Event #44: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship Day 2 | 2018 World Series of Poker

06-23-2018 02:16 UTC-7

Michael Noori Holds Chip Lead Heading into Day 3 of $10,000 2-7 Triple Draw Championship

tRaMSt0p

Level 20 : 8,000/16,000, 0 ante

Day 2 of Event #44: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship has come to a conclusion with Michael Noori holding the chip lead for the second consecutive day.

Noori maintained his standing near the top of the chip counts for the majority of the day. While he didn't score all that many eliminations, he won several key pots once the field redrew to the final three tables to add to his stack and eventually opened up a sizable chip lead to end the day.

Canadian Christopher Kruk sits second overall with 658,000, while Randy Ohel is third with 602,000.Jason Gray (569,000) and Hanh Tran (423,000) are the only other two players over average chips, while the likes of WSOP bracelet winners Farzad Bonyadi and Calvin Anderson are also still in the hunt. Bonyadi's mother, Farhintaj Bonyadi, won Event #36: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em earlier this series, and a win for Bonyadi could deliver an unprecedented mother-and-son victory at the 2018 World Series of Poker.

Three-time bracelet winner Farzad Bonyadi is looking to replicate his mother's 2018 WSOP success

At the beginning of Day 2, the 100-player field had already been reduced to just 41 players, but with registration open until the first card hit the air, a total of nine new faces showed up to take a seat in the tournament. Anderson, John Racener, Tyler Meservy, Jared Talarico, Samuel Touil, Justin Bonomo, Kristijonas Andrulis, Jason Gray, and Phil Ivey all entered play, and with it meant an official prize pool of $1,024,600 would be created that would ensure the final 17 players an in-the-money finish while awaiting the eventual victor would be a coveted WSOP bracelet and the $287,987 first prize.

Once the cards were officially airborne, action would be fast and furious as shallow stacks looked to make a move up the leaderboard. WSOP bracelet winners JC Tran, Mike Wattel, Benny Glaser, Vanessa Selbst, Frank Kassela, Jesse Martin, Chris Vitch, and Eli Elezra were just a handful of the casualties, along with late entrants Racener, Bonomo, and Ivey.

Dinner break was reached with players just a table from the money, and once play resumed, Mike Ross, Brant Hale, Nam Le, Shawn Buchanan, and Luke Schwartz hit the rail. With the tournament now on the bubble, it would take close to an hour before Max Kruse was drawing live to a wheel against Anderson's . Unfortunately for Kruse he paired his three and became the tournament bubble boy which was deja vu for the German soccer star as he also bubbled the Event #23: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship nearly two weeks ago.

Two 10k 2-7 bubbles for German soccer star Max Kruse at the 2018 World Series of Poker

With players now guaranteed an in-the-money finish, action continued at a slow rate as everyone was still relatively deep. Jordan Siegel (17th), Todd Brunson (16th), Andrew Kelsall (15th), and Mike Matusow (14th) all were eliminated before play concluded for the night. As was the case on Day 1, Noori ended the day as chipleader after amassing an 870,000 chip stack to lead the remaining 13 players into Day 3.

Day 3 action resumes at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) on Saturday, June 23rd, with the PokerNews live reporting team on the floor to provide continuous live updates until an Event #44 Champion is crowned. So stay tuned to PokerNews.com for the ongoing coverage of Event #44, along with all the updates from the 2018 World Series of Poker!

Tags: Calvin Anderson Christopher Kruk Farzad Bonyadi Max Kruse Michael Noori Mike Matusow Mike Wattel Phil Ivey Randy Ohel

06-23-2018 02:10 UTC-7

Mike Matusow Eliminated in 14th Place ($14,864)

Mickey Doft

Level 20 : 8,000/16,000, 0 ante

On the final hand of the night, Mike Matusow raised from the button. Randy Ohel three-bet from the small blind, Kristijonas Andrulis called from the big blind, Matusow reraised all in for 31,000, Ohel reraised and Andrulis called.

On the initial draw Ohel stood pat, Andrulis drew two, Matusow drew three and Ohel bet. Andrulis called.

Ohel stood pat on the second draw, Andrulis drew one, Matusow drew one and Ohel bet. Andrulis called.

Both Ohel and Andrulis stood pat on the final draw and Matusow went into the tank for about three minutes.

"I'm all in and I don't know what the f*ck to do," said Matusow. "I literally don't know what the f*ck to do."

Eventually Matusow drew one, throwing away an .

Ohel check-called a bet from Andrulis who showed . Ohel mucked, Matusow showed , followed by a and was eliminated in 14th place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Randy Ohel	602,000	-48,000
Kristijonas Andrulis	304,000	124,000
Mike Matusow	Busted

Tags: Kristijonas Andrulis Mike Matusow Randy Ohel

06-23-2018 00:44 UTC-7

Andrew Kelsall Eliminated in 15th Place ($14,864)

Mickey Doft

Level 19 : 8,000/16,000, 0 ante

Andrew Kelsall raised from under the gun and Randy Ohel called from the cutoff.

Both drew two on the initial draw, Kelsall bet and Ohel called.

Kelsall drew one on the second draw, Ohel drew two, Kelsall bet his remaining 11,000 and Ohel called.

