WinStar World Casino River Poker Series Main Event Day 2: Matt Newcombe Still On Top

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Another grueling day of tournament poker ended on Sunday at the WinStar World Casino’s River Poker Series Main Event. Players from three starting flights combined on Day 2 to wage war on the felt for their share of the $2,500,000 guaranteed prize pool. It took a mere 10 levels for the 141 players who began the day to become the final 15. Matt Newcombe, who finished Day 1a as the chip leader and was the overall chip leader coming into Day 2 has once again finished at the top of the field with a stack of 3,245,000.

Aaron Massey held onto the second largest stack at the end of the day with 2,890,000 in chips. Massey was able to gain a majority of his stack during a three-way all in that occurred fairly early on during Day 2 play. Mark Eddleman opened the action preflop with a raise to 9,000 and was called by Jerry Lorett. Massey moved out a three-bet to 24,000 from the button and both of his opponents called.

The flop fell {Q-Diamonds}{6-Hearts}{J-Hearts} and Eddleman checked. Lorett open-shipped all in for an unknown amount and Massey called. Eddleman then moved all in over the top and Massey snap called for his tournament life.

Showdown

Massey: {Q-Hearts}{Q-Clubs}
Eddleman: {Q-Spades}{J-Spades}
Lorett: {10-Hearts}{9-Hearts}

Massey was in the lead with his flopped set, but needed to dodge Lorett’s straight and flush outs. The {4-Spades} fell on the turn and the {3-Clubs} on the river. An excited Massey jumped into the air and gave powerful fist pump at the sight of two small black cards. This hand propelled him to 655,000 early on in the day and his stack continued to grow exponentially as the day progressed.

Day 2 saw a slew of notable names return to the felt from their various starting flights. Having already cashed, these players were searching for glory and the ever elusive final table appearance. Among those to finally see their tournament come to an end on Day 2 were Brett Schwertley, Chris Moneymaker, Maria Ho, Heath Herring, AP Phahurat, Kurt Jewell and 2012 World Series of Poker Octo-Niner Robert Salaburu.

David "Doc" Sands was expected to make a strong showing on Day 2 and did not disappoint. Sands seemed to be a magnet for action throughout the day as we saw him come from behind twice to double up for his tournament life during play. Sands remained one of the top stacks for a majority of the day, but finally met his untimely end before the field combined for the final two tables.

Sands moved all in on a board of {8-Hearts}{10-Diamonds}{J-Spades}{9-Spades} only to have Peter Zhmutski quickly move all in over the top. The third player in the hand folded and Sands showed {q-Diamonds}{10-Hearts} for a straight. Unfortunately for Sands, Zhmutski held {K-Diamonds}{Q-Spades} for the nut straight and was able to send Sands home in 20th place.

While Sands was ultimately disappointed with his finish, he had nothing but positive words to say about the event and tournament staff after the fact.

[TWITTER="https://twitter.com/Doc_Sands/status/242481623415812097"]
img=http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1576191242/WSOP_pic_normal.jpg
nick=Doc_Sands
name=David Doc Sands
date=Mon Sep 03 04:38:18 +0000 2012
text=Although 20 of 1400 isn’t what I came here for I had a really fun week. @WinstarWorld ran a phenomenal event with great dealers and staff.[/TWITTER]

Final 15 Chip Counts

Place Player Chips
1 Matt Newcombe 3,245,000
2 Aaron Massey 2,890,000
3 Peter Zhmutski 2,865,000
4 Andy Robinson 2,135,000
5 Richard Tygum 2,095,000
6 Patricia Cardner 1,200,000
7 Cord Garcia 1,090,000
8 Chris Hooper 1,050,000
9 Justin Gardenhire 905,000
10 Matt Shepsky 820,000
11 Mark Kehrees 745,000
12 Brad Tucker 640,000
13 Sam Murphy 535,000
14 Ron Roberts 435,000
15 Jay Merchant 300,000

At 1200 CST (1800 BST) on Monday the final 15 players will return to the Global Events Center in the heart of the WinStar World Casino to play down to a champion. Make sure to stay tuned to our live reporting page to follow as this exciting event reaches its dramatic conclusion!

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

Picture of Ante Up Magazine

Ante Up Magazine