The players have just taken a short break, and the tournament staff removed the T500 chips from play. A new T25,000 chip has now been introduced, and it is a blend of aqua blue and teal.

Ari Engel continues to lead Event 14, however a few players are beginning to rival his stack. Here is a look at the chip counts of the final 9 players, as play enters level 18:

When the tournament fell to 2 tables, Jordan saw a large portion of his stack get shifted to his table-opponent Paul El-Khouri, after a raising war occurred between the two players pre-flop. When all was said and done, both players tabled their hands, and Paul had a huge lead with over the of Jordan. The board brought no change to the hand, and Jordan had to pay out 147,500 in the hand, leaving him with just a few blinds behind.

Fast forward a few hands, and with a small ace in his hands, Jordan decided to move-in in an unopened pot, finding a call from Benny Chen in the big blind.

Jordan:
Benny:

Board:

Jordan couldn’t catch-up to Benny’s pair, and was eliminated on the bubble of this Second Chance Event.

Congratulations to the 15 players who are now in the money!

Early Day 1 chip-leader Kevin O’Donnell was a short stack when he opened to 9K from late-position. Benny Chen defended his big blind, and they took a walk to first street. Benny checked the : Js board, and Kevin fired 8K. Benny replied with a check-raise to 20K, and then quickly called off the 55K all-in from Kevin.

Kevin:
Benny:

With no improvements on the board, Kevin was eliminated in 18th place, a little shy of the money.

A few moments later, Franco Cupello moved all-in for his last 19K from middle position, and Ian Tang isolated from late position.

Franco:
Ian:

Board:

With Franco’s elimination in 17th place, Event 14 is now being played hand-for-hand. In the first hand on the bubble, Richard Edwin Mask doubled his 45K stack through Benny with over in an all-in pre-flop situation.

Ari Engel just added another stack of white 5K chips to his collection, as he opened his button and called off the 3bet all-in of Chris Arvanitis worth almost 120,000. Ari tabled and found the win versus the of Chris, bringing his total count up over 570,000 – good for the stranglehold chip lead in this Second Chance Event.

We also lost Marko a few hands before that, as his couldn’t survive the of Kathy.

There was a redraw with 18 players left in the field, and here are the new seating assignments:

24 players are back today for the conclusion of Event 14 in the Playground Poker Spring Classic presented by partypoker.net, and there will be no stopping until we have our Second Chance champion!

Leading the field today is 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event winner Ari Engel, who has proven over his many years in the poker world that he a fierce competitor with a strong drive to win. He bagged a massive 417,500 chips last night, and separates himself from second in chips Benny Chen by over 120,000.

The field includes a few players to watch for, including Linda Huard who is fresh from a WSOP-C side event victory, David Assouline who is an online phenomenon who has proven his place in the live poker world as well, Benny Chen who won the Millionaire Maker WSOP Event in 2013 for – you guessed it – over 1 million dollars, amongst others.

We are only 9 eliminations away from being in the money, but we know the players here today are all eyeing the $49,585 top prize, which will also be accompanied by a Playground Poker Spring Classic Champion’s Trophy.

Stay with us on our Playground Poker Blog as we bring you live updates and photographs of the day as it unfolds into a winner.

Good luck to the players here in Day 2!

Event 14 – the $1,500 + $150 Second Chance Event in the Playground Poker Spring Classic presented by partypoker.net started with 127 players and after 14 levels of play just 24 remained. These players have bagged their chips to return for the restart at 12:00pm on May 4th, 2016.

The following table is the official seating chart for the restart of the event. The chip counts included are provided by the players; the actual chips have been sealed in bags to return to play tomorrow.