1,250 players returned to the Rio for the first of two “Day 2s”. Day 2A, which kicked off yesterday and, by the end of the evening, only 466 players remained. The survivors of Day 1A and Day 1B convened at 12pm PST led by Day 1A chip leader Mark Garner with 194,900 and Day 1B chip leader Ben Sarnoff with 177,500. The players all easily fit into the confines of the Amazon Room and when the day was done they did not even completely fill one of the four 50-table quadrants.
Eliminations were fast and furious early on and Bill Edler, Anna Wroblewski, Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke, and Scotty Nguyen were just a few of the people heading home for the day much sooner than anticipated. While several players saw their way to the door, many others began their ascension up the chip counts, including Jeremiah Smith, Robert Mizrachi, online players Michael Johnson and Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey, and the chipleader at the end of Day 2A, Brian Schaedlich. Each of these players had their turn atop the chip counts as the chip lead switched hands numerous times during the first half of play before Schaedlich took the lead and ran with it.
Schaedlich, a teacher by day and a recreational poker player by night, ended Day 2A with 801,000–nearly twice as many chips as Frey, who ended the day second in chips with 397,000. While there was no official number determined to be the average chip stack, many suggested average at the end of Day 2A was in the vicinity of 100,000. Brandon Adams, who was top five in chips when the day began, ended the day in the 6th position on the leaderboard with 353,600.
Brian Schaedlich was the big story of the day as play was wrapping up and it appeared that he just could not lose a pot. He knocked out several players as he ascended to the top of the chip counts after dinner break, including an enormous pot in which he and another big stack, WSOP bracelet winner Martin Klaser got it all-in on a flop of A-Q-4 with Schaedlich holding A-4 to his opponent’s A-J. Brian was chip leader prior to the hand, but the monster pot put him several hundred thousand chips ahead of his nearest competition with around a half an hour left in play.
Hunter Frey also had an interesting ascension to the top. The hand that propelled his stack skyward was an eight-way limped pot and the flop came A-3-3. A player led for 6,000, another player called, and Frey made it 17,000. Both players called his raise and the three saw a Q hit on the turn. The initial bettor then moved all-in for 90,000, the second player folded, and Hunter quickly called and tabled 2-3. The other player was behind with A-K and after the 9 on the river was no help to him, he was eliminated, and Frey shot up to 372,000 in chips.
The players who survived play have a day off to recover before returning for Day 3 on Thursday. It will mark the first time all of the players will be under the same roof. With over 2,000 players returning for Day 2B compared to 1,250 today, it is likely yesterday’s survivors will be vastly outnumbered by those who make it through today.
