We weren't there for the action, but when we recently walked by Tony Hachem's table we noticed he had a lot of chips in front of him all of a sudden. We asked the table what occurred and this is what we were told.
A player in early position preflop bet out, and received two callers. Action then made it to Hachem who grabbed a stack of orange chips and plopped them down in the middle of the table. The initial raiser then snapped all in. The other two players who were in the hand scattered away folding as quickly as they could and Hachem made the call. Hachem held and his opponent tabled . The flop, turn, and river blanked out for both players and it was Hachem's pair of aces that came out ahead. Crossing the 200,000 mark Tony Hachem is quickly making his presence known here as they day comes to an end on Day 2B.
From under the gun, 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event third-place finisher Joseph Cheong raised to 2,700. A player in middle position called and everyone else folded.
The flop came down and Cheong checked. His opponent checked behind to see the land on the turn. Cheong reached for chips and casually tossed out 4,300. HIs opponent released his hand and Cheong won the pot. He's up to about 135,000 now.
David Baker opened to 2,600 from the cutoff, Shankar Pillai three-bet to 6,200 on the button, and Baker four-bet to 16,100. Pillai tank-called.
The dealer fanned , and both players checked. The turned, and Baker led for 18,200. Pillai called.
The river was the , Baker checked, and Pillai tossed out 22,700. Baker looked unhappy, but made the call anyway. Pillai rolled over two black kings, Baker mucked, and Pillai pulled in the pot.
Kevin MacPhee is over the 200,000 mark after he won several small pots and then rivered a gutshot holding on a board - getting paid off to the tune of 11,000 on the end.
Amanda Musumeci began the day with an above-average stack, but she has been unable to gain any momentum here on Day 2a. First, she doubled a short-stacked Donny Mizrachi when she jammed from the small blind with only to have Mizrachi snap her off with .
A short time later, an under-the-gun player raised to 2,800 and found callers in an early-position opponent and Musumeci in middle position. It was three-way action to the flop, which saw the original raiser bet 4,100. The middle-position player folded, Musumeci called, and the hit the turn.
Both players checked the turn and then the UTG fired out 15,200 on the river. Musumeci quickly folded, dropping to 93,000 in the process.
Derek Lerner raised to 2,800 in the hijack and was called Dmitry Savelyev in the small blind as well as by the player in the big blind. On the flop, it was checked to Lerner who led for 4,300. Savelyev came back with a check-raise to 10,300 which got the big blind out of the way. Lerner waited for a bit before he flicked his cards into the muck which gave the pot to Savelyev.
After the hand, Savelyev said, “I had a really good song going, Candle in the Wind, I had to win” and Lerner asked Savelyev if that meant he was bluffing. Savelyev responded by asking Lerner why he keeps on making him out to be a bluffer and the big blind noted that he hadn’t seen Savelyev miss yet. Lerner chimed in again saying Savelyev did bluff and Savelyev said he just wanted to know where he has at and would have folded if Lerner re-raised. In any case, Savelyev took down the pot to hit the 300,000 chip mark.
With the board reading , Kevin Saul checked to his opponent who fired out a bet of 4,500. Action came back around to Saul who deliberated for a bit before deciding to put in a check-raise, making it 12,500 to go. His opponent made the call and the two saw a turn.
Fourth street brought the and Saul continued out for 19,700. His opponent called rather quickly and the river came . Saul once again took a while before pushing out a stack of 100,000. His opponent had 73,500 behind so this bet was for his tournament life. His opponent looked incredibly defeated as he mucked his hand after about a minute and a half worth of contemplation.
Kevin Saul, on the other hand, is our new chip leader with 495,000.
The announcement was just made that the Day 2b field has been shrunk to 1,160, meaning the overall number of players still alive in the 2011 WSOP Main Event has fallen under 2,000.
"Let's do it! 2,000-way chop! Who's down?" came the cry from Table 354. That would work out to better than $32,000, if such a deal were made, only better than 352nd-place money.
Less than a third of the remaining players will make the money, as the top 693 will make the cash.
and Cheong checked. His opponent checked behind to see the 
land on the turn. Cheong reached for chips and casually tossed out 4,300. HIs opponent released his hand and Cheong won the pot. He's up to about 135,000 now.
, and both players checked. The 
turned, and Baker led for 18,200. Pillai called.
, Baker checked, and Pillai tossed out 22,700. Baker looked unhappy, but made the call anyway. Pillai rolled over two black kings, Baker mucked, and Pillai pulled in the pot.
on a 
board - getting paid off to the tune of 11,000 on the end.
only to have Mizrachi snap her off with 
hit the turn.
river. Musumeci quickly folded, dropping to 93,000 in the process.
flop, it was checked to Lerner who led for 4,300. Savelyev came back with a check-raise to 10,300 which got the big blind out of the way. Lerner waited for a bit before he flicked his cards into the muck which gave the pot to Savelyev.
, Kevin Saul checked to his opponent who fired out a bet of 4,500. Action came back around to Saul who deliberated for a bit before deciding to put in a check-raise, making it 12,500 to go. His opponent made the call and the two saw a turn.
and Saul continued out for 19,700. His opponent called rather quickly and the river came 
. Saul once again took a while before pushing out a stack of 100,000. His opponent had 73,500 behind so this bet was for his tournament life. His opponent looked incredibly defeated as he mucked his hand after about a minute and a half worth of contemplation.