Event #58: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

We just wrapped up yet another wild and wacky day here at the World Series, and with the completion of today's Day 2b, we are done with the players playing separately. Next time they meet up, everyone will be under the same roof, and the eventual champion will be in the building.

We ended the night with 1,080 players, and amazingly, by the end, we have two big names as our two chip leaders. The first is the incomparable Ben Lamb, who is continuing his uncanny world series, as he bagged 551,600 chips for the night. Not far behind is Kevin Saul, better known as BeLOWaBOVe online, who bag 542,200. Not only are these the two the chip leaders for the night, but they will be the two biggest stacks when Day 3 gets underways. The chip leader from day 2a, Aleksandr Mozhnyakov, is not far behind, with 478,600.

In a pot that perfectly sums up how well Ben Lamb is running this summer, he knocked out two players by hitting your standard three-outer. Lamb raised to 2,400 on the button, and both of the blinds made the call. The flop came out    , and the small blind checked. The big blind went all in for about 14,000, and after getting a count, Lamb threw out a stack of orange chips worth about 60,000. It was on the small blind now, who had about 35,000 or so. He announced himself all in, and the cards were flipped up.

Lamb:   
Small Blind:   
Big Blind:   

Inexplicably, Lamb was actually behind in an all-in, and would need to get lucky to score the double knockout. Of course, this is Ben Lamb we are talking about, so the table was hardly surprised when the   hit the turn to fill up Lamb. The river came the   , and Lamb collected all the chips, upping his stack to around 415,000.

We still have a slew of big name pros who are moving on to day 3, including Ryan D'Angelo (462,300), Patrik Antonius (361,000), Simpson's creator Sam Simon (317,900), Team Pokerstars Pro Tony Hachem (245,100), and Jeff Madsen (231,500). Also alive are Victor Ramdin, Dan Kelly, Justin Bonomo, Garry Gates, November Niners Joseph Cheong and John Racener, and Erick Lindgren, who has 170,300, despite starting the day with just 3,700.

There were a ton of players who weren't able to survive the day. While Tony Hachem survived, his brother Joe was not able to. Also busting today were J.C. Tran, Matt Jarvis, Andy Frankenberger, Paul Wasicka, and David "The Devilfish" Ulliott.

From here, the approximately 1,900 surviving players from both day 2's will enjoy a much deserved day off tomorrow. They will all return on Thursday at noon to duke it out once again. We here at Pokernews will once again be providing you with all of the up to the minute action. Thanks for reading, and stayed tuned for more later this week!

Ryan Rinker raised to 2,600 from early position and the player in the cutoff seat three-bet to 6,500. Action folded back to Rinker and he made the call.

The flop came down     and Rinker check-called a bet of 8,000 from the cutoff seat. The turn was the   and Rinker check-called for 24,000 this time. The   came on the river to end the board and both players checked.

Rinker tabled the    for a Broadway straight and his opponent mucked.

An early-position player opened for 3,000 and was called by a player in middle position and the player on the button. Randal Flowers three-bet to 10,200 from the big blind. The early-position player quickly raised to 40,000, which was enough to put Flowers all in. The other two players folded and action was back on Flowers, who fell deep into the tank.

"I was hoping you'd fold..." Flowers said. Flowers took a deep breath - clearly agonized over the decision. He eventually mucked two queens face up, much to the surprise of the table.

"Wow," is all one of his table-mates could say. Flowers' opponent mucked without showing.

Flowers is down to his last 32,000 as we reach the end of Day 2b.

The tournament staff has just announced that the remaining players will play three more hands at each table before calling it a night.

Martin Torheim started the action on this last hand we witnessed by betting out 3,000 from early position preflop. A player on the button called, as well as a big blinded Matt Savage.

The flop came     and Savage broke in the action by checking. Torheim opted to bet, and made it 5,300. The player on the button called and Savage very quickly threw out a raise of 13,000. Torheim hesitated briefly and then threw his cards in the muck. The button player sat joyfully upset at the spot he was in. After a few moments of mild contemplation the button folded with a smile on his face, and Savage raked in the pot. Savage even showed his cards    to the table to much delight.

Matt Savage

144,000

29,000

We don't know when the chips went in but Ryan D'Angelo just won a pot of around 180,000 on a       board.

It appeared as though a player who was all in for around 48,000 at some point in the hand was eliminated holding    for a pair of tens and a missed flush draw on the flop. Jean-Robert Bellande held    for a pair of nines while Ryan D'Angelo had    for a pair of tens with an ace kicker that was best. The pot brought D'Angelo well across the 400,000 chip mark making him among the chip leader while Bellande took a step back.

Ryan D'Angelo	440,000	122,000
Jean-Robert Bellande	137,000	-13,000

Jeffrey Lisandro opened with a raise to 3,100 from early position, and it folded back around to the big blind who called. Both checked the     flop and   turn.

The river brought the   and another check from Lisandro's opponent. Lisandro bet of 3,500. His opponent immediately grabbed the calling chips and began shaking them in his hands, bobbing his head forward and looking at the utterly motionless Lisandro. Finally he tossed them forward to make the call.

Lisandro opened his hand --    -- and the table laughed in response. His opponent kept nodding, and it sounded like he said he'd made a straight on the river.

"I didn't think you had much," said Lisandro. "But give 'em time to find something," he added.

Lisandro has 94,000 as we move into the last half-hour of play for the night.

We came to Todd Brunson's table after hearing those magical words "All in and a call." A player with about 35,000 left was all in with    against the    of Brunson. We waited for what had to be about three minutes for the ESPN cameras to show up before they dealt the board, but finally they showed up and the cards were burned and turned.

The flop came down     to give Brunson no help, the turn was the   though to give him a flush draw, and the river came   to give Brunson the flush and the victory. The all in player didn't seem too upset though as he wished everyone luck and hit the rail graciously.

Todd Brunson

110,000

40,000

On the turn of a      board, Ryan D'Angelo fired out 11,100 against Jean-Robert Bellande and got called. The   on the river made it four to a straight on the board and D'Angelo checked, Bellande then bet 25,000 and it was enough to make his opponent fold.

Bellande showed    for a missed flush and straight draw which didn't leave D'Angelo too impressed. These two might not have finished their little battle just yet...