Only 16 players remained at the end of Day 2 of the 2012 Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza $500,000 Guaranteed Main Event. Chris Klodnicki proved the best on the day and is enjoying the lead by a wide margin with 1,123,000 chips heading into Monday’s final day of play.
Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Klodnicki | 1,123,000 |
| 2 | William Tonking | 713,000 |
| 3 | Daniel Wach | 513,000 |
| 4 | Coury Mascagni | 463,000 |
| 5 | Joseph Tracy | 449,000 |
| 6 | Michael Schoultz | 373,000 |
| 7 | Ian Searing | 314,000 |
| 8 | Micah Raskin | 285,000 |
| 9 | Richard Allen | 269,000 |
| 10 | Michael Ryan | 216,000 |
| 11 | Edward Pham | 216,000 |
| 12 | Denis Gnidash | 212,000 |
| 13 | Timothy Chang | 194,000 |
| 14 | Drew Heller | 114,000 |
| 15 | John Chapman | 106,000 |
| 16 | Vince Baldassano | 87,000 |
Play began on Sunday with 70 players left from the tournament’s 188 entries, all hoping to land a spot inside the final 18 and the money. Micah Raskin began the day as the overall chip leader and continued to maintain the advantage during the first few hours of play as the field began to shrink. Among the early eliminations were David Paredes, Matt Brady, Ryan D’Angelo and Ryan Riess.
By the time the dinner bell rang, only 35 competitors were left, and shortly after players returned, Klodnicki began to move up the counts in earnest, pushing in front of Raskin, Daniel Wach and William Tonking toward 1 million in chips. It would take another couple of hours to play down to the money bubble, but with 19 players left, the two most exciting hands of the day came about, both involving Klodnicki.
The first saw Vince Baldassano raising before the flop from early position and picking up a few callers including Klodnicki in the big blind. The flop came 
, and Klodnicki immediately led with a bet, which Baldassano raised. The others folded, Klodnicki reraised again, and Baldassano called.
The turn was the 
, and Klodnicki fired 75,000 into the pot of about 190,000. Baldassano called again, then the river brought the 
and an all-in push from Klodnicki. Down to just 130,000, Baldassano agonized before finally folding his 
flush face up. Klodnicki then showed 
— just sevens and eights — and scooped the pot.
Not too long after that hand, a short-stacked Abhinav Asija reraised all in over a Klodnicki open, and the chip leader called. Asija had the 
and Klodnicki the 
. From there, the 
flop improved Asija to a set, but Klodnicki still had a draw. The 
turn was fine for Asija, but the 
appeared on the river to give Klodnicki a Broadway straight and burst the money bubble.
The last hands of the night then saw Matthew Burnitz eliminated in 18th and Ketan Pandya in 17th, with both earning $8,000.
The final 16 will return on Monday to play down to a winner, with Tonking (713,000), Wach (513,000) and Coury Mascagni (463,000) representing Klodnicki’s nearest competitors to start the third and final day of play. A cool $135,000 awaits the winner up top, and it will be an exciting day.
The final day gets underway at 2:00 p.m. ET on Monday. Check back starting then for live updates on PokerNews as coverage of the 2012 Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza $500,000 Guaranteed Main Event continues until a winner is found.
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