2012 World Series of Poker

Event 61: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event
Day: 2ab
Event Info

2012 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k5
Prize
$8,531,853
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$62,021,200
Entries
6,598
Level Info
Level
42
Blinds
1,000,000 / 2,000,000
Ante
300,000

Baumann Leads Charge to Day 3, Under 900 Survivors from Day 2a/b

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 200 ante
Gaelle Baumann leads the field with half a million chips.
Gaelle Baumann leads the field with half a million chips.

The first of two Day 2 fields of Event 61, $10,000 Main Event, of the World Series of Poker have finished play for the day. The combined Day 1a field (657) and Day 1b (1,387) field combined was 2,044 and after five levels under 900 players remain. Leading them all is Gaelle Baumann with 505,800.

Also at the top of the counts are Mark Demirdjian (499,990), Shaun Deeb (460,900), Gerard Lubas (449,500), Kevin Davis (394,000), Vanessa Selbst (350,400), Jason Somerville (332,700) and Daniel Negreanu (277,200). Five former WSOP ME that survived the day: Pius Heinz, Peter Eastgate, Jerry Yang, Robert Varkonyi and Dan Harrington.

A laundry list of notables still remain in the field, including; David Diaz, Eugene Katchalov, Maria Ho, Gavin Smith, Katie Dozier, Bernard Lee, Amnon Filippi, Dani Stern, Mike McDonald, Taylor Paur, Sammy Farha, Brock Parker, Jackie Glazier, David Pham, Gabe Kaplan, Kevin Pollak, Brian Hastings, Eric Baldwin and Faraz Jaka to name a few.

Unable to survive the day were Justin Bonomo, Tony Dunst, Darvin Moon, Bryan Devonshire, David Williams, Mike Sexton Erik Seidel, Brian Rast, Isaac Haxton, Chad Brown, Jeffrey Lisandro, Mike Matusow, Martin Staszko, Scott Seiver and the legendary Billy Baxter.

The Day 1a and 1b fields were kept separate throughout play. Day 1a players were confined to the Amazon Room in the Orange and Purple Sections. By the end of player only two tables remained in the Orange Section.

The Day 1b field was quite a bit larger. They were spread across the Brasilia and Pavilion Rooms. The Pavilion Room was empty shortly after dinner and almost the whole Red Section was broken in the Brasilia Room.

William John began play as the far and away chip leader when he returned with 266,700. He lost a large pot to begin the day to Mark Demirdjian and steadily bled chips throughout the day. His day ended shortly after returning from dinner when he held got all in on a ten-high flop holding {A-} {K-}. Demirdjian flopped a set of tens and turned a full house to eliminate John.

Maria Ho had a successful Day 2 and even stopped to talk to our lovely Lynn Gilmartin. In one hand Ho opened and was three-bet to 6,000. She called and the flop came {J-Spades} {A-Clubs} {3-Diamonds}. Ho check-called 8,000 and the turn came {7-Diamonds}. Both players checked and the river came {8-Spades}. Ho bet 14,000, got a call and tabled {A-Hearts} {Q-Hearts}. Her opponent flashed pocket kings and she was near 200,000.

Day 2c kicks off tomorrow at 12:00 PM PST and will have the survivors from Day 1c. The surviving players will finally condense into one field on Day 3, starting on Thursday at noon. Follow all the WSOP Main Event action live on PokerNews.

Now we'll leave you with some of Lynn Gilmartin's visual highlights from throughout the day:

Grimes Silences the Mouth

Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow

Action folded to Mike "The Mouth" Matusow in the cutoff and he opened for 2,100. Terry Grimes was on the button and pushed back to the tune of 4,200, and after the blinds got out of the way, Matusow shipped for roughly 26,000. Grimes made a quick call and Matusow was in trouble.

Showdown
Matusow: {Q-Clubs}{Q-Spades}
Grimes: {K-Diamonds}{K-Hearts}

Matusow was in need of some help and found a little on the {J-Spades}{X-Spades}{X-Spades} flop, which gave him a flush draw. Unfortunately for him, neither the {A-Hearts} turn nor {9-Diamonds} river would fill that draw and Matusow's 2012 World Series of Poker came to an end here on Day 2.

Player Chips Progress
Terry Grimes
Terry Grimes
150,000 30,000
Mike Matusow us
Mike Matusow
WSOP 4X Winner
Busted

Tags: Mike MatusowTerry Grimes

Heinz Takes Hit

Pius Heinz
Pius Heinz

The flop read {Q-Hearts}{2-Hearts}{7-Spades} and the small blinded player bet out 6,000. A player in middle position folded and former Main Event champion Pius Heinz called from the hijack.

