A recent walk around the Amazon room brought us over to Faraz Jaka's table where we found him getting involved in a pot. The rest of the table folded around to the cutoff player who raised it up to 2,300. Jaka sat on the button and made the call. The small blind folded, and the big blind paid the toll as well.

The flop came and all three players checked. The on the turn saw the big blind check, and the cutoff follow suit with a tap of the felt of their own. Jaka was next up to bat and he bet out 3,700. The big blind then raised to 10,600. The cutoff folded and Jaka made the call.

The then landed on the river and the big blind checked. After a few moments Jaka placed a bet of 13,000. The big blind leaned back in his chair, smiled, and gave away his hand. It appears Jaka has had a bit of a reemergence late here on day 2ab, Jaka is now well over the 150,000 mark and looks primed to make day 3, but anything can happen.

Faraz Jaka

160,000

20,000

It's been a good day for Maria Ho so far. She has slowly increased her chips throughout the day, and she's picking up when she left off after the dinner break.

Ho raised from under the gun to 2,200, and the next player to act quickly three bet to 6,000. It folded back around to Ho, who asked him how much he had behind. When she found out it was about 35,000, she made the call. The flop came down , and she checked to her opponent, who fired out 8,000. Ho came along, and the hit the turn. Both players checked, and the river brought the . Ho fired out 14,000, and when her opponent called, Ho tabled for top pair. Her opponent dejectedly flashed before mucking his hand.

After that pot, Ho is up to 187,000.

Lynn Gilmartin spoke with Ho during the dinner break:

Maria Ho

187,000

35,000

Wandering past Faraz Jaka's table and we noticed his stack was back into the six-figure range. We then watched him add even more chips to that in a hand against one opponent. It started with an early position player opening the pot to 2,300. Folded around to Jaka and he would three-bet to 6,200.

"Be nice to me," Jaka said as he called and the dealer spread out a flop. At this point Jaka fired out a bet of 6,200. Jaka's opponent only thought for a few moments before letting go of his hand and sending the pot to Jaka. The roller coaster continues.

Faraz Jaka

140,000

90,000

Hasan Habib started the hand by opening for 2,300, the player in the small blind called and Mike Wolf called from the big. The flop fell , both blinds checked and Habib bet 3,100. The small blind called and Wolf check-raised to 10,100.

Habib got out of the way and the small blind called. The turn came and both players checked. The river came , the small bind checked and Wolf bet 5,700.

The small blind called, Wolf tabled and his opponent mucked.

We recently learned that two notables were eliminated just before the dinner break. The first was seven-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Billy Baxter, who met his end at the hands of Mike Parisi. It happened when Baxter held against Parisi's on a flop. Baxter couldn't improve and his day came to an end.

The other notable to hit the rail was Govert Meetal. In his last hand, he opened for 1,800 with and then called a three-bet to 5,200 from Yin Sun, who happened to hold . The flop came down and Sun led out for 10,300, prompting Meetal to move all in for a little over 20,000. Sun made the call and Meetal would fail to improve.

Billy Baxter	0	-32,000
Govert Meetal	0

The players are now on a 90-minute dinner break.

For some break time entertainment, check out Daniel Negreanu's Rocky knowledge as Sarah Grant puts him to the test.

A player on the button raised to 1,700, Oliver Speidel three-bet to 4,600 from the small blind, and the player called.

Speidel led out for 5,000 on a flop of . The player on the button called.

The turn was the , Speidel led for 8,000, and his opponent called.

The completed the board, and Speidel fired a third bullet worth 13,000. His opponent tank-called, and Speidel showed for a busted flush draw. The player on the button showed and Speidel was left with just 13,500 chips

Oliver Speidel

13,500

-38,500

Upon checking in on some action at the table, Ray Chiu was kind enough to fill the PokerNews team in a couple of hands recently played by Paul Phua that saw him shoot up to 145,000 in chips.

On the first hand, Chiu said Phua and one other opponent took an flop and both players checked to see a come on the turn. Phua's opponent bet and Phua just smooth called the bet. The river completed the board with a and Phua's opponent bet 7,200. Phua raised to 17,200 and his opponent tank-called, but only called. Phua showed two aces — — for a flopped full house. His opponent also flopped a full house with the , but some how, didn't go broke.

Chiu said that shortly after that, Phua raised to 1,800 from early position and found calls from the small blind and Chiu himself in the big blind. The flop came down with two diamonds and action checked to Phua. He bet 3,800 and the small blind check-raised to 8,200. Chiu got out of the way before Phua came back with a reraise to 19,200. The small blind made it 40,100 and Phua shoved. The small blind called holding middle set with the . Unfortunately for him, Phua had flopped top set of eights — .

