The 123 survivors from the two starting flights of the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble Main Event came together for Day 2 Sunday with paydays on their minds. Just 45 players were to make the money in this tournament; by the end of the day, everyone remaining was guaranteed almost $10,000. Leading the 23 players to make it to Day 3 is Day 1A leader Cong Pham with 892,000 chips.
Pham was second overall heading into Day 2 with 265,000 chips, just 10,200 behind overall chip leader, Ryan Eriquezzo. One of his biggest hands of the day came a little before dinner. He raised to 6,500 pre-flop, Scott Mauer re-raised to 14,500, and Pham called. On the flop of T-9-6, Mauer bet 13,000, Pham raised to 33,000, and Mauer shoved all-in. Pham made the call and revealed two red 9’s for middle set, up against the offsuit A-K of Mauer. The turn and river were of no help to Mauer and Pham saw his stack climb to 465,000.
Shortly thereafter, Pham had another doozy of a hand, notching another pelt. Pham started the betting pre-flop and ended up in a raising war with Evan Teitelbaum until Teitelbaum was all-in. Pham called and was in bad shape, his red Jacks against Teitelbaum’s Queens. The flop of 9-T-5 was of no use to either player and while the Queen on the turn gave Teitelbaum a set, it did leave the door open for Pham to make a straight. And make the straight he did, as an 8 fell on the river. Pham’s stack was now up to 705,000, the largest in the tournament.
Pham fell back to close to 400,000 as the end of the night neared, but he scooped a nice pot to get up to 530,000 at the end of Level 18. It was a long hand, taking most of the post-level break. On an A-5-4 rainbow flop, George Lampert bet 26,000, Pham raised to 66,000, and Lampert called. Pham then bet a King on the turn, which got Lampert to go into the tank, fearing a set from his opponent. With the break almost over, he finally folded and showed A-K.
A little after said break, Pham grabbed a pot from Matt Glantz to grow his stack back up to 670,000. From there, he cruised to the end of the day.
As there are 23 players remaining going into Monday’s play, the money bubble obviously burst on Sunday. The plan for Day 3 is to get the field all the way down to the six-handed final table.
2013 World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Cong Pham – 892,000
2. Andrew Whitaker – 772,000
3. Billy Swaringen – 619,000
4. Randall Price – 616,000
5. Margo Costa – 599,000
6. Tom Sheets – 584,000
7. Stephen Bokor – 570,000
8. Ryan Eriquezzo – 567,000
9. Jared Jaffee – 551,000
10. David Diaz – 513,000