Less than one hour of play remains in Day 2 of the WPT500, and the field is down to just 6 tables remaining. Martin Nguyen has lost the hefty lead he had at the last break, although he remains amongst the big stacks. Once play is completed for the day, we will publish the full counts of the remaining players, along with their seating assignments for tomorrow’s conclusion.
Photographs from levels 26-27:
After six 60-minute levels and three breaks, Marius Kikinezhdi is the new chip leader, thanks entirely to his win of the last hand before the break, busting Mauricio Pais.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Marius | Kikinezhdi | 191,600 |
| Ljubomir | Josipovic | 176,600 |
| Shankar | Pillai | 157,300 |
| Brian | Altman | 129,200 |
| Timothy | Ulmer | 113,000 |
| Srinivas | Gottiparthi | 109,600 |
With only seconds to go before the players were to hit their third break of the night, a relatively low stakes hand on table 63 turned into a monster for one player – and a nightmare for another. We joined the action late in the hand, with the board showing 
, and only about 11,000 in the pot.
There were three players in the hand, and the player in seat 2 checked utg. Marius Kikinezhdi in seat 3 made a pot-sized bet of 12,500. But instead of pushing the other players out of the hand, he met with resistance.
Mauricio Pais, who took some time deciding (staring down Marius for some clue), decided to shove all in for his stack of 53,200. The player in position 2 folded, and Marius quickly called. The players flipped their cards.
Mauricio: 
Marius: 
Marius had made his straight on the turn, and Mauricio packed up his things. That catapulted Marius into the chip lead as the players got up from the tables to stretch their legs at the break.
James Pillon opened to 120,000 from early position, leaving himself with less than 100,000 behind, and Raymond Latinsky 3-bet all-in for 925,000 from the button. Marco Caza came over the top next to act with his 1,550,000 stack, and James completed with his remaining chips.
James: 
Raymond: 
Marco: 
Board: 
Raymond managed to find a queen on the board to improve his hand and claim the 2 million chip pot, placing him above average with around 50 players remaining. Marco was left with a few blinds behind, while James was eliminated from play.
Martin Nguyen has emerged as the new chip leader late in Day 2 of the WPT500, after turning the nut straight versus bottom set a few minutes ago in a multi-million chip pot. His 4,835,000 stack dwarfs his table-mates and is far ahead of any other player in the field so far. Below are the top counts heading into level 26:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Martin | Nguyen | 4,835,000 |
| Geoffrey | Hum | 2,855,000 |
| Patrick | Clarke | 2,675,000 |
| Fraddy | Gonzalez | 2,400,000 |
| Danny | Park | 2,315,000 |
We joined the action at table 64 late in the hand, with a board of 
showing, two players in the hand, and already more than 60,000 in the pot. Alex Demers was on the button in seat 2, Brian Altman in seat 9.
Two checks led to an 
being dealt on the river, and Brian led with a bet of 25,000. He looked on dispassionately, seemingly without a care in the world. It was another picture on the other side of the table, with Alex appearing to be under a great deal of stress and unsure of what to do. After almost five minutes of mental effort, Demers decided to fold the hand.
It is unclear what either player had, but with any number of straight and flush possibilities showing, it was too much of a gamble for Alex to risk his tournament life on it. This was not the hill to die on, and Alex will live to fight another day!
