WSOP Event #54: Men Nguyen Makes His 65th WSOP Cash

The $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Event attracted 2,818 players with the $675,000 first prize waiting only one of them. The first play day saw many notables being eliminated, such as Phil Laak, Phil Hellmuth and JonathanLittle. Hellmuth was late as usual, though when he did finally arrive, he played for about 20minutes and then left again. With so much time spent away from the table, he was naturally busted before Day 1 came to an end.

Jonathan Little nearly made it into the second play day, but had to pack his bags not long before the play was concluded for the day. On a board of , Gary Tang check-called Little's bet for 3,500. The river came and Tang check-raised Little all-in. Little made the call and Tang tabled for the nut house and Little was out of the tournament.

Only 384 players made it through Day 1, with Jon Christensen leading the survivors pack with a stack of 159,800 in chips. Theo Tran, Carlos Mortensen and Hevad Khan were some of the notable names still in the race for the title. The bubble was burst on Day 2, as only 297 players found their way into the money, including Men "The Master" Nguyen who has thus made his 65th WSOP cash - which still leaves him in second place since he is eight short of Phil Hellmuth.

Besides Nguyen edging close to Hellmuth, the second play day was also filled with plenty of other interesting encounters and table talk. On a flop of , Jon Christensen check-raised David Woo's bet and then he open-shoved on the turn card . David Woo thought for several minutes before he mucked and commented, "Man, I just don't think you'd make the same dumb play again, or I would've called." The dealer warned Woo, "You can't call the player dumb," and Woo replied, "Oh, no, I was saying the play he made was dumb."

By the end of Day 2, Men Nguyen, Hevad Khan, Anthony Harb and Carlos Mortensen were all eliminated from the tournament, though they managed to slip into the top 297 and grab a share of the prize pool. Only 28 players remain in the field, as they will return for Day 3 of the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Event.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks after Day 2:

World Series Of Poker Event #54 Standings
Rank	Name	Chips
1st	Sergey Konkin	1,400,000
2nd	Chistopher DeMaci	1,332,000
3rd	Joseph Chaplin	1,095,000
4th	Mike Ratcliff	745,000
5th	Jon Christensen	672,000
6th	Jason Wheeler	608,000
7th	Arkadiy Tsinis	574,000
8th	John Spagnuolo	553,000
9th	Eric Hayes	550,000
10th	Andrew Malott	540,000