Ben Yu began Day 2 on a short stack amongst the returning 75 players, and the odds were against him to make the money. Not only did he crack the top 40, he managed to go even deeper and ladder up. Unfortunately for the dapper dresser, his run has come to an end in 21st place courtesy of 1996 World Series of Poker Main Event champ and two-time razz winner Huck Seed.
In Yu's final hand, he made a 9-8-7-6-X low, which was second best to Seed's nine-six low.
Jason Corlew has been stuck in reverse since the three-table redraw, and he is now running on empty.
A raising way resulted in Corlew getting his last 10,500 all in right out of the gate against Greg Pappas and Brock Parker. The two built a side pot when Pappas bet fourth and Parker called. When Parker took the lead on fifth, it was his turn to bet and Pappas called. Parker bet again on sixth, and it got Pappas to folded his hand.
Pappas: / fold
Parker: / /
Corlew: / /
Parker made a 6-5-4-3-A low on sixth, which had Corlew drawing dead. Corlew will take home $3,659 for his 20th-place finish.
After being crippled in an unlucky hand against Phil Hellmuth, Matt Waxman got the last of his chips in on third against Scott Adaska and Brandon Cantu.
The two active players created a side pot when Adaska called bets from Cantu on both fourth and fifth, but then he folded to one on sixth. By this point Waxman, who knew he was drawing dead, had put on his backpack and was exiting the tournament area.
The remaining 17 players are now on a one-hour dinner break. When they return they will play four more one-hour levels before bagging and tagging for the night.
It was brought to our attention that John "Kicker" Roveto was eliminated in the last hand before the break by Greg Pappas. The details escaped us, but the dealer informed us after the fact that both players had ended up making three pair. Pappas' was lower, and he sent Roveto home in 18th place for $3,659.
Rebecca Kerl was the short stack coming back from the dinner break, so it wasn't surprising to see the last woman in the field fall in 17th place. Here demise came over the course of two hands.
In the first, Kerl called a bet on fourth from Scott Adaska. She did the same on fifth and then bet out 8,000 when she took the lead on sixth. Adaska called and then both players checked seventh.
Adaska: / /
Kerl: (x-x) / /
Adaska tabled his 8-5-3-2-A low and it was good as Kerl mucked. That left her with just 11,500, and a short time later she got it all in from the get go against Phil Hellmuth.
Kerl: / /
Hellmuth: / /
Kerl ended with a 7-6-5-4-3 low, but it was no good as Hellmuth had made a 6-5-4-2-A low.
"Good game," some players offered Kerl.
"Thank you, I had a blast," she said before making her way to the payout desk in 16th place.
After Todd Dakake was eliminated in 16th place in unknown action, Bill Chen followed him out the door in 15th.
In Chen's final hand, he got the last of his chips on fifth street against David Bach, who if you recall finished runner-up in this very event last year.
Chen: / /
Bach: / /
Chen had started with the best possible three cards in razz, but a bad run out saw him finish with a 9-8-3-2-A low. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't good enough to beat Bach's 9-6-5-4-A low.
As we were writing the last two elimination post, Amir Namatinia was eliminated from the tournament by Ted Forrest.
David Bach said that the mustochioed Namatinia had a seven draw, but missed and ended up with a queen low. Forrest managed to make a nine-six low and that was all she wrote for Namatinia.