There were a number of UB Qualifiers in the day 2a field which included Jamie "its_a_sicknes" Avery, Brendan "moe86" Mahoney, Anthony "Italyn" Gagliardi, Michael "DplubM0j" Johnson, Ellen "ellen00001" Narkis, Tom "vaniljvodka" Pyl, Dixon "7tempeheat7" Ruecker, Tracy "Fatcats" Scala, Ryan "SgtJoeRoberts" Vanderhoof, Jason "888-admit-it" Williams, Rick "rplrpl" Lowe, Derek "BuyinsDown" McClasky, Jeremy "symi" Symington, Justin "J__Dubs" Wallace, and Robert "ZMan" Zarzycki.
Only 465 of today's starting 1250 players survived day 2a, a day where the words "All-in and a call!" were shouted out by dealers all over the amazon room all day long.
Players who hung around to make it to day 3 include Avery (80k), Johnson (140k), Pyl (70k), Scala (138k), Lowe (80k), and Symington (32k). The chip counts by their names are unoffical counts near the end of play on 2a.
We learned during the first level of play today that it was Johnson's birthday and some of his opponents gave him a few birthday presents during that level... their chips!
Johnson started the day with 114k in chips and in a hand versus one opponent they saw the flop come Jh9s2c and both players checked. The turn was the Ts, Johnson bet out 2.7k and his opponent called. The Qs came on the river and both players checked. Johnson flipped over the Ad8c for a queen-high straight while his opponent held the {Ah}{Qc} for a pair of queens. Their table was in the red section of the amazon room and was going to be broken up soon so Johnson said "You're going to be happy to see me go, aren't you?" and the other player laughed.
In another interesting hand Johnson and another player saw a flop of Qs5d4h. The other player bet 2.5k and Johnson raised to 7k only to have the other player push all in for an additional 24k. Johnson made the call showing the KsKc which was ahead of the other players AdQc. The turn was the Kh putting a lock on the hand for Johnson and he scooped up the pot and increased his stack to 150k.
As if that wasn't enough, we caught up with another hand during the same level with action on the turn with the board reading Ad8h4cTs. The other player in the hand bet 2k and Johnson made the call. The 4h dropped on the river and the other player bet 4k only to have Johnson raise to 9k. The other player went into the tank and decided to only call the bet with his 8d4d for fours full of eights. It was a very smart play for him as Johnson tabled the ThTc for tens full of fours. His opponent was happy even though he lost the hand. "Most players would have gone broke on that hand!" he said shaking his head. Johnson complimented him on just calling rather than raising in that tough spot. After getting up to over 200k at one point in the day, Johnson ended the day around 140k.
Avery was also seen splashing around early today. With the board on her table reading Qd9s2sAs she bet out 3.5k and one player called. The Kc came on the river and she quickly bet out 6k. Her opponent went into the tank for a bit before deciding to make the call. Avery showed the 8s6s for a turned flush and her opponent mucked his hand.
Scala was seen raking in a few pots throughout the day and ended the day with around 138k. He had a little red duck with devil horns sitting in front of him throughout the day and when asked about it he said that it belongs to his three-year-old son who has a collection of more than 500 rubber duckies. Scala said his son handed him this duck and said "You take it, it's lucky!" Scala did well today so we might start seeing ducks everywhere soon.
The day didn't go so well for Brendan "moe86" Mahoney who was short-stacked for much of the last part of the day. The player 2nd to act at his table raised preflop and Brendan thought for a bit before making the call in the cutoff seat. The flop came Td4h3d. The other player checked to Brendan who bet 5.8k (more than 1/4 of his stack). The other player then check raised with a huge stack of orange 5k chips, more than enough to put Brendan all in. Brendan looked exasperated. He tanked for a bit and asked the other player "You got tens? Ace king of diamonds?" Brendan shuffled his chips and said "I can't fold....I call." His opponent said "Nice call" as he flipped over his AdKs for ace high which Brendan had beat with his KdKc. That is until the turn brought the Ah to put the bluffer in the lead. The 2d on the river couldn't save Brendan and he was sent to the rail near the end of the day.
Also eliminated today were Anthony "Italyn" Gagliardi, Ellen "ellen00001" Narkis, Ryan "SgtJoeRoberts" Vanderhoof, Justin "J__Dubs" Wallace, and Robert "ZMan" Zarzycki.
Players that survived day 1d on July 6th included Gary "Quantock" Thompson (59,775), Garrett "GfcukinBecks" Beckman (54,300), Norman "2dimes" Killop (38,475), Dan "gamblndano" O'Toole (38,150), Michael "ShitItThisWay" McNeil (35,550), Derek "davidboreanis" Severson (22,850), and Andrew "mrrussian" Lee (21,975). These player will join the day 1c survivors in play on day 2b.
