2012 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Day 2: Clyde Hinton Leads, Vedes Close Behind

The World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Main Event concluded on Day 2 with Clyde Hinton headlining the pack. Hot on Hinton’s heels is Tommy Vedes, who took home ClubWPT Player of the Day honors on Thursday.

The day began at 12:00 p.m. EDT with 209 players returning from the 290 players who participated in Day 1. At the beginning of the day, the prize pool was announced, and players learned they would be competing for the $779,520 first-place prize.

Prizepool: $2,784,000

*Includes $25,000 buy-in to the WPT World Championship

Early in Day 2, one of the day one chip leaders, Chino Rheem, took a few hits and was quickly eliminated. According to the World Poker Tour Live Update Team, Rheem got all his chips in on a board with versus his opponent’s , but he whiffed on the turn, as well as the river, and he was sent to the rail.

Other notables who were eliminated on Day 2 were Dan Buzgon, Todd Terry, Allen Kessler, Jason Mercier, Andy Frankenberger, Christian Harder and last year’s champion Taylor Von Kriegenbergh. With Von Kriegenbergh’s elimination, the 10-year streak of champions failing to defend their titles continued.

Vedes’ chip-stacking adventure started in Level 9 when he doubled to 130,000, the World Poker Tour Live Update Team reported. The player in the hijack seat raised to 2,100, and Vedes reraised to 4,900 from the cutoff. The original raiser four-bet to 15,000 and Vedes called. The flop fell and his opponent bet out 20,000. After a quick thought, Vedes shoved all-in, and after a big sigh, his opponent finally made the call.

Vedes turned over and his opponent turned over . The hit the turn, and his opponent was left drawing dead.

Vedes’ fun continued towards the end of the day in Level 10, when he doubled up once again. In a four-bet pot with the board showing , Vedes checked and Byron Kaverman bet 14,600. Vedes, tanked and called. The turn bought the , putting three clubs on the board.

Vedes checked, Kaverman bet 45,000, and then Vedes moved all in for roughly 85,000 chips. Kaverman called and showed pocket jacks for a flopped set, but Vedes turned over two kings for a higher set that was made on the turn. The river blanked, and Vedes scooped the massive pot, taking him to 230,000 chips.

Other notables at the top of the pack at the end of Day 2 include John Dolan (224,300), Joe Serock (127,500), Ebony Kenney (104,300), and Andrew Lichtenberger (149,000).

Day 3 will kick off on Friday at 1200 EDT (1700 BST) and 102 players will return to the felt for five levels of play. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for daily updates of all the action at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown.

End of Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

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_{*Photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com}