Looking at Matt Berkey's stack, it's fair to say that there haven't been many players who would successfully tangle with the American high roller in the Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed.
But Mark Soik might be one of the few who have the vibes to avoid Berkey's domination. Soik doubled through Berkey earlier in this level, hitting a straight with king-queen against Berkey's ace-nine.
That victory clearly wasn't enough for Soik, who doubled through Berkey once again just a few moments ago. Soik had a worse starting hand again, and it was a bigger problem this time as he was in only about a 20-percent shape to scoop the pot.
Sporting the Green Bay Packers jacket, Soik was all in with for 26,300, trailing to Berkey's . The flop kept Berkey in lead but Soik hit his bingo on the turn. The on the river sealed the deal for Soik.
He apologized for cracking Berkey, but he took the bad beat very well. It was only a minor sting as Berkey is still crushing with close to 300,000 in chips.
We arrived at the table to see on the board already.
Sylvain Loosli, on the big blind, bet 22,500 and was called by Ka Kwan Lau sitting on the under the gun position.
The river was the , Loosli proceeded with going all in and had Lau covered. Lau took his time and, in the end, made the call. Loosli showed the for a full house and Lau threw his cards into the muck and grabbed his stuff.
There was 9,200 in front of Paul Volpe, who was sitting in the small blind. His neighbor, Perati Muhamet, had even larger chunk lying a few inches closer to the middle. Muhamet's four-bet from the button was worth 18,200 and Volpe matched that price with a call.
They went to the flop where Muhamet continued with a small bet worth 8,600. Volpe asked how much was it and then check-called.
The turn was the and Volpe checked yet again. Muhamet moved all in for 27,800 and Volpe snap-called, showing . Muhamet held , the ten on the turn having brought him an up-and-down straight draw.
Muhamet got there on the river, and Volpe's stack suffered a huge blow while Muhamet elevated over 100,000.
On the turn reading , Dietrich Fast called Shannon Shorr's bet of 10,200.
The two famous players saw the land on the river and Shorr slowed down with a check. Fast didn't act immediately but eventually declared all in for just over 30,000 effectively.
Shorr needed about two minutes to make his decision and then threw some of his chips forward, making the call. Fast showed for a flopped set and Shorr wanted to muck his hand, conceding. As it was an all-in situation, the dealer turned Shorr's hand over and everyone at the table saw that he called with .
We picked up the action on the turn of a 40,000-chip pot and a board reading . Justin Bonomo was facing a bet of 18,300 and made the call.
The river was the and Bonomo's opponent checked. Bonomo thought for just a moment before announcing he was all in. This put Bonomo's opponent deep into the tank.
About five minutes went by without Bonomo flinching in the slightest. His opponent squirmed and agonized over the decision before eventually making the call.
Bonomo tabled for two pair and his opponent mucked , having made a pair of aces but bricking out on a nut-flush draw.
With the pot, Bonomo appears to be the new tournament chip leader.
Welcome to Day 2 of Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed at the 2017 World Series of Poker. Just 263 out of 1,748 players who started yesterday will return to play 10-and-a-half 60-minute levels today. Everyone is guaranteed a minimum of $2,247, but they will all be trying their best for that WSOP gold bracelet and $393,273 prize for first.
The chip leader is Dustin Bush with 182,800 chips, aiming to win his first-ever bracelet. Trailing behind him in the chip counts are Sebastian Winkelmann (177,300), Matt Berkey (166,500), Danny Noam (155,400), Aditya Agarwal (140,000), Matthew Zarcadoolas (138,300), David Levy (136,400) and Mike Holm (136,000).
There are still lots of other notable names to pay attention to like Benjamin Zamani, Paul Volpe, Maurice Hawkins, Justin Bonomo, Shannon Shorr and many, many more. Another name we feel like we should mention is Jared Jacobmeyer, who managed to fold himself into the money with only 200 chips left. He remains short, though, and will have to work hard to fight his way to the top.
Day 2 will kick off at 12 noon on Friday inside the Miranda room, and bust outs might go quickly in the beginning. So keep following the live updates right here on PokerNews to find out who will make it to Day 3 and take that bracelet home.