The top set of Phua held up after a blank turn and river and he moved his stack way up to 145,000 in chips.

Paul Phua

145,000

81,000

Jerry "Big Schlick" Schlichting was kind enough to let the PokerNews Live Reporting Team know about a recent hand where he won a big pot to move to about 140,000 in chips while also busting Thomas Lock from the tournament. Here's how Schlichting described the action to us.

After a player raised to 1,900, Lock called from the cutoff seat and then Schlichting called on the button. "I had the ," he said. The big blind also called and the flop came down . The first player led out for 3,700 and the preflop raiser made the call.

"[Lock] reraised to 14,700 with about 17,000 behind," Schlichting described, "And I made it 20,000 more," which would mean he reraised to 34,700. Play folded back to Lock and he put himself all in with a set of sevens, meaning Schlichting needed to spike a club that didn't pair the board.

The turn was a and the river the — bink! Schlichting had made his flush and cracked the set of sevens for Lock. Schlichting was pushed the pot and moved to 140,000 in chips while Lock was sent out the door.

From middle position, former NFL player Eric Stocz raised to 2,000. The only caller he found was from the player in the big blind and the flop came down . After the big blind checked, Stocz bet 3,000. His opponent folded and Stocz won the pot.

On the next hand, Stocz limped in from early position and action folded to Jeremy Saunders in the cutoff seat. He raised to 2,300 and play folded back to Stocz. "You don't want none of this, man," commented Stocz with a smile. "Show if I fold?" he asked.

Saunders obliged and showed the after Stocz folded the face up. "Nice position," commented Stocz. "And I limped from early position, pretty ballsy on your part."

Action started with Ali Eslami, who raised it up to 1,800. It folded around to the button, and he made the call. The small blind was next, and he shoved all in for about 13,000. Eslami made the call, and the button got out of the way. The cards were tabled, and it was a classic race.

Eslami:
Opponent:

The flop came down , which provided little help for Eslami. The turn, the , gave Eslami flush draw outs to go along with his ace and queen outs. However, the river came the , which was a brick for Eslami. After the hand, Eslami is down to under 35,000.

Ali Eslami

34,500

-8,500

Chad Brown was all in and at risk holding moments ago. His opponent held , and the board ran out ...., cracking Brown's aces and eliminating him from the tournament.

Chad Brown

0

-105,000

After a preflop raise to 2,200 and a call in front, Pius Heinz three-bet to 6,400 from the button. Action folded back to the original raiser, who put in a four-bet to 19,000. The other player folded, and Heinz immediately flicked his hand into the muck.

"You've been on TV so much you don't need to Hollywood," one of the players said to the reigning champ.

Heinz responded, "I hate when people do that."

Pius Heinz

92,000

22,000

When we reached Table 1 in the Brasilia Room, Jason Somerville was heads up with an opponent on a board of . Somerville's opponent check-called a 5,000-chip bet, and the completed the board.

Somerville's opponent checked again, and Somerville fired 8,000. His opponent tank-called, and Somerville turned over for Broadway.

The player mucked, and Somerville is up to 345,000 chips.

Jason Somerville

345,000

51,000

We caught Taylor Paur paying an older gentleman that slow rolled him on the river. The board was , Paur bet 5,600 on the river and his opponent took several long moments before raising to 25,000.

Paur called and the gentleman waited for him to table his hand for rolling over for the nut flush.

Taylor Paur

320,000

80,000

Oliver Speidel opened to 1,700 from early position, a player in middle position called, and a third player three-bet to 4,500 on the button. Speidel four-bet jammed for 23,800, the player in middle position folded, and the player on the button called.

Speidel
Opponent

The board ran out , and the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event champion doubled to 52,000.

Oliver Speidel

52,000

0

With around 25,000 in the pot and a board reading , two checks put action on JJ Liu, who fired out 15,000. An early-position player made the call, while her other opponent got out of the way, and it was heads-up to the river.

The early-position player was first to act and lef out for 20,000, but he snap-folded when Liu quickly moved all in for 60,400.

JJ Liu

145,000

25,000

Robert Varkonyi, who won the 2002 World Series of Poker Main Event, raised to 2,200 on the button. A player defended from the big blind, and the dealer fanned . Varkonyi's opponent check-called a 2,200-chip bet.

The turn was the , and both players checked. The two knuckled again when the completed the board, and Varkonyi's opponent tabled . Varkonyi mucked, and he's now down to 19,000 chips.

Robert Varkonyi

19,000

-44,000