One day down and two remain in Event #28: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw, and 61 players are still in contention for just a hair under $110,000 and a piece of gold World Series of Poker jewelry.
They've advanced through a field that started at 326, and they're just a couple of tables away from the money as 49 places will be paid. The money bubble should burst fairly early here on Day 2, and we'll likely see a final table reached as well before the chips are placed in the bags once again.
After a 10-level grind on Wednesday, another 10 levels are on tap for Day 2, starting with betting limits of 1,200/2,400 and progressing up to 10,000/20,000 if all goes as planned on the WSOP structure sheet. Each level will be one hour, as usual, and there's a one-hour dinner break scheduled for after Level 16.
When play gets under way at 2 p.m. local time, Mark Roland will be the man to catch with a stack of 116,600. Plenty of hungry, talented players will be coming for the top spot, including Jon "PearlJammer" Turner (75,500), limit crusher Ian Johns (64,400), Rep Porter (56,900), Shaun Deeb (49,000), Rob Mizrachi (38,300), Dzmitry Urbanovich (37,900) and Daniel Negreanu (19,900).
Once the first card is in the air, PokerNews will be bringing all of the live updates right here, so don't go anywhere.
Brian Tate was in the hijack and raised. Daniel Negreanu was in the cutoff and made it three bets. Tate then re-raised to four bets, and Negreanu called. Tate drew one card, and Negreanu drew two cards.
Tate bet, and Negreanu moved all in for his remaining 900. Negreanu took one card, and Tate stood pat.
Both players stood pat on the final street, and Tate tabled a wheel. Negreanu flashed his cards before they hit the muck, and Tate won the pot and got the elimination.
Chris Bjorin got his last 4,000 in before the first draw and was at risk against both blinds. Yuval Bronshtein and Mark Roland each took three, while Bjorin drew one. Two checks later, Bronshtein took three, Roland two, and Bjorin again one. On the last draw, Bronshtein took two and Roland one.
Bjorin looked at his card, chuckled in exasperation, and asked for a final card.
"Slowly but surely, we're catching up," Roland said with a laugh.
Bronshtein checked and folded to a final bet, and Roland said he had eight-six, fanning .
Bjorin flashed what looked like a nine-seven, and the Swedish legend took his leave.
Ian Johns put his last 2,000 in from the cutoff, and the small blind called but folded to a raise from Mike Wattel.
Both players drew one on the first two, but Wattel made something, as he patted on the third. Johns broke a , and Wattel showed . Johns squeezed out what he said was a no-spotter, and it turned out to be an .
Helge Stjernvang (button), Brendan Taylor (small blind), and Jason Riesenberg (big blind) put in four bets apiece before the draw, and Taylor took two. Riesenberg took one and Stjernvang two. Riesenberg bet, Stjernvang called, and Taylor raised.
Two calls later, Taylor patted. Riesenberg took a card, and Stjernvang took two. Taylor bet, Riesenberg called, and Stjernvang called off his last few thousand. He was the only one drawing, as the other two were pat. Taylor bet, Riesenberg raised, and Taylor called but could not beat . Stjernvang had a chance, as he had . He turned over a , though, and the final 12 players will go to two tables now.
Mark Roland bet after the second draw from the big blind, and Brendan Taylor raised from the button. Roland fired in another raise, and Taylor reraised to put him all in. Both players patted.
"I've got a number five," Roland said.
"I've got that beat," Taylor said with a slight shake of the head. He showed .
Roland fanned his eight-perfect on the felt and took his payout slip.
Mike Wattel got his last 11,000 in after losing a pot to Brendan Taylor where Taylor made a nine-perfect.
This hand Wattel was heads up and at risk against Max Kruse. Both players drew two on the first draw, one on the second draw, and one on the third draw.
Wattel was drawing with and paired his three. Kruse was drawing with and hit a queen to make .
to eliminate Pescatori.
, and Wattel showed 
.
