WSOP Event #53: 14 Players Left After 2 Days

467 players signed up for the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8-or-Better but after 2 days of very intense poker action, 14 players remain. The top 14 who have managed to make it into the next play day will be fighting for the top prize of $159,930 and the WSOP bracelet that comes with it.

Many top poker players signed up for this event. This included the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein and Greg Raymer. Even Norman Chad took a break from his usual WSOP commentating duties to take his seat on the tables.

However, at the end of Day 2, none of the A-list poker stars were to be seen on the top 14. Phil Hellmuth (pictured left) hit the rails early on Day 1, while others like Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein barely made the cash before crashing out in Day 2.

Brian Swinford who has had just 1 cash in his WSOP career leads the field with 292,000 chips while Chad Brown with 26 previous WSOP cash is hot on his heels with 284,000 chips.

In Day 1 of the tournament, play was fast and furious as almost two thirds of the field was knocked out in the 8 short levels that were played out. Only 136 survived to take their chips into Day 2, in what must have been one of the most intense days in the WSOP so far this year.

Daniel Negreanu (pictured right) was picked out as the man to watch for the day. He was seated at what was dubbed the "Table of Doom" with Scott Bohlman, John Racener and Steve Jelinek. Poker author David Sklansky and top pro Andy Bloch also joined the table later in the day. Negreanu finished the day with a well above average stack of 33,100 chips.  This was a good performance considering the strength of his table.

David Sklansky however was not so lucky as he fell victim to the "Table of Doom". In a hand against two unknown opponent, Sklansky ()()() moved in his last 100 chips on the fifth street. One of his opponents folded on sixth street, but the remaining opponent showed ()()(X) for a full boat to  send Sklansky to the rails late in Day 1.
Despite his relatively strong showing in Day 1, rail favourite Negreanu could not sustain his momentum to take him through Day 2. After squeaking past the bubble with barely a chip left, he was quickly knocked out of the tournament soon after. Justin Bonomo  (pictured left) and Barry Greenstein were also sent to the rail soon after.

Norman Chad the co-host of the ESPN WSOP broadcast saw his first WSOP cash today after surviving on a short stack for most of the day. Chad who was eventually knocked out by Todd Ickow was roundly applauded by the rail after his amazing feat of hanging on for so long. His hand of for a pair of Aces was beaten by Ickow's two pair with .

With poker's biggest stars eliminated from the field, Chad Brown (Vanessa Russo's fiancé) took center-stage by ending the day near the top of the chip count leaderboard. With only a few players left to eliminate before the final table, Brown should be a favourite to line up in his second WSOP final table in 2009.

For Day 3, the last 2 tables are lined up as Zak Gilbert, Allie Prescott, Richard Sklar, Matt Savage, Christian Toboc, Mike Krescanko and William Kohler in Table 150 and  Vince Burgio, Jose Paz, Jack Rosenfeldt, Chad Brown, Max Stern, Brian Swinford and David Halpern in Table 151.


This is the top 10 after 2 days of play:

World Series Of Poker Event #53 Standings
Rank	Name	Chips
1st	Brian Swinford	292,000
2nd	Chad Brown	284,000
3rd	William Kohler	230,000
4th	Max Stern	216,000
5th	David Halpern	215,000
6th	Allie Prescott	202,400
7th	Richard Sklar	134,000
8th	Zak Gilbert	110,000
9th	Matt Savage	106,000
10th	Jack Rosenfeldt	106,000