The second Day 1 flight of the 2012 Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza $500,000 Guaranteed Main Event played out on Saturday, with Micah Raskin ending the night as the overwhelming chip leader with a stack of 346,900.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Micah Raskin | 346,900 |
| 2 | Tam Minh Nguyen | 190,800 |
| 3 | Brian Shaw | 152,400 |
| 4 | Edward Pham | 145,600 |
| 5 | William Tonking | 144,800 |
| 6 | Joseph Tracy | 133,400 |
| 7 | Jennifer So | 126,300 |
| 8 | Timothy Chang | 115,900 |
| 9 | Michael Schoultz | 111,100 |
| 10 | Michael Ryan | 109,700 |
There were a total of 118 entries on Day 1b, which when put together with the 70 on Day 1a added up to 188 for the $2,500 buy-in event. That meant there was some overlay for players thanks to the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool, to be divided among the top 18 finishers with $135,000 reserved for the winner.
Among those failing to survive Day 1b were Shawn Busse, Craig Bergeron, Todd Terry, Theo Tran, Matt Glantz, Dan Buzgon and Andy Frankenberger. Frankenberger’s visit was especially short after he’d only arrived near the end of Level 5 and the end of late registration, then busted right at the start of Level 6.
Meanwhile, Raskin’s day began about as inauspiciously as it gets as he immediately lost his entire starting stack in a single hand. All in on a 
flop versus Charles Furey, Raskin held the 
but Furey had the 
for trips, and when Raskin failed to improve he was quickly back at the cashier buying another entry into the event.
Things went considerably better for Raskin on the second go-round as he steadily chipped up through the first six levels. Then, he exacted some revenge on Furey in a hand that saw Raskin flop a set of nines against Furey’s top pair, top kicker with the 
and eventually claim almost all of Furey’s chips in the process.
That hand pushed Raskin up over 110,000 — at the time already the biggest stack in the room — but soon he’d nearly double that in a big three-way hand in which he’d end the tourney runs of both Furey and John Heaton.
After Heaton had raised from under the gun and Furey reraised his short stack all in from the small blind, Raskin called from the small blind only to see Heaton reraise again. Raskin called once more, then all watched the flop come 
. Raskin checked, Heaton bet all in, and Raskin quickly called, showing the 
for a flopped set. Heaton had the 
and Furey the 
, and after the turn and river blanked Raskin was suddenly up around 215,000.
He’d continue to thrive as the night wore on, for a time pushing up close to 400,000 while no one else had half that amount. Finally when Level 10 ended, Micah would bag that final total of 346,900, well clear of Chris Klodnicki’s Day 1a leading stack of 228,000.
Other big stacks to end Day 1b included Tam Minh Nguyen (190,800), Brian Shaw (152,400), Edward Pham (145,600) and William Tonking (144,800).
In the end, just 45 players survived Day 1b, and they’ll be joining the 25 who survived Day 1a. Cards will go in the air for those 70 at 12:00 p.m. ET for Sunday’s Day 2. Check back starting then for live updates on PokerNews for continuing coverage of the 2012 Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza $500,000 Guaranteed Main Event.
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