Iraj Parvizi Continues to Lead Event #67: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller After Day 2
The end of Day 2 in Event #67: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller has come with just 20 players remaining. Iraj Parvizi continues to lead the way with 3,750,000 chips after a rollercoaster day.
Parvizi came into the day with the chip lead and quickly found himself over the 1,000,000 chip mark. However, not long after, Parvizi was back down to around 400,000. He continued to bounce around 1,000,000 chips for some time before vaulting himself into a massive chip lead. Parvizi made his first WSOP cash earlier this summer in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet event. He will be looking to substantially increase his career live earnings as he currently has just $13,992.
Dario Sammartino made a big run at the end of the night, bagging 2,675,000. Alexey Rybin (1,650,000) and Aaron Katz (1,505,000) also bagged healthy stacks to return to on Day 3.
The day started with 103 players returning from Day 1, and with 18 more players registering before the start of play, that brought the total entries to 205. That broke the record from the previous two years for the number of entries into this event. With that, a prizepool of 4,868,750 was formed with 31 players getting paid. They would all be in search of the first place prize of $1,289,074 and the WSOP gold bracelet.
Many of those that took to late registration tried to run up a stack early on, but the only one succeeding to make it through a tough Day 2 was Esther Taylor. She built her chip stack to over 1,000,000 by the dinner break and held on to bag 515,000 at the conclusion of play.
When it came time to get serious around the money bubble, hand-for-hand play lasted over an hour until Konstantin Bucherl busted at the hands of Dan Smith. Bucherl flopped the nut straight but when the board paired on the turn, Smith's flopped set turned into a full house. The remaining players were all guaranteed $37,776.
Once the bubble burst, the eliminations started coming a lot faster. The likes of John Beauprez (31st place - $37,776), Jason Gray (27th place - $37,776), and Max Silver (22nd place - $42,393) all hit the rail before the night was over.
With many notable faces entering the field for this high roller event, it was a fact that not all of them would find success. Some of those to fall early on in Day 2 included Sam Trickett, David Williams, Bryn Kenney, Daniel Cates, Eric Wasserson, Brian Rast, Roberto Romanello, Jason Mercier, Phil Galfond, Chris Ferguson, and JC Tran.
When play resumes on Friday at 2 p.m. local time, players will be scheduled to play down to a final table and then return for the final day on Saturday. Continue to follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team for all of the updates.
Day 3 Seat Assignments
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 2 | 1 | Esther Taylor | United States | 515,000 | 17 |
| Amazon | 2 | 2 | Eddie Ochana | United States | 560,000 | 19 |
| Amazon | 2 | 3 | empty | |||
| Amazon | 2 | 4 | James Park | United Kingdom | 2,045,000 | 68 |
| Amazon | 2 | 5 | Ashton Griffin | United States | 600,000 | 20 |
| Amazon | 2 | 6 | William Kakon | United States | 995,000 | 33 |
| Amazon | 2 | 7 | Rifat Palevic | Sweden | 1,300,000 | 43 |
| Amazon | 2 | 8 | Felix Bleiker | Switzerland | 700,000 | 23 |
| Amazon | 5 | 1 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 2,675,000 | 89 |
| Amazon | 5 | 2 | Alexey Rybin | Russia | 1,650,000 | 55 |
| Amazon | 5 | 3 | Dan Smith | United States | 980,000 | 33 |
| Amazon | 5 | 4 | Aaron Katz | United States | 1,505,000 | 50 |
| Amazon | 5 | 5 | Tommy Le | United States | 830,000 | 28 |
| Amazon | 5 | 6 | empty | |||
| Amazon | 5 | 7 | Iraj Parvizi | United Kingdom | 3,750,000 | 125 |
| Amazon | 5 | 8 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 680,000 | 23 |
| Amazon | 7 | 1 | Mike Krasienko | United States | 1,045,000 | 35 |
| Amazon | 7 | 2 | James Calderaro | United States | 3,000,000 | 100 |
| Amazon | 7 | 3 | Ben Tollerene | United States | 910,000 | 30 |
| Amazon | 7 | 4 | Martin Kozlov | Australia | 355,000 | 12 |
| Amazon | 7 | 5 | empty | |||
| Amazon | 7 | 6 | Michael Kamran | United States | 465,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | 7 | 7 | Artem Babakhanyan | Russia | 1,070,000 | 36 |
| Amazon | 7 | 8 | empty |
flop, Smith potted, putting Sammartino to a decision for the rest of his chips. Sammartino looked uncomfortable, stared at Smith for a little while, and after a couple minutes, he called. 
turn and the 
river were safe for Sammartino. He doubled through and Smith took a hit to his stack before bagging for the night.
, and Babakhanyan won with aces up. Hu was eliminated in 21st place for a payout of $42,393.
failed to improve the Brit, sending Silver to the rail in 22nd place for $42,393.
turn and Rybin also checked the 
. Rybin had that beat with 
. Smith bet 60,000 from the small blind and Bucherl called. The 
turn paired the board and Smith bet 150,000. After a long pause, Bucherl called. 
for twos full of threes, and Bucherl's 
was briefly tabled and mucked. 
