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Barry Hutter is the Chip Leader Heading Into Day 2
Yesterday one of the greatest spectacles in all of poker took place, as nearly three thousand runners took to the Rio to compete in one of the World Series of Poker's most popular events. A total of 2,883 players plunked down a grand each for the chance to play on poker's premier stage, with thousands of amateurs rubbing elbows with the likes of Olivier Busquet, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Victor Ramdin, Tony Dunst, Matt Stout, Randy Lew, and Bryan Micon, just to name a few.
While those pros failed to survive the onslaught of all ins and bad beats so common to Day 1s, several notable names will be returning this afternoon with a bag of chips, and a shot to earn that coveted gold bracelet. Barry Hutter emerged as the overwhelming chip leader by the end of 11 full levels of play yesterday, and his 211,000 stack gives him a wide lead over the field. Marcus Aurelius, and yes that is his real name, also took down a few huge pots throughout the day to bag and tag 157,800 by the end of the night. Other chip stacks to watch out for belong to pro Warwick Mirzikinian (111,700), last year's Main Event runner-up Jesse James Sylvia (83,000), and Nico Maag (105,700).
After the money bubble was burst late last night, the play picked up and the bustouts commenced, so expect the action to be just as intense right from the start here today. Take a look at the following video celebrating Steve Sung's recent bracelet win, and then check back with PokerNews at 1 p.m. local time to follow all of the action live from the floor of the Rio, as the field plays ten levels in hopes of reaching the final table.
Fergal Nealon goes by the name "@midnitekowby" on Twitter, and after staring down Jesse James Sylvia in a heads-up duel, the Irishman proved that gunslinging handle to be quite appropriate.
We caught the action on the river, with the board reading , and more than 12,000 in the pot waiting to be won.
Nealon fired out a single orange T5000 tournament chip and stared across the table at Sylvia, who is no stranger to tough decisions after finishing 2nd in last year's Main Event. Sylvia went into the tank, and stayed there for more than three minutes, slowly riffling a stack of chips while mulling his options.
Eventually, Sylvia cut out a stack and pushed it forward for the call, while Nealon quickly turned over , confident that his ace-high was the best hand. Sure enough, Sylvia's hand was shot into the muck, and the sizable pot was pushed to Nealon, who begins his Day 2 by besting one of the game's young guns.
After a raise from Amanda Musumeci preflop, an opponent made a sizable 3-bet. When action came back to Musumeci, she made a minimum 4-bet. Then her opponent shoved his remaining stack and Musumeci snap called.
Musumeci:
Opponent:
It was the classic flip situation that is infamous in tournaments. Musumeci would like her side of the coin as the flop came . That flopped set would bring very little hope for the opponent. The turn would bring a smile to Musumeci's face as she turned quads with the . The river meant nothing and Musumeci won the massive flip to bring her stack up to 177,000.
There's a new chip leader in town and his name is Warwick. Warwick Mirzikinian.
We didn't catch the hand that propelled him into the chip lead, but Mirzikinian and Gabriel Nassif relayed it to us.
Apparently, after a raise and a call, a player reraised to 9,100 from the big blind. Mirzikinian was the only caller.
The flop came down and the player in the big blind put out a bet of 9,100 before Mirzikinian reraised to 22,000. The big blind player jammed all in and Mirzikinian called. Mirzikinian was holding for the flopped nut straight while his opponent held for an over pair.
The turn cam a pairing the board so the player with picked up outs, but he bricked off on the river, allowing Mirzikinian to pick up a huge pot after flopping the nuts. With that, the clear chip leader in the room was established as Warwick Mirzikinian.
Jesse James Sylvia Has Been Eliminated by Ørjan Skommo
Orjan Skommo just built one of the biggest stacks in the room, after eliminating last year's Main Event runner-up Jesse James Sylvia.
The Norwegian born Skommo, whose first name actually appears as Ørjan in his native language, and is "unpronounceable in English," claimed the rest of Sylvia's stack in a single hand.
Sylvia opened to 4,000 from early position, and after action folded around to him on the button, Skommo three-bet to 9,800. This bet prompted Sylvia to make a play at the pot, and he moved all in for his last 60,000. Skommo quickly called with his , which put him far ahead of Sylvia's .
The board ran out clean for Skommo, and by busting one of the best players remaining in the field, he emerged as one of the chip leaders early on the second day of play.
While flying quietly under the radar for most of the day today and yesterday, Dana Castaneda made herself known in a big way here on Day 2, and that was by getting a monster stack.
We walked by Castaneda's table and she was involved in another big pot. On a board of a player had bet 4,700 in to Castaneda who raised to 20,000. Her opponent was thinking when we got to the table and then he moved all in with a much short stack than Castaneda's. Castaneda called quickly and the hands were turned up.
Castaneda:
Opponent:
The board completed with a on the turn and an on the river giving Castaneda the winning hand and the other player's whole stack. With that hand, she's moved up over 200,000 and looks to be the woman with the most chips in the room.
Matt Salsberg came into the day in the middle of the pack, but after a good first few levels he's near the top. We caught a recent hand from him where he was in a big pot against one other player.
Salsberg had flopped a set of tens on a board of with his and it held up against his opponents . Salsberg had a well covering stack and he picked up his entire opponent's stack of more than 60,000 chips.
With that, Salsberg has breached the 200,000 chip mark and looks to make a deep run here today.
Anthony Gregg, Greg Merson, and friends and family
The crew is back to talk about the exciting conclusions of the $111,111 One Drop High Roller and the $25,000 Six Max. They also examine a few crazy hands in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, discuss online poker in New Jersey, and review bracelet wins from Barney Boatman, Marco Johnson, and Jesse Martin.
J.C. Tran is no longer a part of this tournament, but unfortunately we didn't catch his bustout. After getting off to a good start earlier in the day, he dropped a few chips, then some more, and now he's been eliminated. Fortunately he was able to pick up $2,854 for his run here in Event #54.
Matt Salsberg is better known as the executive producer and writer for the acclaimed television show Weeds, but he has made a name for himself in the poker world during the last few years. Salsberg has already cashed five times at the 2013 World Series of Poker, with his best finish being a pair of 21st place showings, and he is looking to best those performances here today.
Salsberg has been very active on this Day 2, and he recently played a big hand that did not go his way.
We heard Salsberg exclaim "sick game," and after heading over to his table, we saw him paying off a 55,000 all-in wager. Salsberg's opponent had the tabled, and with the board reading , his flopped set was good enough to double through.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and more than 12,000 in the pot waiting to be won.
, confident that his ace-high was the best hand. Sure enough, Sylvia's hand was shot into the muck, and the sizable pot was pushed to Nealon, who begins his Day 2 by besting one of the game's young guns.
. That flopped set would bring very little hope for the opponent. The turn would bring a smile to Musumeci's face as she turned quads with the 
. The river 
meant nothing and Musumeci won the massive flip to bring her stack up to 177,000.
and the player in the big blind put out a bet of 9,100 before Mirzikinian reraised to 22,000. The big blind player jammed all in and Mirzikinian called. Mirzikinian was holding 
for the flopped nut straight while his opponent held 
river, allowing Mirzikinian to pick up a huge pot after flopping the nuts. With that, the clear chip leader in the room was established as Warwick Mirzikinian.
.
a player had bet 4,700 in to Castaneda who raised to 20,000. Her opponent was thinking when we got to the table and then he moved all in with a much short stack than Castaneda's. Castaneda called quickly and the hands were turned up.
on the turn and an 
