When we began play on Day 2 of the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball Championship (No-Limit) way back some 13 hours ago, 72 players from our original starting field of 101 returned to chips.
Nearly half of those 72 players had already realized their goal of earning a WSOP bracelet before, while the others returned seeking their first.
Over the course of the day, most of those 72 would hit the rail, including such greats as Tom Schneider, Greg Mueller, Freddy Deeb, Huck Seed, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, Eli Elezra, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Jeffrey Lisandro, Billy Baxter, and Barry Greenstein.
The money bubble finally burst right at the end of Level 16, with Par Hilderbrand of Sweden being the unfortunate bubble boy. The next three to go -- Peter Gould (14th), Chad Brown (13th), and Yan Chen (12th) -- all had $19,273 paydays, while Vincent Musso (11th) earned $22,387.
But the big money awaits the 10 who will be returning tomorrow to compete for one of the most coveted bracelets among the preliminary events. A first prize of $294,314 awaits the winner of this one, as well as the right to say one has beaten a field comprise of poker's elite. David Baker will return as the chip leader, followed by George Danzer and Eric Cloutier. But the leaders will have some tough competition tomorrow, including Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, and Andy Bloch.
Come back tomorrow to follow our coverage down to the final table and to the finish!
David Baker raised to 20,000 from the hijack seat, and John Monnette reraised all in from the big blind. Monnette stood pat with , while Baker drew one and ended up pairing.
Monnette chips up to 240,000, while Baker -- still the leader -- slips back around the half-million chip mark.
Vincent Musso, down to his last 64,000, open-raised all in from under the gun, and George Danzer called from the cutoff.
Musso stood pat with his . Danzer drew one card to go with his , and it was a handy . Musso is out in 11th place, while Danzer now sits with about 400,000.
It is clear we won't be making the final seven-handed table tonight. We have 11 players remaining, and 15 minutes remain on the clock for this, our final level of play.
Erik Seidel raised to 17,000 from UTG and got two callers -- John Monnette (button) and David Baker (big blind). Baker drew one, Seidel stood pat, and Monnette took a card.
Baker led with a bet of 37,000, Seidel called, and Monnette folded. Baker announced "9-7-6" and Seidel tabled . Seidel now has 270,000. Baker has 605,000.
Chad Brown raised to 17,000 from the hijack seat, David Baker reraised to 61,000 from the button, and the blinds got out. Brown reraised all in, and Baker called.
Both players took one card and the end result was...
Baker ...
Brown ...
Crummy draws for both, but Brown's was the worst of the two, making him a straight and knocking him out in 13th place. Baker now has 670,000.
Shamus
John Juanda keeping an eye out to see if Dwan returns with more propositions
We shared a story earlier about a prop bet between Tom "durrrr" Dwan and John Juanda. Apparently the two made another bet at some point during the day as well -- an over/under on the number of entrants in Event No. 21. Juanda was the victor in that $1,000 bet, and Dwan came by to settle up.
Of course, when we say Dwan returned to "settle up," well, we don't exactly mean he returned simply to pay Juanda what he owed.
Dwan held out two fists, in one of which he held a chip, and invited Juanda to pick the hand with the chip and double his money. Juanda picked the one with the chip, and was up $2,000. Dwan immediately gave him a second double-or-nothing, putting his hands behind his back, then back in front. This time Juanda picked the empty hand, and Dwan soon departed with the pair all square.
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, while Baker drew one and ended up pairing.
. Danzer drew one card to go with his 
. Musso is out in 11th place, while Danzer now sits with about 400,000.
