WSOP Event #8: Raphael Zimmerman Still Going Strong

While the chip lead was taken over by John Monnette, Raphael Zimmerman has kept his second place throughout the day and will join the final table as second chip leader.

As day two of the Deuce To Seven Lowball Draw Event started, there were a lot of pros left in the remaining 35 participants. Layne Flack, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow and Erick Lindgren were all in the running with decent stacks, while Vanessa Russo could shoot back up into the competitive field by an early double-up with T9875 against an opponent who "felt like gambling".

While Erik Seidel, John Juanda and Mike Matusow had to hit the rail early on as the chips started flying, Phil Ivey and Vanessa Russo were doing battle, and up to that point, she came out on top as she was able to double yet again. Next to go was Phil Hellmuth - in the usual steamy fashion - as Raphael Zimmerman drew a 7 to his 8653 while Hellmuth got a T to his 9853.

Some time later, the clock was stopped on the current level because the tournament staff was waiting for the bubble to burst. This was of course well received by the short stacks in the field, who weren't forced to move all-in with worse and worse hands by the increasing blinds. Barry Greenstein and Daniel Alaei still kept moving all-in pre-draw throughout the level however, as they were the two shortest stacks in the field.
 

Unfortunately, Borry Greenstein still failed to make it past the bubble and busted before reaching the money. The same fate awaited Vanessa Russo and Erick Lindgren before the bubble finally burst. As the blinds started increasing again, the players didn't waste much time to get back into action: the first to go was Michael Kamran who moved in after drawing one card - against Phil Ivey who stood pat. As probably expected, Phil Ivey snap-called and showed 87632 to eliminate Kamran.

With the blinds moving up as quickly as they did and the rule for a compulsory raise if you want to enter a pot, there wasn't much else going on but shoving all-in from everyone. Both Raphael Zimmerman and Tony G were able to eliminate other players. Some noteworthy busts were Freddy Deeb on 12th place and then Tony G himself on 9th. The last one to go before the final table of 7 was Layne Flack; he was up against Raphael Zimmerman's T8765, who stood pat, and while he still had quite some outs when drawing to his T832, the A wasn't the card he wanted.

As the final seven head off to battle it out tomorrow, most of the big names had to take their leave before the final table - even though there are still a lot of good players, it didn't turn out to be the clash of giants some were hoping for. At least Phil Ivey is still in the running, and who knows, he might snatch away yet another bracelet tomorrow.

World Series Of Poker Event #8 Standings
Rank	Name	Chips
1st	John Monnette	259,000
2nd	Raphael Zimmerman	238,000
3rd	Yan Chen	159,000
4th	Elia Ahmadian	136,900
5th	Eric Kesselman	119,400
6th	Phil Ivey	106,300
7th	Rodeen Talebi	94,500