Five days ago, Vanessa Selbst was introduced as the newest member of Team PokerStars along with former Bodog pro David Williams. The introduction took place at the Real World Suite at the Palms in Las Vegas, just across the street from the Rio, the site of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). After Day 2B of the Main Event, Selbst sits in eighth on the leaderboard with a stack of 265,000, trailing chip leader David Assouline’s mountain of 387,800.
Selbst took down the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun Main Event and told the assembled crowd at the Palms that she had partly come out of retirement from poker. However, in order to solidify her Main Event run, she’ll have to navigate through a gauntlet of talent when the combined Day 3 field takes to the felt on Monday. Among those left in the hunt for the nearly $9 million top prize is Kelly Kim, an original November Niner, who doubled up late in the day on Saturday with queens against A-K.
One of the final eliminations of Day 2B went to Tommy Vedes, who called all-in with Q-3 of spades on a flop of A-5-4 with two spades. Matt Reed showed A-Q for top pair and no spade came on the turn or river. Vedes took down the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago last year for $1.2 million. He owns over $550,000 in career WSOP earnings.
On a flop of 8-4-6, Tom Schneider pushed all-in with pocket sevens, but received a call from a player with a wired pair of aces, which held for the win. We won’t be hearing any cries of “Stack ‘em, stack ‘em, to the top” this year from the two-time bracelet winner’s wife, but Schneider finished the 2010 WSOP with four in the money finishes.
Three players who have made deep runs in the Main Event in previous years found the exit late in the day on Saturday. Jeff Shulman, who finished fifth in last year’s cycle for $1.9 million, and Josh Arieh, who took third in 2004 for $2.5 million, were both ousted from the Main Event yesterday. Joining them was original November Niner Ylon Schwartz, who bowed out in back-to-back hands after running a straight into a flush on his second-to-last pot.
One of our favorite moments of Day 2B involved Brandon Cantu. The UB.com pro announced via Twitter, “I’m shoving this hand no matter what, wish me luck.” True to his word, Cantu moved all-in and detailed what happened next on the popular social networking site: “Went raise 3000 call 3000 I get jt shove fold fold 31k.” Cantu, a dual WSOP bracelet winner, ended the day with a stack of 40,000.
Also bumped on Day 2B were DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dan “djk123” Kelly, David “Bakes” Baker, Doyle Brunson, and Full Tilt pro Phil Ivey, who made the final table of this event last year. Ivey was eliminated in especially gut-wrenching fashion, as he ran pocket queens into pocket kings. Ivey hit a queen on the turn to surge into the lead, but Yuji Masaki re-sucked on the river when a king hit. Ivey’s stack took a beating as a result and he was eliminated shortly thereafter.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks after Day 2B according to figures found on WSOP.com:
1. David Assouline – 387,800
2. Ricardo Fasanaro – 380,000
3. Matt Reed – 337,800
4. Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy – 305,100
5. Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet – 295,600
6. Charles Sylvestre – 292,300
7. Sasha Rosewood – 279,500
8. Vanessa Selbst – 265,000
9. Marc Sander – 265,000
10. Gabriel Walls – 241,000
Other players remaining after Day 2B include legendary gambler Archie Karas, Victory Poker pro Dan Bilzerian, Jason Mercier, UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, Eric Buchman, Humberto Brenes, “The Simpsons” voice Hank Azaria, and Lock Poker pro Matt “All In At 420” Stout.
Sunday is an off day for the 2010 WSOP Main Event. On Monday, the survivors from both Day 2s will reconvene at the Rio for a combined Day 3. The tournament’s field will be whittled down to the final nine next Saturday, July 17th.