Main Event - End of Day 2 Recap, Mike Azzaro Leads

WSOP Link: http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/update/2A36/mike-azzaro-leads-the-final-nine-meacham-makes-back-to-back-final-tables-at-the-foxwoods-main-event/

There were 81 players to start the day but only 9 were left at the end of Day 2. Players quickly played down past the money bubble, breaking it in the third level of the day. All in all it took just a little over ten hands and it was Jamey Kramer who was the unfortunate bubble boy. Kramer managed to survive once on the bubble by quadrupling up, but it wasn’t enough. His pocket sevens fell to Mike Azzaro’s queen-nine off suit and that would do it, brining the remaining 54 players into the money.

That hand would also kick off a massive heater for Azzaro who eventually finished with the chip lead. He abused the bubble in a big way and increased his stack by several hundred thousand during that time, then picked up a second heater right on the verge of the final table, winning several big pots and eliminating players left and right. Jeremy Meacham is right behind Azzaro on the leaderboard. He made the final table of this event last year and finished in 3rd place, and will look to improve upon that finish on the penultimate day.

Some notables who didn’t make it through the money bubble include Baseem Nsier, Pearce Arnold, and David Davenport each of whom was able to bag a big stack coming out of Day 1. But there were plenty more who made it into the money but not much further, such as Andrew Ostapchenko (40^th for $3,061) who had a hot start early but failed to hold on to his chips, Jack Duong (29^th for $4,301) who couldn’t out race Galen Hall and was eliminated, Long Tran (26^th for $4,884) who made the final table of this event last year, and one of the Day 1b big stack Kevin Calenzo whose pocket jack fell to the hot run of Mike Azzaro (13^th for $9,622).

The final table bubble boy was Cory Waaland when Bobby Corcione and he fell in rapid succession. Waaland got it all in preflop with pocket tens, but they did not hold up against Hall’s ace-jack, and that brought the last ten players down to the final table. David Mock was the only player to fall after that. He was also eliminated by Hall when his pocket jacks ran into Hall’s pocket queens on a six high flop.

The final nine players are all guaranteed at least $14,602 but area all gunning for the $156,735 first place prize as well as the WSOP Gold Circuit Ring. Play will resume tomorrow at 12 p.m. EST in level 26 with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and an ante of 5,000.

Final Table Chip Counts and Seat Draw

Seat 1: Fabio Dagata - 280,000 (9 bb)
Seat 2: Ralph Massey - 700,000 (23 bb)
Seat 3: Galen Hall - 1,000,000 (33 bb)
Seat 4: Larry Greenberg - 1,440,000 (48 bb)
Seat 5: Mike Azzaro - 2,690,000 (90 bb)
Seat 6: Phil Stavrakis - 205,000 (7 bb)
Seat 7: Bob Ricciuti - 970,000 (32 bb)
Seat 8: Jeremy Meacham - 1,500,000 (50 bb)
Seat 9: Sean Thomson - 935,000 (31 bb)