Two tournaments at the 2012 World Series of Poker saw their Day Two play on Wednesday, with the championships of each to be determined during action today.
Event #12 – $10,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em World Championship
32 players remained in action on Wednesday from the initial 152 player field, with those individuals divvying up the $1.428 million prize pool. All that stood between one lucky person and the $371,498 first place bounty was five heads up matches, but the battle would not be an easy one.
The Round of 32 saw some big names dropped from the tournament, each taking home the minimum $10,966 payday. Tommy Vedes, Kevin Saul, Eric Froehlich, Andrew Lichtenberger and Mark Radoja all were knocked out in the opening round of play on Wednesday, with Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Jaffe and Vanessa Selbst eliminated during Sweet Sixteen action, taking home $20,647.
Down to the Elite Eight, the matches lined up as such:
Tommy Chen vs. Chris Moore
Jeffrey Gross vs. Brian Hastings
Jason Mo vs. Andrew Robl
Brock Parker vs. Michael Drummond
The most recognizable of those names – Hastings, Robl and Parker – all were active in their Elite Eight matches and two of them were able to move on to today’s Final Four action. Parker, already a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, quickly dispatched Drummond from the tournament, while Hastings took just a bit longer in eliminating Gross from their match. Robl, on the other hand, was vanquished by Mo in their matchup, taking around thirty minutes to complete.
At 1PM this afternoon, the Final Four will meet up to determine who will take home the WSOP bracelet and the $371,498 bankroll boost:
Tommy Chen vs. Brian Hastings
Jason Mo vs. Brock Parker
The favorites in this tournament have to be Hastings and Parker, with their wealth of experience in such situations. As the game is heads up, however, Chen and Mo could catch that short-term run that is able to push them to the championship. It should be an exciting day of action as a World Champion is determined in this discipline.
Event #13 – $1500 Limit Hold’em
The 222 players who survived from Day One’s 730 player field reconvened on Wednesday for Day Two of this event. While the play on Day One was highlighted by the free flow of adult beverages at the tables (due to the mundane nature of Limit) and a great deal of levity, Day Two saw a much different atmosphere as the players looked to pop the money bubble and work their way as close to the final table as possible.
81 of the Day Two runners would take home cash from this event and the unfortunate “bubble boy” for the tournament was Huck Seed. Seed rode a short stack almost to the money, yo-yoing as he tried to grow his stack, but couldn’t push his way into the cash and was out in 82nd place. Following Seed out the door – with something to show for their efforts – were Justin Bonomo, John Racener, Eric Buchman and Humberto Brenes.
By the time play was concluded early Thursday morning, 25 contenders were still a part of the mix. Leading the way when play resumes this afternoon will be Leonid Bilokur and his 318K chip stack. Behind him are Ian Johns (258K) and Chris Swan (256K), while Al Barbieri, Roland Israelashvili, Isaac Haxton and Jennifer Harman are down the leaderboard; Harman (60K) and Haxton (72K) are in immediate danger at the start of play today on their short stacks.
It could very well be another long day for the Limit players as they will work the remaining 25 survivors down to a last man (or person) standing. The eventual winner of this tournament will take down a $211,921 payday, along with the most prized trophy in tournament poker, the WSOP bracelet.
