Kevin Rivest, who had just chipped up into the lead, took out Albert Elkaim in 8th place, in a hand that we unfortunately missed. He then went on to double Andrej Markovinovic’s chips. In that hand, he opened with a 17.5K pot bet, which was called, and then re-potted by Andrej to 75.5K. On the flop, Kevin led with an effective all-in bet, and Andrej called with his remaining 81K.

Kevin :
Andrej:
Board: :A

Kevin failed to catch up, and lost a chunk of chips. He is in no direct danger though, as he had a fortune prior to that hand. Shortly after, Randy Guy Vermette opened a hand with a pot-size bet, which was called by Manfred Gunther. The flop was checked by both, and on the turn, after Randy’s check, Manfred went ahead and placed a pot bet, which was just under Randy’s remaining 50K. Randy deliberated for a while, then pushed his stack forward. With a throw of a calling chip, they went to showdown:

Randy:
Manfred:
Board:

Manfred had flopped the second nuts! He did a pretty good job at concealing it with his acting, and sent Randy Guy Vermette on the bubble, sending Event 9 into the money. Congratulations to all money finishers!

Moments before the break, a massive pot was played on a fresh final table, resulting in Brian Birenbaum’s elimination. Brian was all-in for his last 20K, while Kevin Rivest and Manfred Gunther were playing for a huge side pot. The last of Kevin’s chips went in on the flop, and were reluctantly called by Manfred, who put in 50K into  a 200K+ pot, after some quick pot odds calculations.

Board:

Brian Birenbaum:
Manfred Gunther:
Kevin Rivest:          

Brian was so eliminated, and Manfred took a hit, but remains in the lead. It is now very tight at the top of the leaderboard, as you can see in the following table.

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Seat | Siège	Stack | Tapis
Albert	Elkaim	Seat 1	70,500
Kevin	Rivest	Seat 2	261,000
Constantinos	Zafiriou	Seat 3	139,000
Nicolas	Le Floch	Seat 5	295,000
Randy Guy	Vermette	Seat 6	74,000
Andrej	Markovinovic	Seat 7	126,500
Manfred	Gunther	Seat 8	316,500
Ron	Farber	Seat 9	304,000

Players are now back from break, and resume play 8-way. Congratulations to Brian Birenbaum for a nice performance!

 

James hardy did all he could to protect his aces, but in a pot limit game, there is only so much protection you can create for yourself. This hand was potted pre-flop, called by Ron Farber, and the two got it in on the flop, after Farber had hit big.

James Hardy:
Ron Farber:    

Board:

Farber’s set held on, and he claimed the pot. Shortly after, as we were writing these lines, he also sent Michael McKinnon home, and he is now sitting on a very healthy stack. The final table has formed, and in about 15 minutes we will publish the seating chart with chip counts.

Nice run by James Hardy and Michael McKinnon, and good luck to all finalists!

We missed his last hand, but Alexander Matveev was our first Day 2 casualty. The hand after, Miltiadis Mavrigiannakis got it in against Albert Elkaim with  against . All 8 cards were tabled, and the dealer opened the community cards: . With these 2 ejections, Brian Birenbaum was moved to the shortest table.

A good performance by both players, having outlasted nearly 80% of the field. Players continue until 2 more eliminations bring the survivors on the final table.

It seems like our PLO players are much more cautious at the start of Day 2 than hey were at the end of Day 1. There is something about a Day 2 that just makes players get in their serious shoes. Almost an hour have passed since play began, and there was no elimination yet. Pots are relatively small, and players definitely focused.

Here is a collection of photos featuring all Day 2 qualifiers:

Our $500 + $50 PLO Day 2 qualifiers are now finding their seats, and will resume play in a few moments. 13 qualifiers are still in contention for Event 9’s Champion Trophy, as well as the very cool $9,240 that will be awarded to the winner. 6 out of those 13 players will get paid today, and PLO being a swing game, all of them can aspire to these payouts.

The tournament director is giving the introductory announcements, and just gave the dealers the go ahead to shuffle up and deal. Good luck to all!