Jon Turner raised on the button and was three-bet by Brandon Shack-Harris in the big blind. Turner called.
Shack-Harris drew one and Turner drew two on the first draw. Shack-Harris then bet and called a raise from Turner.
On the second draw, Shack-Harris drew one and Turner stood pat. Shack-Harris check-called a bet from Turner.
Both players stood pat on the end and checked down. Shack-Harris tabled 9x7x6x5x3x and Turner let out a sigh of relief and fanned out 8x7x6x5x3x to claim the large pot.
David Mead opened and was called by Nick Guagenti. Both players drew two and Guagenti check-called a bet.
Both players drew one and Guagenti check-called another bet.
Guagenti drew one and Mead stood pat. Guagenti checked and called one final bet from Mead.
"Wheel," said Mead, tabling 7x5x4x3x2x
Guagenti was left with just 65,000 and that went in the middle the very next hand against Travis Erdman. Erdman drew two on all three draws, with Guagenti drawing two on the first and standing pat on subsequent draws.
Nick Guagenti: 9x8x7x4x2x
Travis Erdman: 6x3x2x
Erdman couldn't pick up the cards he needed, drawing Jx8x in that order to secure the double for Guagenti.
Nick Guagenti was all-in before the first draw against David Mead. Guagenti was in fact wearing Mead's hat as he drew two, one and one. Mead on the other hand drew one, and then stood pat on the second and third draws.
Nick Guagenti: 7x5x4x2x
David Mead: 7x6x5x3x2x
Guagenti was live, but drew a 9x and was eliminated.
Jon Turner raised first to act and was three-bet by Aaron Cummings from directly behind. Andres Korn made it four bets to go from the button and both Turner and Cummings called.
Turner drew two, while Cummings and Korn both drew one. Action then checked through.
The same drawing action occurred on the second round and everyone checked again.
On the final draw, everyone drew one and it was checked to Korn, who bet. Turner folded, but Cummings looked Korn up and Korn tabled 9x7x5x3x2x.
Cummings tossed his hand into the muck and Korn, who was the short stack a short while ago, climbed to 1,700,000.
Last year, Aaron Cummings overcame a 574-player field in this event to win his first and only World Series of Poker bracelet thus far. A tire shop owner in Montana, Cummings only plays poker recreationally and occasionally dips into Vegas, as Montana has very few games running.
With work and family being his focus since his victory last year, the recreational player may not have had the highest hopes for a title defense coming in. That being said, after two full days of playing, he still finds himself in contention for the first successful WSOP title defense since Dan Cates' Poker Player Championship wins in 2021 and 2022.
Out of a field that once contained 574 hopefuls, only 10 players now stand between him and one of the most improbable feats in all of poker.
Cummings will resume his back-to-back quest at 1 p.m. local time in the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, where the lion's share of the $842,963 prize pool will be up for grabs. Besides the coveted bracelet, the winner will walk away $157,172 richer.
Chip Counts After Day 2
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Hideki Nakamura
Japan
2,920,000
2
Mike Krescanko Jr
United States
2,150,000
3
Andres Korn
Argentina
1,970,000
4
Travis Erdman
United States
1,725,000
5
James Tilton
United States
1,580,000
6
Nathan Gamble
United States
1,500,000
7
Aaron Cummings
United States
1,025,000
8
Kristan Lord
United States
1,000,000
9
David Mead
United States
740,000
10
Jon Turner
United States
710,000
11
Brandon Shack-Harris
United States
550,000
Chipleader Hideki Nakamura
Cummings will return eight in chips (1,025,000), putting him in the bottom half of the pack at the start of the final day. In order to win, the Montanan will have to plow his way through a stacked field containing such luminaries as Andres Korn (1,970,000), Nathan Gamble (1,500,000), Jon Turner (710,000), and Brandon Shack-Harris (550,000).
After topping the standings for most of the day, Shack-Harris tumbled down the leaderboard in the final few hours to be left with the shortest stack in the room. Other top pros such as Nick Guagenti (12th - $7,954) and Robert Mizrachi (15th - $7,954) also had deep runs, but while Shack-Harris was still able to find a bag, Guagenti and Mizrachi both got eliminated in the twilight stages of the day.
Coming back as the overnight chipleader is Japan's Hideki Nakamura with 2,920,000 in chips, sporting a healthy lead over the rest of the field led by the youngest of the Krescanko's, Mike Krescanko Jr (2.150,000), who was flanked by his father Mike Krescanko on the rail for a sizable portion of the day. The aforementioned Korn rounds out the top three.
Make sure to return at 1 p.m. Pacific time for the climax of this three-day event. As always, PokerNews will be on deck to cover the action wire-to-wire until the latest bracelet winner is crowned. Until then!
