It was a big day at the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble Main Event, as 81 percent of the field that started the day on Sunday was sent packing. In the meantime, the money bubble burst when the 46th and 47th place finishers busted just as the tournament was about to into hand-for-hand mode. With just 27 players remaining going into Day 3, it is a tight race at the top, with Joseph Elpayaa and Noah Schwartz separated by just 8,000 chips and Brian Senie only 30,000 behind Schwartz.
Our chip leader, Joseph Elpayaa, has never won a tournament on the live circuit, but he has had a few very strong finishes. In 2007, he finished 6th in the European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, earning $300,000. In 2010, he came close to a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, placing 4th in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event for $125,387. And earlier this year, he made the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars Main Event, placing 6th for $128,200.
Elpayaa went into Day 2 just outside of the top ten chip counts and used a few big hands to climb up to the top of the leader board. During the second level of the day, he relieved an opponent of her last 150,000 chips or so when his A-Q bested her Q-T. He called her pre-flop all-in and had no need to sweat the turn or river when the flop produced two Aces.
In the fourth level (15th overall), Elpayaa took out Shaun Deeb. Deeb, holding K♥-4♥ after a flop of A♥-T♠-9♥, called an all-in by Elpayaa, who had a worse flush draw with 7♥-8♥, but also had an open-ended straight draw. That straight came to fruition when the J♦ landed on the turn and when no hearts fell on the river, Deeb was out of the tourney.
Needless to say, Deeb wasn’t too thrilled about the hand, tweeting:
“Out of wpt played 2crazy hands vs big Egypt nit rolling him 1st hand then cr k4hh on ah10x9h call 4x pot jam he has 78hh I lose for 500k”
Everyone remaining in the bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble Main Event is guaranteed to cash for at least five-figures, as the next tableful of eliminations will pay $10,685. There will be just 21 eliminations today, but that works out, as the goal is to narrow the field down to the six-handed final table. This final table will not be televised, but it will be streamed live on WPT.com tomorrow as the remaining players vie for the $402,970 first prize.
Day 3 begins at noon EST Monday.
2012 World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Joseph Elpayaa – 924,000
2. Noah Schwartz – 916,000
3. Brian Senie – 886,000
4. Blake Bohn – 729,000
5. Hans Winzeler – 700,000
6. Justin Zaki – 646,000
7. Ludek Sisak – 637,000
8. Jonathan Aguiar – 604,000
9. John Racener – 593,000
10. Byron Kaverman – 578,000