bazeman Leads WSOP $1,500 NLHE with 15 Players Remaining
Fifteen players are left standing in Event #2 of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP), a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. And at the top of the pack is Ohio’s Jacob bazemanBazeley (pictured), who has nearly 1.3 million in chips, about 100,000 more than the second place stack of Alaska’s Ryan Schmidt. No one else in the field of 15 has more than 800,000, so Bazeley and Schmidt will be marked men when play resumes on Wednesday at 1:00pm Pacific Time at the Rio in Las Vegas.
All eyes at the Rio are focused on Vanessa Selbst, who sits in fifth place entering the final day of Event #2. Selbst bagged up 706,000 on Tuesday night and ended Day 2 by serving up a double elimination. In that hand, Dan Smith 3bet all-in pre-flop to 40,000 and Nicolas Verkaik, who goes by noctus on PocketFives, 4bet all-in for 199,000. Selbst made the call.
When the cards were revealed, Selbst showed pocket sevens and was up against Smith’s A-6 and Verkaik’s A-Q. The status quo didn’t change when the board fell 2-5-6-3-8 and Selbst scooped a pot worth nearly 500,000. Play subsequently paused for the night.
Eighteenth place in Event #2 of the 2012 WSOP belonged to Oregon’s Cody younggunzosu22Zartman, who 3bet all-in before the flop with A-J. Brent bhanks11 Hanks (pictured), the original raiser in the hand, made the call and flipped up A-Q. The better pre-flop hand held and Zartman took home $18,000. Hanks is in ninth place entering Wednesday’s finale with 578,000 in chips.
Bazeley’s run through Day 2 included busting an opponent with A-10 against 6-5. His opponent, who held 6-5, shoved from the button and Bazeley called out of the small blind. A six on the flop put Bazeley behind in the hand and, by the river, the PocketFives member was drawing to six outs. Sure enough, a ten peeled off on the final card and Bazeley chipped up by 430,000.
Another major pro to make a deep run in Event #2 was John Juanda, who ran A-9 into the A-Q of Neil Willerson on his final hand. Juanda actually pulled out in front when an ace and a nine hit on the flop, but a queen on a later street sent the five-time bracelet winner to the cage. Juanda has nearly $5 million in career WSOP earnings and won the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2008.
Bazeley claimed the chip lead shortly before Juanda’s elimination. Here’s how the field of 15 stacks up ahead of Wednesday’s 1:00pm PT restart:
1. Jacob bazemanBazeley – 1,291,000
2. Ryan Schmidt – 1,193,000
3. Abdyl Konjuhi – 754,000
4. J.P. MavFish Kelly – 721,000
5. Vanessa Selbst – 706,000
6. Joseph Cino – 703,000
7. Kenneth Strickland – 685,000
8. Kwinsee Khoa Tran – 592,000
9. Brent bhanks11Hanks – 578,000
10. Neil Willerson – 479,000
11. Kennii Nguyen – 411,000
12. Richard Park – 379,000
13. Andrew Badecker – 349,000
14. Todd Keikoan – 265,000
15. Michael Kaufman – 243,000
Bazeley was quite active on Twitter throughout the day on Tuesday and posted the following sign-off: “Bagged 1.29 mill, coming back tomorrow at 16k bb, 15 left #runningpure big day tomorrow! Thanks for all the support friends #uguysrthebest.” He also vented his frustration with prices at the WSOP’s Poker Kitchen: “@WSOP @WSOPTD something has to be done about Poker Kitchen prices. $16.75 for a quesadilla and Gatorade, only option on 5pm dinner #ridiculous.”
Members of the online poker community own the spotlight in Event #3 of the 2012 WSOP, a $3,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha tournament. A total of 317 players entered on Tuesday and familiar faces like Annette Annette_15Obrestad (pictured), Justin Boosted JSmith, Andy BKiCeSeth, and former World Poker Tour Championship winner Yevgeniy Jovial Gent Timoshenko all survived to see Day 2.
Obrestad is the only female left in the field of 64 that will take to the felts on Wednesday in the Amazon Room. The action gets underway at 1:00pm PT.
Check out the Official WSOP Rail Thread in our poker forums to root on your peers. We’ll keep you posted on the latest WSOP news right here on PocketFives.
