Day 2A of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event began with 1,478 players, compared with the 2,922 prepared to play on Day 2B. However, it ended with only 607 survivors.
Andrew Gaw, from the Philippines, was the overall chip leader at the end of the night with 386,000, while Eric Cloutier is right on his heels with 383,000. Amazingly, Cloutier began play with only 15,000 chips after a clerical error that reported him as being the chip leader after Day 1A. It has been confirmed this time that the former professional hockey player is near the top of the leaderboard after going on an unimaginable rush on Day 2A.
Several big names advanced to Day 3, including former world champions Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, and Carlos Mortensen. Other bracelet winners moving on were Greg “FBT” Mueller, Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Mike Sexton, Thor Hansen, Vitaly Lunkin, Burt Boutin, Tom Schneider, Sam Farha, Farzad Rouhani, Erik Seidel, Bill Edler, Ted Lawson, and Roland de Wolfe.
Mueller has the most chips of any former bracelet winner heading into Day 3. He won two bracelets at this year’s WSOP and finished the day with a stack of 287,000. Both of his wins came in Limit Hold’em and combined for more than $650,000. Poker pro Kyle Wilson, a good friend of Mueller’s, ended the day with 306,000.
Notable celebrities who resumed play on Day 2A included actor and comedian Jason Alexander, world famous cricket player Shane Warne, actor and comedian Brad Garrett, and music manager Rene Angelil. Alexander, seated with Greg Raymer on the ESPN featured table for all of Tuesday, joins Warne as the only survivors of that group heading into Day 3.
With more than half of the field disappearing on Tuesday, there were several prominent names sent home. One of the first was Gus Hansen, who was unable to repeat his deep run in the Main Event last year. Hansen got his entire stack in on the turn with the nut straight against an opponent’s set of threes, but the board paired on the river to give the other player a full house and eliminate Hansen.
Others sent home early on Day 1A were former two-time Main Event champion Johnny Chan, Tony G, Barry Greenstein, Todd Brunson, John “World” Hennigan, Mike Matusow, and Amarillo Slim.
A horde of cameras and media members made their way over to Phil Laak‘s table when his tournament was on the line during the second level of the day. A short-stacked Laak moved all-in with Q-9 and was called by a player with pocket eights. After Laak spiked a Queen on the flop, his opponent made a flush on the river to send him to the rail. Laak’s girlfriend, actress Jennifer Tilly, also made her exit on Day 1A.
Here’s a look at some notables who advanced to Day 3 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event:
Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller – 287,300
Andy Black – 215,700
Mike Sexton – 169,000
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 166,400
Vitaly Lunkin – 135,900
Tom Schneider – 123,700
Joe Sebok – 122,800
Greg Raymer – 95,900
Jason Alexander – 73,700
Farzad Rouhani – 70,000
Sam Farha – 67,500
Carlos Mortensen – 57,900
Bill Edler – 57,300
Erik Seidel – 55,600
Roland de Wolfe – 21,200
Day 2B will get underway at Noon Pacific Time on Wednesday. Troy Weber holds an overwhelming lead over the rest of the field with 353,000 chips; no other player has hit the 200,000 mark. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates on all of today’s happenings at the 2009 WSOP Main Event.
