Event #43: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em

Event #43: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Day 2 has drawn to a close at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. Following ten hours of action-packed play, the 297 hopefuls have been reduced to just 34. They will all be hoping to take home the top prize of $507,274 as well as a gold bracelet when they return on Saturday, June 23 at noon.

Top of the chip counts is Seth Davies (1,305,000). He was climbing steadily over the course of the day and about an hour before the end of play today, he knocked out Yuri Dzivielevski. Dzievielevski had two pair when the chips went in on the turn but Davies rivered a better two pair to propel himself towards the end-of-day lead.

He will be facing tough opposition, as experienced pro's Jeff Hakim (1,164,000) and Javier Fernandez (1,093,000) also bagged over a million. Other notables who put themselves in a solid spot for Day 3 include Andrew Brokos (625,000) and Daniel Buzgon (570,000) and Ismael Bojang (497,000).

This tournament has attracted a host of big names and of those, David Peters (480,000), Chris Ferguson (402,000), Ryan Laplante (292,000), Andreas Klatt (230,000) all have won at least one bracelet in their careers. Each of them will return for the third day to add another piece of hardware to their already impressive poker résumé's.

Those who didn't fare as well today were 2017 finalist Asi Moshe, Justin Bonomo, Humberto Brenes, Kristen Bicknell, Chance Kornuth, Georgios Sotiropoulos, Peter Eichhardt, Dutch Boyd, Maria Konnikova, David "Bakes" Baker, Nick Shulman and John Racener.

Day 3 kicks off on Saturday, June 23 at noon in the Tan section of the Amazon Room. Players will come back to a small blind 6,000, big blind of 12,000 and a running ante of 2,000. PokerNews will bring live coverage from the moment cards are in the air until the end of play. Given the number of players remaining and deepness of play, this tournament will likely not conclude at the end of Day 3 and an unscheduled extra fourth day will likely be added to determine the winner.

The board read      and Yuri Dzivielevski had checked to Seth Davies, who bet 52,000. Dzivielevski moved all in over the top for 291,000. After confirming the price, it was a quick call from Davies but it was Dzivielevski who had the best of it.

Yuri Dzivielevski:   
Seth Davies:   

The river brought a  , giving Davies a better two pair than Dzivielevski.

Seth Davies	1,200,000	225,000
Yuri Dzivielevski	0	-570,000

There are only 15 minutes left on the clock before play will be paused for the night. There are 37 left in at this point but that could still change.

Following a middle position open, Alexandre Mantovani raised all in and James Rann thought about his options before calling. With no other callers, they tabled their cards.

James Rann:   
Alexandre Mantovani:   

It was off to the races as the pair headed into the flop. It came     and Mantovani needed an ace or a jack to save him. The   turn and   river bricked for Rann and Mantovani had to say goodbye.

James Rann	710,000	405,000
Alexandre Mantovani	0	-210,000

Ashwin Sarin had a mere 19 big blinds and set them over the line. It folded around to Pavel Vekler in the big blind, who called.

Pavel Vekler:   
Ashwin Sarin:   

Sarin had only one live card and couldn't find one of his three outs as the board brought up five blanks.

Pavel Vekler	230,000	230,000
Ashwin Sarin	0	-160,000

Javier Fernadez raised to 18,000 from middle position and Jacob Naumann reraised to 56,000. It folded back to Fernadez who called and they went heads-up to the     flop. Both players knuckled the felt and the turn was the  .

Fernandez checked, Naumann bet 28,000 and Fernadez quickly folded.

"Pocket kings this time?" Fernandez asked.

"No, not this time," Naumann responded.

Javier Fernandez	530,000	-110,000
Jacob Naumann	360,000	143,500

Edin Babayev moved all in for his last 200,000 preflop holding    but ran into the    of Timur Margolin. The board ran out       and Margolin made top two pair to eliminate Babayev.

Timur Margolin	840,000	575,000
Edin Babayev	0	0

The last hand took some time to play out and a winner was declared before any community cards were dealt.

Alex Keating had opened to 13,000 and was called on his left by Antal Mezei. It then folded to Javier Fernandez on the button who upped it to 64,000. Keating then went deep into the tank until the clock was called. He decided to pass and Mezei moved all in. It was a quick fold from Fernandez and Mezei chipped up.

Javier Fernandez	640,000	-71,000
Antal Mezei	285,000	195,600
Alex Keating	168,000	-7,000