Kelsall drew one on the final draw and Ohel stood pat with . Kelsall showed , but caught another to bust in 15th place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Randy Ohel	488,000	48,000
Andrew Kelsall	Busted

Tags: Andrew Kelsall Randy Ohel

06-23-2018 00:44 UTC-7

Noori Ascends Over 900k

tRaMSt0p

Level 19 : 8,000/16,000, 0 ante

Farzad Bonyadi raised the cutoff to 16,000 and Michael Noori called in the small blind. Matt Glantz made it three bets to go from the big blind, and both Bonyadi and Noori called.

Noori drew two, Glantz drew one, and Bonyadi drew three. Glantz bet out 8,000 and both his opponents called.

Noori and Glantz both drew one, while Bonyadi asked for just two. Action checked around and each player drew one.

Action checked through again, and Noori fanned his and both Glantz and Bonyadi mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Noori	905,000	65,000
Matt Glantz	320,000	-20,000
Farzad Bonyadi	240,000	-90,000

Tags: Farzad Bonyadi Matt Glantz Michael Noori

06-23-2018 00:34 UTC-7

Tran Bluffs Tabb

tRaMSt0p

Level 19 : 8,000/16,000, 0 ante

Hanh Tran raised the button to 16,000 and Steven Tabb called in the big blind as both players drew two.

Tabb checked, and Tran bet 8,000 as Tabb called and drew two, while Tran stood pat.

Tabb checked again and Tran fired out a bet of 16,000. Tabb called, and drew one before leading out for 16,000.

Tran responded with a raise to 32,000, and Tabb entered the think-tank for over a minute before he folded.

Tran immediately showed for a bluff and then collected the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Hanh Tran	430,000	-10,000
Steven Tabb	180,000	-60,000

Tags: Steven Tabb Hanh Tran

06-23-2018 00:20 UTC-7

Todd Brunson Eliminated in 16th Place ($14,864)

Mickey Doft

Level 19 : 8,000/16,000, 0 ante

Michael Noori raised from the button, Todd Brunson called from the small blind, Quek Sheng three-bet from the big blind, Noori four-bet, Brunson called and Sheng called.

Brunson drew two on the first draw, Sheng drew two, Noori stood pat and action checked to Noori who bet. Both Brunson and Sheng called.

Brunson drew two on the second draw, Sheng drew two, Noori stood pat and Brunson bet his remaining 11,000. Sheng called, Noori raised and Sheng called.

Brunson drew two on the final draw, Sheng drew one, Noori stood pat and action was checked.

Noori tabled , Sheng showed for a useless straight, and Brunson sweated his final two cards showing . He turned over an and to bust in 16th place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Noori	690,000	106,000
Quek Sechariah Sheng	250,000	-110,000
Todd Brunson	Busted

Tags: Michael Noori Quek Sheng Todd Brunson

06-22-2018 23:44 UTC-7

Anderson Takes the Chip Lead from Noori

tRaMSt0p

Level 18 : 6,000/12,000, 0 ante

Calvin Anderson raised the cutoff to 12,000 and Michael Noori made it three bets to go from the button. Anderson called, and drew two, as Noori drew one.

Anderson check-called 6,000 as the same draw was repeated. Anderson checked, Noori bet 12,000, and Anderson check-raised to 24,000.

Noori called and drew one after Anderson stood pat.

Anderson bet out 24,000, and Noori flashed an and folded.

Player	Chips	Progress
Calvin Anderson	660,000	55,000
Michael Noori	590,000	-50,000

06-22-2018 23:41 UTC-7

Jordan Siegel Eliminated in 17th Place ($14,864)

Mickey Doft

Level 18 : 6,000/12,000, 0 ante

Calvin Anderson raised from the button and Jordan Siegel called from the big blind.

Siegel drew two on the first draw, Anderson drew three, Siegel bet and Anderson called.

Siegel drew one on the second draw, Anderson drew two, Siegel bet, Anderson raised and Siegel called all in for 14,000.

Siegel drew one on the final draw while Anderson stood pat and tabled . Siegel was drawing live with , but squeezed another to bust in 17th place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Calvin Anderson	605,000	20,000
Jordan Siegel	Busted

Tags: Calvin Anderson Jordan Siegel

06-22-2018 23:30 UTC-7

Max Kruse is the Bubble Boy of Event #44

tRaMSt0p

Level 18 : 6,000/12,000, 0 ante

The action folded to Max Kruse on the button, and he splashed in his last 4,000. Farzad Bonyadi folded the small blind, and Calvin Anderson was bound to a call from the big blind.

Both players drew two, and on the second draw, they each drew two again.

"I have a good hand!" stated Anderson as he stood pat.

"I have a good hand too." responded Kruse.

Kruse thought a little more, and then showed the and tossed it to the muck.

Anderson tabled his for a number three.

"I have a chance..." added Kruse as he revealed his for a wheel draw.

Needing a five or six to keep his tournament life alive, the remaining players had gathered around Kruse to watch him sweat.

As he began squeezing, he stated, "We have a chance!"

Eventually, Kruse was unable to strike one of his outs as he peeled the for a pair and consequently was eliminated from the tournament in 18th place as the bubble boy. If that wasn't brutal enough, it's the second time Kruse bubbled a 10k 2-7 tournament after just missing out on the money in Event #23: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship earlier this series.