Helmut Koch: / (FOLD)
Kenn Wittock: / (FOLD)
Michael Mizrachi: / /
Adam Friedman: / /
Friedman brought it in, Koch completed, Wittock raised, Mizrachi made it three bets, and Friedman made it four. Only Mizrachi called. Friedman continued to bet on out on fourth, fifth, and sixth, and Mizrachi called all three.
"I know you have trip aces," Mizrachi said as he called on sixth.
Friedman checked dark going to seventh, and Mizrachi tanked for a bit before checking behind.
"I'm at least rolled up," Friedman announced, sweating his last card.
He tabled for trip deuces, and Mizrachi mucked his hand.
Before the level changed, there was a bring in, Brooks, the winner of the 2008 Stud Hi World Championship completed, and only Seiver called. The rest of the money went in on fourth, and the hands were opened.
Brooks:
Seiver:
Neither player improved on fifth or sixth street, and Seiver quickly flipped over a on seventh, giving him an unbeatable two pair. Brooks mucked his hand, and shook a few hands before exiting the tournament area.
With Brooks' elimination, Freddie Ellis is the only remaining Stud Hi World Champion remaining.
We reached the table on sixth street, where Chiu led out with his pair of queens. Both Martin and Ellis called. Chiu opted to check on seventh, Martin tossed out a bet, and Ellis folded. Chiu reached for chips, thought for a bit, then tossed them in.
"Kings-up," he said as they splashed onto the felt.
"Good," Martin said, looking at his hand one more time before mucking it.
Chiu collected the pot, and now sits with 370,000 chips.
Mizrachi fired out a bet on fourth, and Wittock pushed out enough to call, released the stack, then pulled it back asking how much the bet was. The floor ruled this motion as a call, and the chips remained in the pot.
Mizrachi bet dark heading into seventh, and Wittock tanked for a bit before slamming the call forward. The Grinder showed for kings-up, and Wittock mucked.
Gary Benson: / /
Wittock: / /
Wittock's remaining 3,000 chips went in the next hand on fourth street against Benson. Wittock showed , giving him straight draw against Benson's for kings, but Wittock bricked out on fifth and sixth. Benson didn't improve on seventh when he showed the , and Wittock needed to make two pair or a straight to survive.
Gary Benson: / (FOLD)
Michael Mizrachi: / /
Frank Kasella: / /
All three players checked on fourth street, and on fifth Kassela bet out. Benson called, Mizrachi raised, Kassela re-raised, and only Mizrachi called.
Kassela tossed out a bet on sixth, Mizrachi called, and the two checked on seventh. Kassela showed for tens and sevens, and Mizrachi showed before mucking.
Rocco Bucci completed only to have Matthew Ashton raise to 10,000. Bucci made the call before leading out on fourth and fifth streets. On fifth however, Ashton raised only to have Bucci three-bet virtually all-in; leaving himself just 1,500. Ashton called and the cards were tabled.
Bucci: /
Ashton: /
With Bucci trailing, the on sixth changed little as Ashton caught the before the came on seventh leaving Bucci drawing to just one out. Unfortunately for Bucci, the would complete his board and he would be out the door in 11th place.
Ashton check-called a bet on fourth street, then led out on fifth, sixth, and seventh. Seiver called all three bets, then mucked when Ashton showed for sixes full of deuces.
After 10 more levels of play in Event #23: $2,500 Seven Card Stud, only 10 players remain in contention for the gold bracelet and the $145,520 first-place prize. Leading the way is 2010 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Frank Kassela. Kassela bagged 331,500 chips, and his closest competitors are David Chiu (295,000), and Matthew Ashton (277,500). Ashton is having a terrific 2013 WSOP, finishing third in Event #5 and runner-up in Event #13.
A total of 106 players returned for Day 2 action, and only 32 would make the money. Plenty of notables busted before the money bubble arrive, including Allen Kessler, George Danzer, Perry Friedman, Cyndy Violette, Roland Israelashvili, Chad Brown, John Monnette, and Greg Raymer. Brown started his bustout hand with split jacks, and improved to kings-up on sixth street, but Chiu had wired aces, and made a better two pair on sixth. Chiu’s hand held up on seventh, and Brown hit the rail.
The bubble burst in Level 14, where Terrence Hastoo was all-in for just the ante. He started with three to a flush, but Kenn Wittock had split kings and held. Once the players were in the money, they started hitting the rail in rapid succession. Among the min-cashers were Andrey Zaichenko, Marco Traniello, Andrew Kelsall, Joseph Cappello, Calvin Anderson, Konstantin Puchkov, and Daniel Negreanu.
With the elimination of Brooks, Freddie Ellis was the last Stud World Champion standing. The 2009 champ will be looking for bracelet number two on Friday, but has a long road ahead of him with only 26,000 chips.
Here's the seat draw:
Table
Seat
Player
Chip Count
446
1
--empty--
--
446
2
Gary Benson
213,500
446
3
--empty--
--
446
4
Helmut Koch
157,500
446
5
--empty--
--
446
6
Michael Mizrachi
128,000
446
7
Adam Friedman
74,500
446
8
Frank Kassela
331,500
447
1
--empty--
--
447
2
--empty--
--
447
3
Matthew Ashton
277,500
447
4
--empty--
--
447
5
Scott Seiver
237,500
447
6
Jesse Martin
84,000
447
7
Freddie Ellis
26,000
448
8
David Chiu
295,000
The 10 survivors will return on Friday at 2 p.m. local time to battle it out for a bracelet. Be sure to check back then for all of your exclusive live updates straight from the tournament floor. For now, we'll leave you with Lynn Gilmartin who has all the highlights from around the Rio.