Event #25: 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em

The second of four days is in the books and John Racener holds the chip lead of Event #25: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em at the 2021 World Series of Poker. Racener leads a returning field of 31 players that will come back for Day 3 to continue their quest for WSOP gold. The 604 entrants generated a prize pool of $2,785,950 and the top prize will pay $562,667.

Racener is looking for his second WSOP title. The 2010 Main Event runner-up broke through in 2017 when he won the $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship in 2017, and he has cashed at the WSOP 81 times.

Among the returning players are Bin Weng, Vanessa Kade, Jonathan Jaffe, and Brazil's Yuri Dzivielevski. Also returning is Daniel Negreanu, who will try to make a run at his seventh bracelet. Day 1 chip leader Scott Drobes also qualifies for Day 3 at the top part of the leaderboard again after going on a late run to bag over 1.8 million.

Negreanu steadily built his stack over the day and reached 2.2 million at one point before Anthony Spinella found a double through the six-time WSOP champion. Spinella's ace-eight made two-pair to beat the pocket fours of Negreanu and send him back below 2 million. The late levels brought more trouble for Negreanu and he will return tomorrow with 773,000 in chips to make another run at the gold bracelet.

Remaining Payouts

The 604-player field was a mosaic of stars from all around the poker world. Chance Kornuth, Cary Katz, and Ryan Laplante made their way through the bubble but did not survive to qualify for Day 3. Other notables to bow out before the money on Day 2 include Brent Hanks, Nick Schulman, and Kitty Kuo.

Day 3 will resume on Thursday, October 14 at 2 p.m. with around 35 minutes left in Level 20. Blinds in Level 20 are at 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante. Play will continue on Day 3 until five players remain to return on Friday, October 15 for a final table that will be streamed on PokerGO.

That does it for Day 2 coverage of Event #23: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em. Be sure to keep it here with the PokerNews live reporting team for updates on all of the action from the 2021 WSOP.

Ben Yu was seen scooping a massive pot of over 1,500,000 chips and it was Ryan Laplante on the losing end of it. The two players got all of their chips in the middle with Yu holding    while Laplante had   .

It was a queen-high flop to give Yu a pair of queens and Laplante was unable to catch any help. Laplante was left with just 20,000 chips after the hand while Yu sits among the leaders.

Ben Yu	1,540,000	860,000
Ryan Laplante	20,000	-850,000

Chance Kornuth limped in on the button and Xuan Liu checked her option. The flop came     and Liu checked to Kornuth who tossed in a bet. Liu check-raised to 50,000 and Kornuth called.

The turn brought the   and Liu checked again. Kornuth bombed all in, putting Liu to the test for her remaining 163,000 chips. Liu thought for over a minute before making the call.

Kornuth showed    for a combo draw while Liu held the only pair with   . The river was the   and Liu held on for a double up, leaving Kornuth on the short stack.

Xuan Liu	465,000	265,000
Chance Kornuth	116,000	-244,000

The action folded to Daniel Negreanu on the button who raised it up to 35,000. Anthony Spinella was in the small blind and ripped all in for 219,000. Negreanu got a quick count and then made the call to put Spinella at risk.

Anthony Spinella:   
Daniel Negreanu:   

Spinella had two overcards to hit, and the flop of     gave him top pair. The   on the turn and the   on the river ensured Spinella a double up.

Daniel Negreanu	1,760,000	-480,000
Anthony Spinella	450,000	-500,000

Mike Scarborough shoved all-in for 137,000 with    and his opponent called with   .

The board ran out       and Scarborough doubled up to 275,000 with two pair, jacks and sixes.

The very next hand, Scarborough shoved all-in for 275,000 with   , and his opponent called with   .

The board ran out       and Scarborough doubled up to 550,000 with a pair of kings.

Michael Scarborough

550,000

550,000

Galen Hall shoved for 272,000 from early position and Eric Ting-Yi Tsai was the only caller.

Galen Hall:   
Eric Ting-Yi Tsai:   

The board ran out       and Hall made aces and threes to secure an important double late in Day 2 action.

Eric Ting-Yi Tsai	960,000	-40,000
Galen Hall	556,000	146,000

Benjamin Diebold got it in for around 400,000 from early position and Jonathan Jaffe was the lone caller.

Benjamin Diebold:   
Jonathan Jaffe:   

The board ran out       and the sixes held to knock Diebold out of the tournament.

Jonathan Jaffe	955,000	579,000
Benjamin Diebold	0	-159,000