WSOP Event #2 Recap – $40,000 NL Holdem Day 2

Day 2 of Event #2 started with 89 players returning and looking to make the money in this event. Among them were chip leaders Bruno Fitoussi and Chris Moneymaker whom finished the night one and two in the chip counts. Others looking to make a deep run in this event were Greg Raymer, Ted Forrest, Tony G, Vanessa Rousso, and JC Tran.

Mike Matusow made up some ground early, eliminating two players and moving up to 352,000 in chips. Doyle Brunson was not so lucky as he moved in with K-Q of hearts against the pocket 10’s of Matthew Marafioti. Brunson would catch a straight draw on the turn when Marafioti hit his set, but the river card came a blank and Doyle’s quest for bracelet number 11 was history.

Michael DeMichelle was eliminated in a huge hand against Lex Veldhuis. At the river, with the board showing 10-8-5-8-5, DeMichele was all in against Velhuis. When the cards were flipped, DeMichele held pocket aces for aces up and Velhuis showed pocket eights for quad eights. DeMichele hit the rail and Velhuis moved to over a Million in chips.

Greg Raymer started to make a move in this field. He started his ascension by cracking the pocket kings of Ville Wahlbeck with A-J. Flop and river aces would end Wahlbeck’s day and put Raymer at around 410,000 in chips for the time beings. Chris Moneymaker would slip a bit but would get back to nearly 700,000 in chips after he knocked out Antonio Esfandiari with A-K vs. A-Q.

Justin Bonomo would move over a Million in chips after his pocket kings sent Kyle Wilson to the rail. Phil Ivey would have more time to watch the L.A. Lakers make their 30th NBA final when he was knocked out by David Baker. Ivey was all-in with A-Q and could not outdraw the pocket 10’s of Baker. Not long afterwards, Chris Moneymaker found himself sitting with over a Million in chips after his pocket kings sent Johnannes Strassmann to the rail. However, it was Brian Townsend that held the lead at the time as he has over 1.5 Million in chips after eliminating Emil Patel.

Greg Raymer continued to climb as he knocked out Huck Seed and moved over 538,000 in chips. Vanessa Rousso had a rough start to her day and had to finally move in with K-4 offsuit. She was able to catch a four to hang on and move to 165,000 in chips. Mike Matusow was eliminated shortly thereafter when his pocket sevens were outdrawn by the A-10 of Keith Lehr. Lehr spiked an ace on the river and Matusow headed over to play Omaha Hi-Lo.

Greg Raymer then proceeded to catch quite a bit of a heater and skyrocketed up the leaderboard. After eliminating James Mackey, he sat with 1.66 Million in chips, and was the chip leader for the time being. Chris Moneymaker meanwhile started heading in the wrong direction. After taking a small hit to his stack earlier, he was involved in a big pot with Tony G. After a raise from Tony G, Moneymaker moved all-in. Tony G made the call with A-K of diamonds. Moneymaker held pocket queens. The flop call three low clubs, but the turn came the king of clubs to give Tony G the lead. The river fell the jack of diamonds to give Tony G a double up to 830,000. Moneymaker was left with only 230,000.

Greg Raymer would then increase his chip lead after eliminating Humberto Brenes. Brenes moved in with A-7 and Raymer called with pocket nines. Nines held and Raymer moved to 1.42 Million. As Raymer was moving up, Moneymaker was moving out. Moneymaker was all-in for his last 200,000 in chips and was called by Ted Forest. Moneymaker held pocket tens and Forrest held pocket kings. Both players flopped a set, and after the turn of the 7d, Moneymaker was left needing the case 10 to win. His 45 to 1 long shot did not happen as another jack hit the river and Moneymaker was eliminated about 11 spots shy of cashing.

Raymer would eliminate Steve Zolotow and move up to 2.27 Million in chips. His A-K would outdraw the pocket queens of Zolotow. David Baker would eliminate two players at once with pocket queens to take us down to the final 30 players. Alec Torelli helped to knock Greg Raymer out of the chip lead when he doubled up through Raymer with pocket jacks. However, Raymer still held 1.75 Million in chips.

Nam Le was and Phil Galfond were knocked out in 30th and 29th place respectively and the bubble period was upon us. Frank Kasella was able to triple up with A-J when an ace spiked the turn. Tony G put the other players on notice that he was not playing to cash as he was involved in two sizable pots at the bubble period. The later of the two pots saw him double up with K-5 of clubs against the A-Q of Isaac Haxton.

Ultimately, it would be Neil Chriss that would become this event’s bubble boy. He moved all-in on a flop with A-9-6 holding A-4 of spades. Alec Torelli called with 8-7 offsuit for an open ended straight draw. The turn fell a five to give Torelli his straight and send Chriss home in 28th place.

At the conclusion of bubble play, a card was draw and it was a six. As a result, six hands remained in the day. Amazingly, in those six hands, we lost four players. The first to go was Vanessa Rousso. She moved all-in for 350,000 and was called by Keith Lehr with A-K. Rousso led the flop and turn but the dreaded ace on the river sent Rousso home in 27th place.

Tony G doubled up again through Matt Marafioti when he flopped trip aces holding A-10. Marafioti held pocket sevens and could not catch a seven to outdraw Tony. Tony G sat with 400,000 chips after the hand. Marafioti would get those chips back when he took out J.C. Tran. Tran called an all-in bet holding Q-J offsuit but ran smack into pocket queens. Marafioti would flop a set of queens and Tran headed out in 26th place. Sorel Mizzi was the next to fall when his pocket queens were outdrawn by the A-K of David Baker. The last elimination of the day was David Pham who moved in with Q-9 of spades and was met by a call by Matt Marafioti who held pocket kings. Tran would flop an open ended straight draw, but the turn and river would not cooperate. As a result, Pham would be come our 24th place finisher. Everyone eliminated from 27th to 24th received $71,858 in prize money.
At the end of Day 2, Justin Bonomo took over as the chip leader with 2.678 Million in chips. David Baker is in 2nd with 2.367 in chips and Greg Raymer is third with 2.287 in chips. Other players remaining include Andy Black, Tony G, Brian Rast , and David Chiu.

The remaining 23 players will return at 2 P.M. PDT Saturday and play will continue until we reach a final table. We will bring you a recap of the action from this event and ever event at this 2009 WSOP.

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