Samuel Phillips Leads After Day 2 of Event #52; Mercier Eyes Bracelet No. Six
After a slow start to the day here on Day 2 of Event #52: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, the pace quickly picked up until there were only 23 players remaining.
Leading the way is Samuel Phillips (1,289,000), but only just. Phillips benefited from the late elimination of former NFL defensive end Richard Seymour late in the last level of the night to pip Jamie Florence (1,284,000) to the overnight chip lead.
Other players over 1,000,000 in chips include Mohsin Charania (1,045,000), Brandon Ageloff (1,200,000) and Griffin Malatino (1,114,000).
There are still a whole host of names still in the mix for the title, bracelet and $364,438 in prize money, most notably last year’s WSOP player of the year Jason Mercier (457,000). Joining him are Andy Frankenberger (525,000), and Rainer Kempe (240,000).
Mikhail Rudoy doubled through Christopher Chabris in the last hand of the night to leave his opponent with less than one big blind coming into Day 3.
The start of the day was marred by stalling with play just nine eliminations away from the money and a min-cash worth $2,254. Eventually the bubble burst when Noah Vaillancourt’s ace-queen was bested by the pocket Kings of Mohsin Charania during the first level of the day.
From there a steady stream of players headed to the cage. Those receiving a min-cash included Tom Schneider, Manig Loeser and Sergi Reixach, while four-time bracelet winnerJeff Madsen, Dominique Terzian and Andy Spears were lucky enough to ladder into the $2,346 payout.
Barry Greenstein notched yet another WSOP cash; his ninth this year, and took home $2,477 for his 156th place.
As the day drew one, another multiple bracelet winner left the field in Dan Heimiller (44th - $7,536), while Eugene Katchalov (35th - $9,107) and Kelly Minkin (26th - $11,144) both bust with less than two hours to go in the day.
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasilia | 700 | 1 | Scott Horvath | United States | 337,000 | 28 |
| Brasilia | 700 | 2 | Jack Allen | United Kingdom | 459,000 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 700 | 3 | Ian Steinman | United States | 268,000 | 22 |
| Brasilia | 700 | 4 | Andy Frankenberger | United States | 525,000 | 44 |
| Brasilia | 700 | 5 | Milan Simko | Czech Republic | 411,000 | 34 |
| Brasilia | 700 | 6 | Yanki Koppel | United States | 436,000 | 36 |
| Brasilia | 700 | 7 | Lorne Wechsler | Canada | 220,000 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 700 | 9 | Jason Mercier | United States | 457,000 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 701 | 3 | Mikhail Rudoy | Russia | 216,000 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 701 | 4 | Phil Collins | United States | 258,000 | 22 |
| Brasilia | 701 | 5 | Denny Crum | United States | 170,000 | 8 |
| Brasilia | 701 | 6 | Griffin Malatino | United States | 1,114,000 | 93 |
| Brasilia | 701 | 7 | Samuel Phillips | United States | 1,289,000 | 107 |
| Brasilia | 701 | 8 | Christopher Chabris | United States | 14,000 | 1 |
| Brasilia | 701 | 9 | Parker Drew | United States | 394,000 | 32 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 1 | Brandon Ageloff | United States | 1,200,000 | 100 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 2 | Cary Katz | United States | 145,000 | 12 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 3 | James Florence | Canada | 1,284,000 | 107 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 4 | Mohsin Charania | United States | 1,045,000 | 87 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 5 | Alexander Elias | United Kingdom | 847,000 | 71 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 6 | Alexandre Reard | France | 122,000 | 10 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 7 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 240,000 | 20 |
| Brasilia | 702 | 9 | Mathieu Selides | France | 399,000 | 33 |