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LA Poker Classic – Day 2 report
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2010-02-28 16:23
More than 400 survivors showed up for day 2 of the WPT’s LA Poker Classic. At the end of the day, only 186 players were left in contention. Team PokerStars Pro players were out in force, and they pretty much stole all the lime-light on Day 2 as Daniel Negreanu finished in 3rd place and Vanessa Rousso ended up in 6th. Salvatore Deluca amassed a stack of 431,000 chips to clinch the chip lead, but with all those name players in the top echelon, few people paid any sort of attention to him.
Negreanu scored a couple of big pots that became largely responsible for his advance through the ranks. On the first hand, the
PokerStars pro made a raise from early position, holding 3c,4c. Two opponents tagged along for the ride, and the flop fell 2c, 3d, 5c giving Negreanu a Straight flush draw. The Canadian bet 3,500 chips into the pot and made one of the other players fold. The other guy fought back though. He raised it to 6,000, and Negreanu responded by further escalating the conflict to 15,000. That must’ve been too much for his opponent as he came over the top immediately, tabling 3,8o for the lead. Negreanu was in a bit of a squeeze there, but great players are great because they tend to be luckier than their opponents too. The turn brought about a 4, giving Negreanu a two pair and planting him firmly in the driver’s seat. The Ks on the river sealed the deal.
In another hand, there were about 50k chips in the pot on the river, and he had hit quad 8s. He shoved another 40k into the middle and Benjamin Zamani called him. Needless to say, Negrenu picked up another hefty pot to add to his stack.
Howard Lederer, Mark Seif, Steve Sung, Vivek Rajkumar and Johnny Chan are still in contention. With the money bubble set to 72nd place, the milestone will probably be reached on Day 3, but many of the second day’s survivors will fall by the side before the bubble bursts. Chip leader Salvatore Deluca and Daniel Negreanu have sure positioned themselves favorably for a deep day 3 run though.
