We found Getty Mattinglsey all in before the flop only to be called by Hai Chu. The two players were racing as Mattingsley showed to Chu's .
The board ran out and Mattingsley was unable to improve his ace-king. Hai Chu gladly accepted the new chips to his stack and the field is now one step closer to a two-table re-draw.
Hugh Henderson opened to 40,000 from the hijack seat and directly behind him in the cutoff, Darin Dawson flatted. Action then folded around to Peter Kamaras in the small blind, who pushed all in for his last 130,000. Both Henderson and Dawson called to put Kamaras at risk.
Both players proceeded to check down the flop and turn, however, when the landed on the river, Henderson led out for 75,000. Dawson mucked and Kamaras triumphantly tabled for a rivered pair of kings. Henderson rapped the table and mucked - conceding the sizable pot to Kamaras.
We caught up with the action on a flop of to see Bryan Piccioli check to Ryan Hughes who bet 80,000. Piccioli took some time before announcing a call and the two were off to fourth street.
The turn was the and Piccioli checked for a second time. Hughes dipped into his stack and moved 151,000 into the middle. Piccioli called a bit quicker on this street to see the hit the river. Piccioli checked for a third time and Hughes moved a massive bet of 450,000 into the middle. Piccioli announced a snap call and Hughes triumphantly showed but was behind Piccioli's for trip jacks.
Hughes jumped up from the table and did a lap while muttering obscenities about his fortune in the hand. Piccioli, however, quietly stacked his newly found chips.
Getty Mattingsley open-shoved all in for his last 210,000 and was called by Hugh Henderson from the button. The blinds got out of the way and the hands were shown:
Mattingsley:
Henderson:
Mattinsgley was ahead and stayed that way through a flop and the and on fourth and fifth streets. Mattingsley is now on a stack of roughly 470,000.
It was folded around to Neil Willerson in the small blind, who completed. Max Steinberg checked his option for a heads-up pot.
The flop came and Willerson checked to Steinberg, who fired 20,000 into the middle. Willerson responded by check-raising to 125,000 - which was just under Steinberg's remaining stack of 170,000. Steinberg thought it over before pushing all in and Willerson snap-called to put Steinberg at risk.
Steinberg: for a pair of aces.
Willerson: for two-pair.
The turn and river kept Willerson in the lead and Steinberg was sent to the rail.
Willerson is up to 750,000 as a result of the knockout.
Action folded around to Max Steinberg's small blind and he moved all in. Darin Dawson called for his tournament life and the hands were turned over.
Steinberg:
Dawson:
Steinberg was in need of some help to eliminate Dawson and did not find it when the board ran out . Steinberg was forced to ship a majority of his chips the way of Dawson.
Day 2 of Event 53: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em began with 348 hopefuls of the original 3,166 looking to make a deep run and work their way to a final table. When all was said and done, Hugh Henderson would stand tall as chip leader with 1,168,000 in chips. Nipping at his heels is Randy Ashe with 1,150,000.
As is always true in tournament poker - there can only be one eventual winner. Day 2 began began just 24 eliminations off of the money bubble, which burst within the first level of play after six players busted on the last deal of hand-for-hand play. Others who were unable to survive into Day 3 include David Sands (237th), Cherish Andrews (187th), Martin Staszko (183rd), Day 1 chip leader Mario Nagel (170th), Matt Affleck (146th), Brock Parker (85th), Nick Jivkov (83rd) and Jonathan Little (62nd).
Of the 28 survivors of Day 2 - many eyes are sure to be on Victoria Coren (934,000) and Lee Childs (501,000). Both players are looking to add a World Series of Poker gold bracelet to their already-impressive poker resumes. Coren's biggest cash to date occurred when she took down the European Poker Tour Main Event back in 2006 for £500,000. Childs, on the other hand, may be best remembered for his seventh-place finish in the 2007 WSOP Main Event - good for $705,229.
Also in the hunt is Max Steinberg (518,000) who already won a bracelet earlier this year in Event #33: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em. A win here today would put Steinberg in an elite club of multiple bracelet winners in a single year.
Here is the seating chart going into Day 3:
Table
Seat
Player
Chips
402
1
Georgios Tzimas
349,000
402
2
Marcio Cid
572,000
402
3
--Empty —
402
4
Lee Childs
501,000
402
5
— Empty —
402
6
Peter Kamaras
197,000
402
7
Hai Chu
565,000
402
8
Zachary Humphrey
404,000
402
9
Ryan Hughes
832,000
403
1
Vladimir Mefodichev
802,000
403
2
Matthew Sahagian
198,000
403
3
Neil Willerson
671,000
403
4
Age Ravn
345,000
403
5
Michael Batell
269,000
403
6
Frederic Soria
653,000
403
7
Bryan Piccioli
1,097,000
403
8
— Empty —
403
9
— Empty —
407
1
Luke Nettles
332,000
407
2
— Empty —
407
3
Jeffrey Bryan
214,000
407
4
Carl Edwards
212,000
407
5
Matthew Graham
421,000
407
6
James Rann
205,000
407
7
Randy Ashe
1,150,000
407
8
— Empty —
407
9
Paul Ratchford
390,000
408
1
— Empty —
408
2
Victoria Coren
934,000
408
3
Max Steinberg
518,000
408
4
Darin Dawson
232,000
408
5
— Empty —
408
6
Lanny Levine
368,000
408
7
Hugh Henderson
1,168,000
408
8
Getty Mattingsley
206,000
408
9
Sylvain Gonon
470,000
Play is set to resume at 2:00 PM PST - where we will play down to a final table and eventual champion! Please stick with us here at PokerNews as we provide you with all the action!