The {j-Spades} then landed on the turn and the small blind again bet out, this time for 12,000. Heinz called again and continued along for the ride. The {6-Diamonds} on the river saw the small blind bet out again for the third time. The bet was for 15,000 and action was on Heinz, after about a minute or so Heinz grabbed a stack of chips and pushed forward a raise. Heinz made it 34,000, and after about 45 seconds the small blind called.

Heinz flipped over {Q-Clubs}{j-Clubs} for two pair, queens and jacks. The small blind countered by exposing {7-}{7-} for a winning set of sevens. Heinz asked his opponent after the hand "were you thinking about folding", and his opponent shook his head and made it apparent he was going to raise if anything.

Heinz now sinks down to around 44,000 and needs to kick it in gear if he wants to move back into contention.

Player Chips Progress
Pius Heinz de
Pius Heinz
44,000 -43,000

Tags: Pius Heinz

Demirdjian Finishes Off Day 1a Chip Leader to Take Over Chip Lead

William John
William John

Earlier in the day, Mark Demirdjian put a big dent in the stack of William John, who began Day 2a as the overwhelming chip leader. Demirdjian recently finished the job by eliminating John here in Level 9.

The exact details of the hand escaped us, but we do know John got the last of his chips in on a flop of {10-}{9-}{6-} holding {A-}{K-}. Unfortunately for him, Demirdjian held {10-}{10-} for a set. The {9-} turn left John drawing dead, while the {3-} river sent him out the door unusually early.

Player Chips Progress
Mark Demirdjian
Mark Demirdjian
380,000 86,000
William John au
William John
Busted

Tags: William JohnMark Demirdjian

Baumann Leading the Ladies

Gaelle Baumann
Gaelle Baumann

When we walked by Table 95 here in the Pavilion, we saw that Gaelle Baumann was holding onto a monster stack. We also saw her in a hand where the flop was {k-Clubs}{2-Clubs}{7-Spades}. She called her opponents all in of about 13,000, and showed {k-Diamonds}{q-Spades} for top pair. She was miles ahead of her opponent, who showed a stone cold bluff of {q-Hearts}{9-Diamonds}. The turn sealed things, coming the {k-Hearts}, and the river was the {9-Clubs}.

After she finished stacking her chips, we estimated that she's sitting on about 280,000, which leads the way for the women left in the field. Baumann is fresh off a 15th place showing in this year's ladies event, and she looks to be continuing that momentum through to today!

Player Chips Progress
Gaelle Baumann
Gaelle Baumann
280,000 112,000

Tags: Gaelle Baumann

Cunningham's 2012 WSOP Main Event Comes to an End

Allen Cunningham
Allen Cunningham

We saw the ESPN cameras swarming and made our way over to see five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Allen Cunningham all in with the {J-Diamonds}{J-Spades} laid out in front of him. It appeared he had gotten all in preflop, though we're not sure as the {10-Hearts}{2-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{10-Clubs}{3-Clubs} board was already out.

Unfortunately for Cunningham, Eric Kurtzman had {A-Diamonds}{A-Hearts} out in front of him for the win. Cunningham made a silent exit from the tournament floor, no doubt disheartened he won't be making a deep run as he did in 2006 when he finished in fourth place.

Player Chips Progress
Eric Kurtzman
Eric Kurtzman
270,000
Allen Cunningham us
Allen Cunningham
WSOP 5X Winner
Busted

Tags: Eric KurtzmanAllen Cunningham

Welcome Back For Day 2a/b

William John- Chip Leader
William John- Chip Leader

Hello readers! Welcome back to the World Series of Poker! We are here for the first of two day 2's. Today, the survivors of Day 1a and Day 1b are in the same building, but they are in separate rooms. They will each play five levels today, before returning as one group for Day 3 on Thursday! The chip leader coming into today is William John, who bagged an impressive 266,700 on Day 1a. Not far behind is John Hoang, who bagged 180,000 for the chip lead from Day 1b.

There are a ton of notables who will be coming back together. Leading the way is Pokerstars pro Vanessa Selbst. She got up to 168,350 after her aces beat her opponents kings in a huge pot to end her night. Jason Somerville is also coming back today with a monster stack, holding 144,725. These two will be looking to set themselves up for a great moving day on Day 3.

They are joined by the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Eugene Katchalov, Eric Baldwin, Shaun Deeb, Brian Hastings, George Danzer, and former champions Dan Harrington, Jerry Yang, and Robert Varkonyi, amongst several others.

The players are entering now, and they are unbagging their chips. We will play five levels today, so be sure to stay tuned to Pokernews for all of the action. Very shortly, we will shuffle up and deal!

For now, Sarah Grant has all the video highlights that came out of yesterday here at the Rio.