Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and the 2014 World Series of Poker for Day 2 of Event #34: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud.
Yesterday evening saw 345 players take to the felt to create a $465,750 prize pool that will see the top 40 players earn a guaranteed $2,524 payday. Coming back today, the tournament is only 20 players shy from reaching the money as just 60 players managed to bag and tag early this morning.
One of those players is two-time WSOP bracelet winner Steve Sung who topped the day as chip leader with an amassed 69,000-chip stack ahead of William Thompson (67,500), Bryan Campanello (63,300), and Brian Hastings (58,500). However there are still many notables remaining in the field with the likes of Bryn Kenney, Cyndy Violette, Marcel Luske, Daniel Negreanu, Stephen Chidwick, Phil Laak, Robert Mizrachi, and Barry Greenstein all still in contention and eyeing the $118,785 first prize.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand from 2:00 p.m. (PDT) to provide extensive live updates throughout the day as we look to play down into the money before potentially reaching the Event #34 final table. Stay tuned right here to PokerNews.com for all the news on the 2014 World Series of Poker!
Bryn Kenney completed and got raised by Stephen Chidwick showing . Eric Buchman made it three bets with , and Chidwick was the only caller. Buchman continued betting until sixth, when both players checked.
Buchman: /
Chidwick: /
On the river, Buchman revived his aggression with a bet, but Chidwick raised. Buchman quickly called. Chidwick flipped , but Buchman had the aces up beat with , good for a flush.
Cyndy Violette was all in on an early street, and Nabih Helmi and Steve Diano continued to build a side pot until checking the river.
Violette: /
Helmi: /
Diano: /
Violette's two pair was good against Diano, who had unimproved aces, but Helmi had made queens up to take both the side pot and the main pot, eliminating Violette.
The show gets off to a bumpy start thanks to a few technical difficulties, but a great story about a David Williams bluff and another about "hood" poker get the ball rolling again. Dan O'Brien then joins the program to talk about his jet ski accident, his Me vs. U challenge against Danielle Andersen, and more.
Four players got saw fourth street in a capped pot with Farshad Ben Cohen all in, and Phil Laak got his last 3,000 in at that point. The remaining live players, Andrew Lam and William Thompson, checked it down.
Cohen: /
Laak: //
Thompson: /
Lam: /
Laak squeezed out his , giving him just the two pair, but to his surprise, nobody could beat it. He scooped the whole pot, and Cohen was eliminated.