A significantly larger field packed the Amazon Room and several surrounding rooms for Day 2b of the Main Event than Day 2a. The reason being the number difference between Days 1a/1b and 1c/1d.
In all, 2,378 players began play at 12:10 PT. Some of those in attendance included a handful of former Main Event champions, and it turned out to be a nightmarish day for the bunch. As play kicked off the two featured tables included former Main Event champions Chris Moneymaker and Jerry Yang. Moneymaker started the day in main ESPN Tournament Area while Yang was seated at the secondary featured table located nearby. Neither was able to get anything going, as Yang was the first previous champion to bust out of the event when his A-J was outdrawn by another player’s A-9 after all of the chips had gone in preflop.
Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Brad Daugherty and Carlos Mortensen were other past winners that met their demise in Day 2b. Mortensen, who began the day as one of the chip leaders, was dealt a shattering blow late in the day when his flopped set of twos was bested by a set of queens.
Some celebrities that failed to make it through Day 2b were actress Shannon Elizabeth and rock artist Sully Erna, who had cashed in the previous two Main Events. Also eliminated during the day was 95-year-old Jack Ury, who is officially the oldest person ever to play in the Main Event.
The chip leader of Day 2b was Peter Biebel with 531,000, followed closely by well-known professional Alex Outhred with 486,800. Other notables with large stacks heading into Day 3 are Victor Ramdin, Nenad Medic, Cliff Josephy, Phil Hellmuth and Brandon Cantu.
The overall chip leader going into Day 3 is Brian Schaedlich, who ended Day 2a with a massive advantage. Schaedlich will stack 801,100 chips when play begins at 1:00 PT Thursday. Darrell Dicken, who was seated at Schaedlich’s table late in the day, even mentioned the law of diminishing returns when referring to Brian’s chips. The law, when applied to poker, would imply that the more chips Schaelich added to his stack, the overall return on those chips would increase at a declining rate. Dicken was hinting that Schaedlich should sit out of Day 3 and return on Day 4 when that stacks have evened out and field has been watered down. It’s doubtful Brian will take that advice, but we’ll see if he decides to slow down a bit or continue to put the pressure on all those at his table.
Nearly 1,300 players will pack into the Rio when play commences tomorrow. It will mark the first time that all of the remaining players will participate at the same time. With The Main Event paying out 666 places this year, we should reach the money bubble at some point Thursday night. It should make for an exciting Day 3 at the World Series of Poker!