WSOP Event #26: Only 15 Players Secured Their Seats For Day 3

Players gathered in the Brasilia room for the second play day of the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. Of the 124 players who made it through Day 1, only 63 would eventually end in the money.

Justin Bonomo entered the day as one of the bigger stacks in the field and continued to work his way up on the leaderboard. In one of the early hands, he raised from the cutoff, Tam Ho three-bet from the small blind, Tim Edenhoeh called from the big blind and so did Bonomo. The flop came , Ho bet, Edenhoeh folded, Bonomo raised and Ho thought for a second before making the call.

The turn brought , Ho checked, Bonomo bet and Ho called. The river came , Ho bet and Bonomo decided to call. Ho showed and Bonomo turned over to take down the pot and climb up to 53,000, while Ho dropped down to 25,000.

Shannon Elisabeth nurtured her short stack for a while, long enough to make it into Day 2, but her short stack just couldn't take her any further. She was sent to the rail early on, the board read 7-K-A-8-3 and her A-Q wasn't good enough since Yan Peng Li held pocket kings. While most of the players were busy building up their stacks or just hoping to limp into the money, Barry  Greenstein (pictured left) figured it would be wiser to go play a few hands in the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Heads-up event and leave his current stack to slowly bleed - which wasn't as bad as it might sound, since there were no antes.

The bubble finally approached and even though Kieu Duong was one of those players who were hoping for the bubble to be burst, she wasn't exactly rooting for it to be her. Noah Boeken raised from under the gun, everyone folded except Kieu Duong who made a three-bet from the small blind. Boeken made the call and the flop came .

Duong led out, Boeken asked her how much she had left and then put her all-in. Duong made the call and revealed , while Boeken showed . In the end, board read to give Boeken a flush and knock Duong out in 64th place. This hand boosted Boeken's stack up to 82,000.

Boeken's good run continued in a hand shortly after and believe it or not, he caught his flush again on the river. Jason Tam opened with a raise from the cutoff, Boeken three-bet from the button, the big blind called and Tam both called. The flop came A-Q-6  with two clubs. Action was checked to Boeken who bet, the big blind folded, Tam check-raised and Boeken called.

The turn card was a blank, as in not a club, Tam bet and Boeken called. The river came  , Tam bet, Boeken raised and Tam wasn't too pleased but still made the call. Same as it was with the bubble, Boeken again rivered the club flush, as he held this time. Tam said something along the line about a bad beat and Boeken replied "That sort of thing happens to me all the time online." Either way, Boeken passed the 150,000 chip mark by winning this hand and Tam was left with 42,000.
Barry Greenstein sacrificed most of his chips so that he could play in the heads-up event, but his stack was big enough to carry him into the top 63 spots. Being down to a short stack, he was eventually sent to the rail after his lost to David Hart's , since another queen came on the board.

Justin Bonomo (pictured right) went from the upper half of the leaderboard to the bottom half and eventually, his short stack ran dry and he was busted in 30th place. Bonomo's last hand saw Keikoan raise from early position, Bonomo re-raised from the cutoff and Keikoan made the call. The flop came and Bonom soon found all of his chips in the middle. Keikoan showed while Bonomo revealed . A jack on the turn gave Bonomo some hope, but the river brought a blank and Bonomo was out.

The last one to fall before the play came to an end on Day 2 was Dale Burner. He took a severe blow in a hand against Cole Miller. Miller raised from under the gun and action folded around to Dale Burner who called from the big blind. The flop came . Burner checked, Miller Bet 5,000, Burner check-raised to 10,000 and then they realized they weren't betting the right amounts - the bets after the flop were 10,000 on the current level, not 5,000. Consequently, action on the flop ended up being just a bet and call.

The turn came , Burner checked, Miller bet and Burner called. The river brought , Burner checked again, Miller bet and Burner called. Miller turned over and Buner mucked. Cole went up to 152,000 while Burner was crippled to just 17,000.

Burner's last hand in the tournament came shortly afterwards. He found himself all-in against Miller and Richard Brodie. Miller left the pot after Brodie fired a bet on the turn. In the end, the board read . Brodie held for a pair of eights and it was good enough since Burner had . With Burner out, only 15 players secured their seats for Day 3.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks entering Day 3:

World Series Of Poker Event #26 Standings
Rank	Name	Chips
1st	Al Barbieri	400,000
2nd	Demetrios Arvanetes	340,000
3rd	Tomas Alenius	322,000
4th	Kim-Phong Duong	272,000
5th	Ken Dickenson	230,000
6th	Rep Porter	196,000
7th	Glenn Engelbert	173,000
8th	Andrew Kerstine	161,000
9th	Richard Brodie	152,000
10th	Jason Tam	144,000