Martin Zamani moved all in from the small blind for 360,000 and was called by Jose Nadal in the big blind.
Martin Zamani: 10♦9♥
Jose Nadal: A♣7♥
Zamani, the overnight chip leader, was behind and neither player could connect with the K♥Q♦5♠8♣2♣ board and Nadal won the pot with ace-high. Zamani's entertaining rollercoaster of a tournament has derailed as he headed out in 15th place.
Francis Anderson announced all-in through the sigh of someone that knew they were in trouble after shoving over the top of a 575,000 chip three-bet from Jose Nadal, with Nadal snap calling.
Jose Nadal: A♠A♣
Francis Anderson: K♠K♦
"I just knew. It's the only thing that made sense and I had a feeling too," said Anderson as the cards were on their backs.
There would be barely a sweat as the dealer rolled out the 2♦2♥A♦ flop.
The 8♦ turn ended the hand and the 2♠ on the river secured the double for Nadal.
Stephen Buell was under the gun and bet 550,000 only leaving 5,000 behind. Diego Ventura on the button moved all in and covered all of the remaining players. Wayne Harmon in the small blind called for 1,100,000 and Buell flicked in his remaining 5,000 chip.
Stephen Buell: Q♥10♠
Wayne Harmon: 7♠7♥
Diego Ventura: 9♠9♥
Ventura was in the lead with pocket nines and held after the board of K♦3♠2♦6♦5♣ did not improve either Buell or Harmon who both exited the competition. Ventura is on course to be the second Peruvian to win a WSOP Gold Bracelet.
Diego Ventura raised to 320,000 from early position and Anthony Hu three-bet to 3,000,000 from the big blind, leaving only a small percentage of chips behind.
Ventura quickly moved all-in and Hu called.
Anthony Hu: A♥Q♠
Diego Ventura: 9♠9♥
Hu would need to win the flip to survive, but the 5♣J♦2♦ flop offered no additional help.
The 10♣ on the turn did provide Hu with additional straight outs, but the 9♣ on the river solidified the knock-out and sent Hu to the payout desk.
Jimmy Setna raised to 320,000 before Jason James moved all in on the button for 2,300,000. The blinds got out of the way, but Setna quickly called.
Jason James: A♠Q♠
Jimmy Setna: J♣J♥
The 10♦6♠6♥ flop didn't help James. "Higher," he asked the dealer, who obliged by turning over the A♥. "There we go," James added as he now had the lead with a pair of aces.
The river came the 6♦ and James doubled up.
Josh Palmer, who earlier eliminated Phil Hellmuth to claim his bounty, open-shoved from the small blind for 2,455,000 and was snap-called by Jose Nadal in the big blind.
Josh Palmer: A♣10♥
Jose Nadal: A♥A♠
Palmer ran into the pocket aces of Nadal and was dead on the flop after the board of A♦7♠7♣9♦K♣. Palmer goes home with $25,887 as well as the $2,007 bounty of Hellmuth who will be telling the story to friends, family or anyone with earshot that he knocked out the greatest of all time.
Martin Jacobson raised from early position and Qing Liu moved all-in from the small blind, with Jacobson making the quick call.
Qing Liu: 3♥3♣
Martin Jacobson: A♣K♦
Jacobson out-flopped Liu on the 9♦A♦9♠ board and Liu would head to the rail after being unable to catch up on the 2♣ turn or the 5♣ river.
Jason James had won the previous two pots with all-in shoves before he moved all in again from the cutoff. Louie Torres snap-called for 1,500,000 on the button and the blinds both got out of the way.
Louie Torres: A♠K♦
Jason James: 2♥2♣
James remained in front as the board came 4♦5♦Q♥6♦ as Torres was already standing up from his seat preparing to make his exit. The river, though, brought the A♣ to keep him alive in the tournament.
"Push or fold. The strategy hasn't failed yet. Hopefully, everybody gets knocked out before me," Torres said as he sat back down.
Day 2 of Event #86 $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em has reached a conclusion for the evening at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
From the 150 players who started the day only nine remain to return on Saturday, July 15th to compete for the $402,054 first-place prize money and the beautiful World Series of Poker gold bracelet.
Diego Ventura of Peru will come into Day 3 as the overwhelming chip leader with 13,350,000 chips. That is around a quarter of the chips in play. He will be looking to be the first Peruvian to claim a WSOP Bracelet in Las Vegas.
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | 3,275,000 | 13 |
| 2 | Thomas Kysar | United States | 8,925,000 | 36 |
| 3 | Diego Ventura | Peru | 13,350,000 | 53 |
| 4 | Francis Anderson | United States | 1,625,000 | 7 |
| 5 | Jimmy Setna | Canada | 2,600,000 | 10 |
| 6 | Jose Nadal | Mexico | 2,825,000 | 11 |
| 7 | Jason James | Canada | 4,675,000 | 19 |
| 8 | Louie Torres | United States | 3,400,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Leonid Yanovski | Israel | 1,850,000 | 7 |
In second place is Thomas Kysar with 8,925,000 and, more importantly, he will be sitting in position from Ventura during the final table. From this position, Kysar may prove to be a thorn in Ventura's side.
The rest of the field will return with less than 20 big blinds each, including the 2014 Main Event champion Martin Jacobson (3,275,000) who will be vying for his second bracelet.
From the fifteen Hall of Fame bounties that entered Day 1, only two made it through to Day 2. The 2022 inductee Eli Elezra was the first bounty to be claimed by the erratic Nitis Udornpim. Udornpim cracked Elezra's pocket queens by hitting a straight with ten-nine suited to claim the $2,022 bounty.
Seventeen-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth had a tremendous run in the tournament which came to a halt after making it all the way to 19th place. His day ended after Josh Palmer made a flush, beating Hellmuth’s pocket-eights. Palmer went on to finish 11th to collect $25,887 as well as the bounty prize of $2,007.
Following Palmer’s elimination, the remaining players combined to make the unofficial final table. Qing Liu was only just getting comfortable in his new seat when he busted out, running his pocket threes into Jacobson’s big slick which flopped an ace to take the pot.
Play will resume in the Horseshoe Events Center at noon local time on one of the feature tables. Blinds will start at 125,000/250,000 and a big blind ante of 250,000. Play will continue until a winner is decided.
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