WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open, Day 2 Recap

By BJ Nemeth

Darren Elias started Day 2 as the overall chipleader with 213,600. At the end of the day, Elias was still near the top of the leaderboard, second in chips with 636,000.

In one of the craziest situations in World Poker Tour history, Zack Bird (not pictured) moved all in blind from the button — before the cards were even dealt. Bird was serious, and a floorperson ruled that the action was binding unless someone raised the big blind ahead of him.

Matt Brady (third from left) woke up with [QcQd] and doubled up thru Bird’s [Jd10c]. As the dealer was counting down the chip stacks, Bird got up to leave. The dealer told him he still had some chips left, but Bird said he didn’t want them. Bird abandoned his stack (worth five big blinds), and it blinded off without him.

Read the full details of this crazy hand by clicking here.

Day 2 began with five players under the age of 21 still in the running to win the customized surfboard. Barnes started the day as chipleader in that demographic (and fifth overall) with 145,600. Unfortunately, Barnes had a rough Day 2, and was eliminated before the dinner break.

Daniel Buzgon (center) is practically an old man compared to Robert Gorodetsky (left) and Glenn Fishbein (right). Buzgon is 27, while Gorodetsky and Fishbein are two of the remaining 18-20 year olds competing for the customized surfboard.

Allen Kessler (right) looks bored as he waits for the big blind (foreground, left) to call or fold to the all in of Tony Dunst (center). The board showed [8c7s3s10c3d], and the big blind eventually folded. Dunst showed [Qs9s] — a queen-high bluff.

Reigning WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger (left, in blue) got to see this year’s POY race play out in front of him as he shared a table with Joe Serock (top right, in black) and Will Failla (foreground, right).

Failla has led the POY race for most of the season, but Serock passed him last week with his second straight third-place WPT finish. Serock was eliminated late in the day, but Failla survived to Day 3, and will pick up more POY points if he cashes.

Brian Hastings (left) had flopped a set of kings on a board of [AdKc3h], and Richard Grant moved all in dark before the turn card hit. Hastings waited to see the [8c] hit the turn before he called, and Grant turned over [3c3d] for a lower set. The set of kings held up for Hastings, and Grant was eliminated.

After the hand, James Dempsey (right) asked Hastings why he waited to see the turn card before calling. "Brian, what turn card do you fold to?" Hastings laughed along with everyone else.

Late in the day, James Dempsey (left) and Shawn Cunix were side-by-side and both near the top of the leaderboard — Dempsey with 425,000, and Cunix with 377,000. While Dempsey stacked his chips high, Cunix went for shorter stacks spread out over a wide area.

With the board showing [Kh4s2h7s], Matt Giannetti (left) checked, and Byron Kaverman (right) bet 85,000 into a pot worth about 130,000. Giannetti tanked for five full minutes before he folded, and Kaverman took the pot. This photo may as well be video, because both players sat silent and motionless the entire time.

With 10 minutes left at the end of the day, the tournament clock was stopped and a card was drawn to determine how many more hands would be played. Will Failla organized a small pool where players bet $100 each on the number of hands. The card was the [5c], and as you can see by his celebration, that was Failla’s number.

In one of the final hands of the night, Danny Shiff was all in preflop with [KcKd] against the [Ad4d] of Tony Parille. It was a roller-coaster hand, as Parille flopped a flush draw and turned a pair of aces, only to see Shiff saved by a king on the river.

Alistair Melville (left) survived the day with a short stack, and showed a little chip-stack envy as he took a cellphone pic of James Dempsey’s tower of chips. (Dempsey finished the day with 404,500.)

Farid Jattin emerged as the chipleader heading into the dinner break with 484,000 — at a time when only one other player had reached 300,000 (David Tuthill had 310,000). Jattin’s momentum continued after dinner, and he finished as chipleader with 718,000.

Day 2 came to an end with about 55 players remaining. Here are the top 10 from the leaderboard:

1.  Farid Jattin  –  718,000
2.  Darren Elias  –  636,000
3.  Shawn Cunix  –  411,000
4.  James Dempsey  –  404,500
5.  David Tuthill  –  381,000
6.  Peter Campo  –  341,500
7.  Will Failla  –  335,000
8.  Byron Kaverman  –  292,000
9.  Barry Hutter  –  275,000
10.  Matt Giannetti  –  274,500

Day 3 begins tomorrow (Monday) at 2:00 pm ET. Once again, it is NOT a noon start, so players can sleep in a little longer if they’d like. The field will play five 90-minute levels, with a one-hour dinner break after the third level of the day.

Return to WPT.com for live coverage as the field bursts the bubble on Monday as they get closer and closer to Wednesday’s televised WPT Final Table.