WSOP Event #49: Gus Hansen Moves Up The Leaderboard
Day 2 saw Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Howard Lederer and Jennifer Harman being sent to the rail, while Gus Hansen battled his way up the leader board.
It was another eventful day at the tables for the 91 players who survived Day 1 of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. At the end of the second day of action, 53 players survived to play another day. Day 2 saw many big names hitting the rails with Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Jennifer Harman and Howard Lederer all knocked out.
Gus Hansen made big moves up the leaderboard today. The Great Dane ended the day at the top after starting Day 2 with just 164,600 chips. With such a strong showing today, he will be a strong contender to win this highly regarded event.
Gus Hansen (pictured left) started his day being seated next to Howard Lederer, Gabe Kaplan, and Jerry Buss the owner of the recently crowned NBA Champions, the L.A. Lakers. Other sick lineups saw John Juanda, Johnny Chan, Mike Matusow and Scotty Nguyen sharing a table. While Erik Siedel, Daniel Negreanu, Andy Black and Chau Giang were also seated together in what was dubbed the table of death.
In one of Hansen's big hand of the day (Stud Eight), 4 players went to the river, with 2 players splitting the Hi and Lo pots. The action happened between Jerry Buss (X)(X)
(X), Pat Bueno (X)(X)
(X), Gus Hansen (X)(X)
(X), and Jim Bechtel (X)(X)
(X). Before things got heated on the river, Pat Bueno led out on fourth street, Jerry Buss did the same on fifth, sixth street was check around.
Hansen bet first on the river, and was raised by Bechtel. When Hansen put in another raise, both Bueno and Buss folded. Hansen then flat called as Bechtel raised again. Hansen made a low with 
but his nut flush could not beat Bechtel's full house as he showed 
. The low pot moved Hansen up to 215,000 chips.
Scotty Nguyen (pictured right), the defending champion for this event was also seen showing off his moves on and off the table. In a hand (Hold'Em) with Mike Matusow, the Prince of Poker was heard saying "Give It Up, Baby" as the board read 
. Matusow enquired if it was "King-Queen", but gave it up as Scotty Nguyen broke out into one of his trademark laughs. Nguyen showed KJ to give him top two pair and moving him up to 195,000 chips.
Later in the evening as play slowed, and the drinks were flowing, Scotty was spotted taking $1 bets with 100 to 1 odds on him shooting a wet Kleenex into a bin. After winning a few of the bets, he signed the $1 notes and distributed it to the fans on the rail near him.
While 38 players were eliminated throughout the day, many big names still remained in the hunt. Scotty Nguyen ended the day in 6th, while Todd Brunson, Barry Greenstein (pictured left) and Huck Seed were in the top half of the remaining 53 players. Others like Doyle Brunson, Erik Siedel, Chris Ferguson, Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey also managed to stay in the game.
The top 3 chip stacks of Gus Hansen, Ray Dehkharghani and Erik Sagstrom will give them a significant advantage as play moves into Day 3. However, it is still too early to discount anyone
from winning the title at this stage. Scotty Nguyen was shortstacked at
the end of Day 2 last year but he fought his way back to win the
bracelet and the coveted Chip Reese Memorial trophy.
Here is top 10 after Day 2:
| World Series Of Poker Event #49 Standings |
||
| Rank | Name | Chips |
| 1st | Gus Hansen | 686,000 |
| 2nd | Ray Dehkharghani | 643,000 |
| 3rd | Erik Sagstrom | 560,000 |
| 4th | Todd Brunson | 549,000 |
| 5th | Hasan Habib | 490,000 |
| 6th | Scotty Nguyen | 463,000 |
| 7th | Frank Cremen | 457,000 |
| 8th | David Bach | 451,000 |
| 9th | Antanas Guoga | 433,000 |
| 10th | Jani Sointula | 412,500 |
