WSOP Event #50: The Final Eight Players Determined

The second play day of the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout event saw 64 players returning to their seats, or at least most of them showed up on time. With the play about to begin, there were several seats still empty. Table #246 had only two of the eight players seated - Sam Hiatt and Erik Haakenson. "We put out a hit on the other players," joked Haakenson.

With the first cards shuffled up and dealt, some of the players immediately started working on their table image. Robert Lauria raised pre-flop and the action folded around to Humberto Brenes in the big blind who made the call. The flop came , Brenes checked, Lauria bet and Brenes swiftly check-raised. Lauria called and the action moved to the turn card . Brenes bet and Lauria called. The river came , Brenes fired again and Lauria called. Brenes tabled and Lauria mucked. "Put that in your computer. Humberto never bluffs," said Brenes to Clint Keown across the table. Humberto's pair of aces moved him up to 59,000 in chips while Lauria was down to 22,000 after this hand.

The action continued throughout the day in a steady pace, as the players fell down one by one and the tables were slowly left with just one player who thus secured himself the ticket into Day 3.

Josephus Van Den Bijgaart was the first player to bust shoot down his seven opponents, followed by David Williams who started busting players from the early stages but the few of the last ones were a bit harder to crach, hence he was the 2nd player to qualify for the final play day.

Marc Naalden is on the verge of taking down another tournament after winning the Event #38. He is not the only one who might win his second tournament in this year's WSOP, as Greg Mueller has also qualified for the final table. Mueller won the Event #33 and judging by his performance in this event, he is a serious contender for the title.

Brock Parker is another player who has won a Limit Hold'em bracelet in this year's WSOP, but he won't be taking a shot at his second bracelet since he was eliminated by Tom Schneider - the man who nearly won his table but couldn't cross his last obstacle, Greg Mueller (pictured left).

Jose Barbero secured himself the ticket for the final table after defeating Johnny Neckar in a heads-up match. On a flop of Neckar shipped the last of his chips to the middle with and Barbero called with . The turn brought and with the river revealing , Barbero eliminated his last opponent for the day.

Matthew Sterling, Millie Shiu and Flaminio Malaguti were the last three players to secure their seats for the final table. Meanwhile, Jean-Robert Bellande will not be repeating his last year's success (2nd place) in this event, as he was busted during the day, same as Nick Binger, Humberto Brenes and Dan Heimiller.

Action will continue tomorrow with the final eight players who will play for the WSOP bracelet and $194,854 in prize money.