chips Progress
Chris Viox us
Chris Viox
Busted

Tags: Chris Viox

Greenstein Sent Packing

Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein

We caught the action on sixth street when Jimmy Fricke had fired out a bet and was called by Barry Greenstein.

Greenstein: (x-x-x) / {8-Hearts}{2-Clubs}{10-Clubs}{2-Diamonds}
Fricke: {4-Spades}{5-Diamonds}{7-Clubs} / {8-Clubs}{6-Diamonds}{3-Clubs}{6-Spades}

Fricke fired yet again on seventh and Greenstein made the call, leaving himself just 1,000 behind. Fricke rolled over his hole cards for an eight-high straight and a low, which was good as Greenstein simply mucked. The latter was eliminated a few hands later.

Player Chips Progress
Jimmy Fricke us
Jimmy Fricke
14,000 7,000
Barry Greenstein us
Barry Greenstein
Busted

Tags: Jimmy FrickeBarry Greenstein

Carroll, Mizrachi & Zaichenko Frontrunners on Push to the Money

Mike Sexton looks to improve on last year's performance.
Mike Sexton looks to improve on last year's performance.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Event #4 $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or Better, the first Stud event of the 2012 World Series of Poker. Yesterday, 622 players packed the Amazon Room and created an $839,700 prize pool, with $201,559 of that going to first. More than two-thirds of the field hit the rail, but William Carroll, Michael Mizrachi and Anrey Zaichenko were not among them as the triumvirate finished atop the chip counts.

Others among the 198 players who will be returning to action today are the defending champ, Chris Viox; last year’s runner up, Mike Sexton; 1998 Main Event champ Scotty Nguyen; 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen; and the one and only Phil Ivey.

The plan for the day is to play ten levels, and given the average stack is around twelve big bets, we expect the eliminations to come fast and furious. The top 64 finishers are slated to be paid, earning a minimum of $2,754, which means 134 players will leave empty handed.

Here’s a look at the top ten chip counts at the start of Day 2:

Notable Chip Counts

PlayerChips
William Carroll49,100
Michael Mizrachi41,500
Andrey Zaichenko35,000
Brian Nadell34,600
Daniel Studer32,700
Sanjay Pandya32,100
Lauchlin McKinnon31,200
Jeff Madsen31,100
Benjamin Powell30,900
Thomas Bessoir30,100

Action is set to begin at 2 p.m. PST, which is less than half an hour from now. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you all the latest and greatest.