Due to the humongous crowd that turned out for Day 1C, Day 2B of the 2015 World Series of Poker’s Championship Event was bustling with activity. With 2765 players returning to the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino’s tournament rooms, the hope was to reach a manageable figure to allow for a reasonable combination of the remaining players heading to Day Three on Friday. In reaching that goal, David Jackson emerged with the day’s lead.
There were a couple of stories that came out of the day, one on the good side of poker and one on the bad. On the good side was the story of Adrian Mateos, the Spaniard who has become a fixture on the European poker scene but has never stepped foot on U. S. soil for an event due to the factor that he didn’t turn 21 until eight days ago. Mateos, who has captured two of the biggest events that exist in tournament poker by winning the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event (he will be the defending champion of that event this fall) and the 2015 European Poker Tour Grand Final, has stunned the crowd around the Rio with his play on the felt. After reaching a high of 330,000 chips late in the Day 2B play, Mateos would bleed off a few chips to finish off the night at 285,000, more than enough chips to be viable on Day Three.
The news wasn’t as good, however, in extending a WSOP record. Poker professional Ronnie Bardah had cashed in the past five WSOP Championship Events, but it wasn’t meant to be for Bardah to extend that record to six in a row. Bardah was one of the players on the rail by the end of the proceedings on Thursday night, but he wasn’t alone. Bardah could commiserate with players such as former World Champions Jamie Gold, Huck Seed and Peter Eastgate and actor/comedian Ray Romano, who once again lost his “last longer” bet with fellow Everyone Loves Raymond costar Brad Garrett.
Jackson would quietly march through the minefield that was Day 2B, emerging on the other side with a pretty good chip stack but not good enough to take the overall lead in the Championship Event:
1. David Jackson, 408,800
2. Zach Jiganti, 401,900
3. Shawn Van Asdale, 388,000
4. Jens Lakemeier, 360,000
5. Hugo Perez, 345,300
6. Louis Salter, 344,400
7. Justin Schwartz, 320,900
8. Salvatore DiCarlo, 312,200
9. Ville Mattila, 310,000
10. Hans Joaquim Hein, 308,800
Although there are some former World Champions sitting on the sidelines, such past champions as Ryan Riess (291,700), Joe Hachem (148,500), Scotty Nguyen (181,200), Phil Hellmuth (88,800) and Jim Bechtel (140,000) still have the dream alive of winning a second WSOP Championship Event title. Other players who will have sizeable stacks heading to Day Three includes Matt Glantz (306K), Matt Jarvis (304,400) and Mark Kroon (279,900).
Putting the two Day Twos together, Day 2A leader Amar Anand will be the player with a target on his back as he sits on a 603,500 chip stack:
1. Amar Anand, 603,500 (Day 2A)
2. Calvin Lee, 500,700 (Day 2A)
3. Luther Tran, 479,700 (Day 2A)
4. Charles Chattha, 423,300 (Day 2A)
5. David Jackson, 408,800 (Day 2B)
6. Zach Jiganti, 401,900 (Day 2B)
7. Alan Mastic, 400,000 (Day 2A)
8. Sotirios Koutoupas, 393,000 (Day 2A)
9. Shawn Van Asdale, 388,000 (Day 2B)
10. Joe Lu, 387,400 (Day 2A)
Now comes the fun part for the 1824 players remaining in the 2015 WSOP Championship Event. For the first time in the tournament, the field will convene as one – no more days with letter designations – and look to make the run towards an important milestone in the event. Probably late this evening, the final 1000 players who will earn a WSOP cash will be determined but there will still be more work to be done after that momentous occasion. Those 1000 players – whenever they are determined – will still have the dream alive for becoming the next World Champion of poker.