THE IVEY SHOW CONTINUES AS DAY 2 WRAPS UP
Day 2C of the 2014 Main Event brought a special buzz to the Amazon Room. There was a little area along the rail with spectators packed tight, jostling for a good view of the legendary Phil Ivey. Ivey was seated a few tables into the tournament area, so it was not easy for anyone to see, but he was still the main attraction of the day, as everyone wanted to see him in action, even if it was just a glimpse. Ivey made headlines in Day 1 because he finished among the chip leaders. He has outdone his impressive Day 1 performance and followed it up with an even better Day 2.
 
Ivey's performance up to this point can best be described as dominant. He became the first player in the entire field to cross the half million chip mark, he is the only player to finish in the top five chip counts for both Day 1 and Day 2, and he had more than 100,000 chips than his nearest competitor at the dinner break. Right now, Ivey sits with a huge stack of 505,000 chips, which makes him the overall chip leader. The only thing at this point that can slow Ivey down is the fact that this tournament is far from being over. There were 1,049 players that survived Day 2C and they will join the 822 players that survived Day 2AB for a grand total of 1,871 players that will be returning for Day 3. It will be the first time in the tournament that the entire field will play simultaneously.
 
Ivey wasn't the only big name to have a big day though. Three-time bracelet winner John Hennigan had himself a big day too. Hennigan finished the day with 342,700 chips which is good enough to put him in the top 20. Hennigan has had really successful 2014 WSOP. He won $50,000 Poker Players Championship, which some consider to be the most prestigious tournament that the WSOP hosts. Hennigan also was the runner-up finisher in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. He hopes to top off his strong 2014 with a deep Main Event run. Other notables that bagged chips up at the end of the night include Isaac Baron, Mark Newhouse, Kory Kilpatrick, Ronnie Bardah, Tom Marchese, Jason Koon and Nick Schulman.
 
The previous Main Event champs have had a hot start to the tournament so far, but that changed in Day 2C. Many of the previous Main Event champs found themselves on the wrong side of the rail by night's end. Joe Hachem, Phil Hellmuth and Joe Cada all did not make it through the day. Cada ran his pocket kings into an opponent holding pocket aces. It's not all bad for Cada though, who will still be bringing a bracelet home with him. He won the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Six Max event for a cool $670,000 and his second career bracelet earlier in the series.
 
Unfortunately for some players, the day did not go as well as they had hoped. The athletes in the field had a rough go of it. NBA all-star Paul Pierce survived, but had a tough last level and only ended the day with 48,600 chips after beginning the day with 60,400. European soccer star Gerard Pique started out real hot but eventually busted and will have to wait another year for his shot at the Main Event bracelet. Another player to have a rough day is Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu's problems didn't start until the last level of the day. At the end of the night Negreanu tweeted that he went from 175,000 chips to 39,800 in the last level. Negreanu was still fortunate enough to move onto Day 3, but not all were. Some of the notable player's to bust in Day 2C include Dominik Nitsche, Matt Salsberg, Gus Hansen, Doug Polk, Tobias Reinkemeier, Scotty Nguyen and JC Tran.
 
Here are the top ten chip counts for all of the Day 2 flights combined:
 
1. Phil Ivey - 505,000
2. Timothy Stansifer - 481,500
3. Raul Mestre - 477,900
4. Thomas Cannuli - 407,800
5. Morgan Popham - 407,600
6. Tony Ruberto - 402,700
7. Joe Kuether - 401,200
8. Peter Neff - 389,200
9. Isaac Baron - 387,200
10. Steve Tripp - 380,400