Whether it’s the NBA FInals or a 4-day poker tournament, you can’t win it on day 2. But while the Knicks or the Spurs couldn’t lose it, either, that’s not the case when it comes to poker.
One wrong move, a bad read or an unlucky runout has spelled the end of many a potential championship run.
But you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take; the important thing is to trust the process, follow through and if you miss, be ready to rebound.
Maybe these games aren’t so different after all.
Game 2 of the Finals played out on the big screens of the Paris ballroom on Friday, but the room’s attention was elsewhere. Whether you were involved in an event, or just sweating Daniel Negreanu in the $10K 7 Card Stud Championship, poker was the main attraction here.
And whatever you’re into — playing or watching, cash games or tourneys, stud, PLO or hold’em — you had plenty of options.
Foxen sails through deadly waters
The biggest ticket event of the day, by some margin, was Event #19: $25K High Roller NLH 8-Handed. Day 2 played down to 22, all of whom are in the money to the tune of at least $64K and will return for Day 3 on Saturday.
Those watching the stream, or live at the mothership, were treated to some fascinating match-ups. These included Alex and Kristen Foxen, who shared a table for a time until Mr Foxen got bounced just shy of the bubble.
When he did, the man who moved into his seat was tournament poker’s all-time #2 money winner Stephen Chidwick. No soft targets here.
$1,773,083 is the first-place prize money at the end of this rainbow, but getting there won’t be easy for anyone.
With one of the bigger stacks in play — 2.8M — Kristen Foxen is poised for another deep run, but won’t be the only end-boss pulling up a chair on Day 3. Jesse Lonis (2.6M), Nick Schulman (2M) and Brian Rast (875K) are among the many poker-household names still swinging.
And those are just some of the 22 players advancing to Day 3. Israel’s Barak Wisbrod leads the pack with 4.9M after a late surge, followed by Zachary Grech with 4.1M.
Play will resume at noon on Saturday with blinds of 50K/100K with a 100K big blind ante.
Young bloods and experienced faces
The cheaper option in Paris was Day 1A of Event #22: $1,500 Big O, which played down to the money. 150 players made it past the bubble, and you can join them in the hunt for the bracelet right up til 8:45pm on Saturday’s Day 1B.
Elsewhere in the cavernous Paris tournament area, one corner of the new-look featured-table set-up was set aside for a streamed cash game courtesy of the folks at Hustler Casino Live.
A number of familiar HCL faces were present, including Nik Airball and Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau, each of whom racked up a profit of over $300K for the night playing $100/$200 cash.
At least they made it to the end of the stream, unlike regular HCL tablemate Britney who was removed from the game while casino compliance checked her cash buy-in was fully above board. Read more on that story here.
Close by, more big names were contesting the first day of Event 23: $10K 7 Card Stud Championship.
If hold’em were personified as the young streamer with the nice watch playing on HCL, you can think of stud as the cool uncle who taught it the game in the first place.
And you don’t have to be an established legend of the game to contest the stud championship, but it helps.
Seeing Jennifer Harman at one table, Todd Brunson at the next, and Daniel Negreanu sitting next to Gus Hansen at another, those of us who remember the post-boom years of the 2000s would be forgiven for getting a little nostalgic.
Like the Big O, registration remains open in the $10K 7 Card Stud. 47 of the 97 Day 1 entries will return at 1pm PT on Saturday, with entries accepted until 2:15pm.
Japan’s Naoya Kihara ended the day with the chip lead, bagging up 319K chips. Also pushing at the top of the chip counts are Patrick Leonard (241K) and Eli Elezra (228K).
The middle of the pack features the likes of Esther ‘ETay’ Taylor (169K), Allen Kessler (168K) and Gus Hansen (153K), while those holding onto less than the 60K starting stack include Michael Mizrachi (55K), Jennifer Harman (40K) and Nick Guagenti (38K).
Negreanu didn’t survive to bag up at the end of the day, and won’t be firing a second bullet: this one’s a freezeout.
