A total of 175 players from the original starting field of 1,088 made it back for the second day of Event No. 13, the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. It didn't take long to reach the cash bubble, with Joe Sebok and Beth Shak being the last players eliminated before we reached the last 117.
By night's end, 20 players remained. The chip leaders heading into tomorrow's final day of play include Gregg Merkow, Angel Guillen, and Bahador Ahmadi. Roland de Wolfe and Kirill Gerasimov are also right in the thick of things with substantial stacks. And it appeared Phil Ivey, who already has one bracelet this summer, would be returning with a lot of chips as well, until a late hit to his stack leaves him the short stack when play resumes tomorrow.
Thanks for following today's coverage. And come back here to PokerNews for all of the action starting at 1 p.m. Vegas time tomorrow to see who of the final twenty emerges as our next bracelet winner.
A wild couple of hands to end the night -- three eliminations, and Ivey's stack decimated.
In the last hand of the night, Motoyuki Mabuchi pushed all in with and was up against Angel Guillen's . The flop came , and Mabuchi was suddenly a big underdog. The turn was the and the river the , and Mabuchi is out in 20th. Guillen ends the night 860,000.
Keven Stammen raised to 27,000 from middle position, and John Hoang called from the big blind. The flop came . Hoang bet 38,000, Stammen raised to 98,000, Hoang reraised all in, and Stammen called.
Hoang
Stammen
Hoang was hoping for a heart. The turn was the and the river the , and Hoang is out in 23rd. Stammen is up to 710,000.
The tournament clock was stopped with ten minutes left in our last level, a card was drawn, and it was determined that two more hands will be played before we call it a night.
Phil Ivey opened the pot from middle position for 32,000 and was called by Kirill Gerasimov in the big blind. The two players saw a flop of and after a check from Gerasimov, Ivey fired out 45,000. Gerasimov took his time before finally check raising all in. Ivey mucked his cards instantly and Gerasimov took it down.
Phil Ivey - 250,000
Kirill Gerasimov - 300,000
In a side note to the action, there is a poker show being broadcast on a television about 15 feet directly behind Phil Ivey. One of the featured players? You guessed it, Ivey himself.
Antoine Berube shoved his last 104,000 from under the gun, and Torrey Reily called from middle position. Berube showed and Reily .
An ace flopped -- -- and Reily was searching for one of the two kings. That search turned up empty, as the turn was the and the river the . Berube doubles up to 234,000, while Riley slips to 326,000.
Andrew Lichtenberger raised from the button to 26,000 and Gregg Merkow called from the big blind. The flop came and Merkow made a pot sized bet of 50,000. Lichtenberger moved in for about 100,000 more and feeling he was pot committed, Merkow called with only .
Lichtenberger flipped over .
As a huge favorite, the young internet professional watched disaster unravel before his eyes as the board filled out to give Merkow runner-runner straight.
Lichtenberger hits the rail hard in 24th place while Merkow shoots up to 750,000.