Mandalay Bay Poker Championship (Day Two)
Day two finished with 56 players battling it out for 1st place in the WPT Mandalay Bay Poker Championship. With the top 50 cashing, no player could truly go to sleep this morning with assurance that their two days of effort would be fruitful. As is the case in most tourneys, the top 15 chip positions ended much different than it began with only six of Day One's top 15 surviving to see Day Two.1 Brad Booth 327 k
2 Joe Tehan 311 k
3 Tuan Le 287 k
4 Charles Pacheco 248 k
5 Carlos Mortensen 247 k
6 Tom Koral 220 k
7 Alex Outhred 216 k
8 Robert Wisiak 194 k
9 Gioi Luong 193 k
10 Kirk Conrad 189 k
11 Hasan Habib 186 k
12 Shunjiro Uchida 181 k
13 Michael Woo 177 k
14 Patrik Antonius 175 k
15 Chad Brown 174 k
The first few hours of Day Two saw small stacks trying to survive and a cemetery of big name casualties. Those who made it to dinner, after being knocked out, included Isabelle Mercier, Paul Darden, Evelyn Ng, Kathy Liebert, Farzad Bonyadi, Cyndy Violette, Dewey Tomko, Erick Lindgren, Chau Giang, and T.J. Cloutier.
Josh Arieh was crippled by doubling up David Williams when Williams raised pre-flop with 8c-2c. Arieh called with Jd-8d. A flop of Ad-2d-2s sent all the chips into the middle. Blanks left Arieh crippled, and the day that started so promising ended for Arieh.
Williams crashed out of Day Two, but his journey was much different than most of the players. A creative player who disguises his hand well, he was up and down through the day as he played pots that others only watch. He doubled through - while also losing big stacks. His fate was sealed by Day Two's chip leader, Brad Booth - in a hand soon after Arieh was eliminated. With a flop of 4d-9s-7s, all the chips made it into the middle. Booth showed Jc-9d, with Williams turning over Ks-Kh. The turn brought one of Booth's few outs when the 9h hit, and Booth doubled through when the Jh came on the river.
With the World Cup starting on Friday, it was ironic that one of the best stories of the day came from the world of soccer. Teddy Sheringham is a veteran striker, having played for Manchester United and England. His career is ending at West Ham, but he's shown that one of his retirement ventures could very well be poker. He survived late into the second day with a moderate chip stack. After tripling up with pocket queens, he went out with the same hand when he ran into aces
The day ended with some big names still hunting for the $1,000,000 first place and the top five chip leaders, loaded with great talent.
Canadian Brad Booth, the chip leader, has cashed in a WSOP tourney, as well as scored a second place in Bellagio's Festa al Lago IV. Two 2006 cashes in WPT events shows he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
Second place Joe Tehan had a great winter, finishing second in a Five Diamond tourney and winning a LA Poker Classic tourney for over $175,000. He's shown he is a finisher.
Tuan Le won over $4,000,000 - taking down two WPT events.
Charles Pacheco's best finish is a $100,000 third place cash in the 2004 California State Poker Championship.
And fifth place Carlos Mortensen is the most proven at the table. He's won tourneys big and small, from WPT events to $300 buy-in events. His 2001 WSOP Main Event bracelet gives him the confidence that he's proven himself on the biggest stage in poker.
Tuesday should be another exciting day as they battle down to two tables. Come back to PokerWorks for a recap of Day Three's action.
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