Poker players and fans around the world have been waiting to see what would come of the Main Event of the 2011 World Series of Poker, and so far, the action hasn’t been disappointing. With about 1,875 players set to return on Thursday after a one-day recess (there is no poker action at the WSOP on Wednesday, July 13), the rest of the tournament should be just as impressive as it has been so far.
Ben Lamb vaulted into the chip lead today with over a half-million chips, making him the first player this year to hit the 500k mark. He is followed by Kevin Saul, who rests at 542,200– Day 2a chip leader Aleksander Mozhnyakov has been pushed into third place. Lamb knocked out two of his opponents and added to his considerable stack in what was a remarkable hand that’s indicative of Lamb’s luck so far this tournament. Lamb held 8s5s, while his opponents had Kd4d and Ad5s. The flop (on which the small and big blind both went all-in), was 5d6d8d, giving the small blind a king-high flush and the big blind a pair of fives and a chance for an ace-high flush draw. Lamb needed some luck on his side in order to make his hand work, and when the 5c hit the turn, things looked much better for him. His full house remained the highest hand at the table after a Kc came on the river, bringing his total chips over 400k.
Day 2b saw no shortage of poker stars moving on to Day 3– Ryan D’Angelo closed the day with 462,300 chips, while Patrik Antonius made an impressive show with 361,000. Sam Simon, best known for creating The Simpsons, is still alive with a healthy 317,900, while Tony Hachem and Jeff Madsen ended Day 2b with 245,100 and 231,500 chips, respectively. Perhaps the most impressive comeback today belonged to Erick Lindgren, who started the day with less than 4,000 chips and ended it with just over 170k. Andy Frankenberger, Paul Wasicka, Matt Jarvis, J.C. Tran and David “The Devilfish” Ulliott were not so lucky; they were all sent to the rail during Day 2b and will not be seeing any more action at this year’s Main Event.
Historically speaking, a player’s standing at the end of Day 2 has little bearing on whether or not they eventually win; that’s a factor of how the cards fall and how each player handles the action. Last year’s champion, Jonathan Duhamel, started Day 3 in 889th place, while previous winners have made similar comebacks– 2009 winner Joe Cada was in position 99 going into Day 3, while 2008 winner Peter Eastgate was at position 484. None of the 2006-2010 chip leaders at the end of Day 2 have managed to finish above 40th place, interestingly enough, though we will have to wait to see whether Ben Lamb and Aleksander Mozhnyakov will be able to break that trend. There are still a lot of big names and incredible players left in the 2011 WSOP Main Event, so it’s still anyone’s game.