On Tuesday night, action from Day 2B of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event aired on ESPN. Two one-hour episodes were devoted to the second Day 2 and the feature table included Dan Harrington and Jeff Shulman, who were seated next to each other. The former has recorded four WSOP Main Event final tables, while Shulman was a member of last year’s November Nine.
Four former Main Event champs were in action along with four members of last year’s November Nine. One of the first eliminations of the night went to “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander, who ran pocket jacks into pocket kings on his final hand. Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey was crippled after running pocket queens into pocket kings. Ivey turned a queen to take the lead in the hand, but his opponent rivered a king to send his chip stack diving to less than five big blinds. He’d later be eliminated after an opponent flopped a set.
2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon doubled up a player with pocket jacks against pocket kings and back at the feature table, Shulman doubled up after flopping a set of jacks against Tibor Hegedus’ top pair.
Ted Bort, CEO of Allied Network Solutions, and Prahlad Friedman tangled in a controversial hand. Bort pushed all-in on the river while continuously barking like a dog. With the board reading 6-J-9-5-2, Bort called the clock on Friedman, who made the call at the one-second mark. However, the floor said Friedman’s hand was dead since he didn’t call in time. Bort flipped over J-9 for top two pair and scooped a 160,000-chip pot, among the largest of the night. Watch the hand here.
ESPN aired a commercial break amid the controversy and, when the show resumed, Mike Mustafa and others at the table argued with WSOP staff that Friedman had indeed called before time expired. ESPN aired a replay clearly showing that Friedman had called at the one-second mark, with the dealer promptly saying, “He called.” Nevertheless, another floor supervisor was summoned who also said the hand was dead. Friedman was also involved in “Ante-gate” with Jeffrey Lisandro.
Harrington doubled up through Hegedus after flopping top set and, to close out the first one-hour episode, Moon was all-in with 10-9 on a flop of 4-9-2, all clubs. His opponent called and flipped over pocket aces and, with neither player holding a club, the board ran out K-5. Moon told his wife while leaving the Amazon Room, “At least the pressure’s off, honey.”
To open the second episode of the evening, which also featured Day 2B play, Chris Ferguson doubled up with pocket queens against another player’s pocket fours. Then, Tom Schneider doubled up with A-K against A-J. While raking his chips, Schneider pulled out his phone and played an audio clip of his wife Julie screaming, “Stack ‘em, stack ‘em, to the top!”
Josh Arieh joined the already impressive feature table lineup and Phil Laak, who was seated at Table 2, doubled up an opponent with K-10 against A-9. In two separate hands, Laak received cash payments of $20 and $40 to expose his hole cards. In the second one, he bluffed a player with second pair holding just six-high. Others in the field included Jean-Robert Bellande, Gavin Smith, J.J. Liu, and Deuces Cracked front man Jay Rosenkrantz.
Arieh doubled up through Harrington before promptly giving away most of his newfound chips to Shulman. The CardPlayer executive ran A-K of diamonds into pocket aces on his final hand to exit stage right. Also departing was DoylesRoom front man Doyle Brunson, who re-raised all-in on a flop of 4-8-3 with pocket sevens. An opponent called with pocket jacks and a running 4-6 sent “Texas Dolly” home. Brunson received a hearty ovation as he headed for the exit.
Pros dropped like flies down the stretch. Schneider ran pocket sevens into pocket aces after the money went in on an 8-4-6 flop. The turn was a six and the river was a jack, sending the former WSOP Player of the Year home. Then, Arieh, decked out in Full Tilt Poker gear, was all-in pre-flop with 5-4 of spades and up against Joe Hanna’s pocket queens. Arieh flopped an open-ended straight draw, but no ace or six came on the turn or river and Arieh was eliminated from the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
Next Tuesday, action from Day 3 will air. Catch the WSOP Main Event on ESPN on Tuesdays at 9:00pm ET.
