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Alexey Makarov leads the final 17 players.
Seventeen players remain in contention for the $279,094 first-place prize and a World Series of Poker gold bracelet here at Event #46: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better. Plenty of well-known names dot the short list of survivors, but a relative unknown leads the way: Alexey Makarov, a Russian player who who will log the biggest live cash of his career with any finish better than ninth. Makarov bagged 471,000, giving him a slim chip lead over Ashly Butler, a New Orleans native who sports a third-place finish in last year's WSOP that netted him just over $100,000.
Notable players who have managed to survive the first two days include "Miami" John Cernuto (sixth place, 271,000), Stephen Chidwick (seventh, 243,000), Andrey Zaichenko (ninth, 219,000), Allyn Jaffrey Shulman (10th, 172,000), Mel Judah (16th, 89,000) and Ari Engel (17th, 75,000).
Cards will be in the air at 2 p.m., and the field will be whittled down to a champion, who will have conquered a starting line-up of 435 runners. Pay attention to PokerNews throughout the day to get updates on the conclusion of the tournament.
Ari Engel and Joshua Weiland got it all in before the flop.
Engel:
Weiland:
The board ran out , doubling Weiland up.
A short time later, Engel got all in with against an opponent who held . The player with the aces made a straight on the river, and Engel was done.
Meanwhile, at the other table, Mel Judah managed to quarter an opponent despite being well behind on the flop. Judah had , but his opponent had for a wheel. The turn was a , giving Judah the high, but the river allowed him to chop the low.
Matthew Lansdon opened the pot to 35,000 before the flop. Next to act, Alexey Makarov moved all in over the top for less than the pot. Action folded back around to Lansdon who called quickly.
Makarov:
Lansdon:
The board ran out giving no player any pair or any low, but since Makarov was holding a pair of deuces in his hand he was able to score the elimination.
Stephen Chidwick was eliminated from the tournament in the last ten minutes. We are currently experiencing technical difficulties here at the Rio and are working to get the issue resolved ASAP. Stay with us here at PokerNews.com and we'll be back on track shortly.
Just as soon as we returned from break we found Joshua Weiland all in and at rick against Ashly Butler. Butler was holding on a board of and it must have been good as Weiland mucked his cards and headed to the payout desk.
Almost immediately after we lost John O'Shea, Robert Price fell quickly after. Preflop, Price and Alexey Makarov got all the money in the middle. Makarov was holding against Price's .
The board ran out giving Makarov the best high with a pair of kings and putting no low on the board to eliminate price.
Players are now collapsing to an unofficial final table of ten.
Ashly Butler raised to 32,000 on the button, and Zhen Cai came along from the big blind.
Cai check-raised Butler's continuation-bet on the flop to 153,000. Butler made the call. The turn was a , and Cai moved all in. Butler snap-called, showing for a wrap draw that turned into the nut straight.
"We've got outs," Cai said, showing for a set and a flush draw. The river was a , missing Cai's hand and ending his tournament.
Action began with Brian Hacker who opened to 37,000. Mel Judah called before Alexey Makarov squeezed to 144,000 from the small blind. Hacker called but Judah folded, and the two went off to the flop.
The flop came down and after thinking about it for a bit, Makarov moved all in. Hacker looked at his hand to check his cards and announced a call after that.
Hacker:
Makarov:
Hacker had flopped a set and it left Makarov drawing extremely thin. The turn was the ending all matters instantly and that was it for Makarov. The dealer put out the meaningless on the river anyways. With that, the man who began the day as the chip leader was sent to the rail in ninth place.
, doubling Weiland up.
against an opponent who held 
. The player with the aces made a straight on the river, and Engel was done.
flop. Judah had 
, but his opponent had 
for a wheel. The turn was a 
on a board of 
. O'Shea had held 
for a wrap draw that turned into the nut straight.
ending all matters instantly and that was it for Makarov. The dealer put out the meaningless