Day 2 of Event #33: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em started today with 274 players knowing that the bubble would burst soon after play began. Two hundred and fifty-five players cashed for at least $2,251, but all of them had their hopes set on the first prize of $384,833 and the coveted gold WSOP bracelet.
Only 22 players advanced to Day 3 on Monday, and the chip leader going into the day will be Ryan Leng with 1,370,000 chips. Second in chips is Ron Rosenberg with 1,162,000, and third in the chip counts is Christopher Frank with 1,103,000. Other notables still in are Michael Gagliano (820,000), Pratyush Buddiga (757,000), Tom Hall (658,000) and four-time bracelet winner Max Pescatori (386,000).
Last night's leader Valetin Vornicu did not make it through the day. This is also the case for notables Jeff Gross, David Pham, Griffin Benger, Brandon Cantu, Allen Cunningham and Jose Barbero.
Day 3 will kick off at noon on Monday in the Brasilia room and play down to a winner. Follow all the updates here on PokerNews.
Jose Barbero, from middle position, limped. Michael Gagliano, from the button, raised to 40,000, Barbero called.
The flop came , and Barbero check-called a 35,000-chip bet from Gagliano. The turn was the , and they both checked. The on the river completed the board, Barbero checked and Gagliano bet 90,000. Barbero took his time to carefully consider his options and decided to call in the end.
Gagliano showed for a pair of queens, and Barbero mucked.
Johnny Donaldson raised to 17,000 from the under-the-gun position. Douglas Jackson, next to act, called. Christopher Frank, also in middle position, three-bet to 70,000. Donaldson folded, and Jackson took some time to think and then decided to shove all in. Frank called.
Christopher Frank:
Douglas Jackson:
Jackson needed some help to stay alive in this tournament, as Frank had him covered. The board ran out , nothing that could save Jackson, and he was on his way to the payout desk. Frank has over one million chips now.
Jose Barbero opened, and Matt Mercurio three-bet to 40,000 from the big blind. Barbero called.
The flop was . Mercurio continued for 30,000, and Barbero called. The turn was checked around, and the river completed the board.
Mercurio bet 67,000, and Barbero started to think. He took close to five minutes before saying, “It’s either kings or ace-queen.” A minute or so more passed before he called.
“You got it,” Mercurio said and turned over .
A little celebration ensued from Barbero as he tabled the winning .
Jonathan Abdellatif raised to 28,000 from the under-the-gun position. Noah Vaillancourt, in middle position, and Patrick Uzan, on the button, both called.
The flop came , Abdellatif went all in for his remaining 5,500, Vaillancourt raised, and Uzan snap-folded.
Abdellatif showed , and Vaillancourt showed . Abdellatif needed some help to survive. The on the turn and the on the river didn't give him any help, so he grabbed his stuff and went to the payout desk.
Khorchidian Nichan had just moved to Valentin Vornicu’s table, and he opened the pot. Vornicu greeted the new arrival by shoving for 70,000. Nichan called with , and Vornicu tabled .
The board ran out .
Start-of-day chip leader Vornicu flopped an open-ended straight draw but bricked out on the turn and river to finish off a disastrous couple levels which saw him busted from the tournament.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Just before the close of play, John Schmidt ran out of chips.
, and Barbero check-called a 35,000-chip bet from Gagliano. The turn was the 
on the river completed the board, Barbero checked and Gagliano bet 90,000. Barbero took his time to carefully consider his options and decided to call in the end.
for a pair of queens, and Barbero mucked.
, nothing that could save Jackson, and he was on his way to the payout desk. Frank has over one million chips now.
. Mercurio continued for 30,000, and Barbero called. The 
turn was checked around, and the 
river completed the board.
.
, Abdellatif went all in for his remaining 5,500, Vaillancourt raised, and Uzan snap-folded.
on the turn and the 
