Today’s portion of the field has been condensed into a cluster of tables that only takes up a third of the space inside the Amazon Room. The players have also been separated into the haves and have nots, the big stacks and those just hanging on and hoping to double up. One of those big stacks belongs to Jared Hamby, who finished second in the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship in May.
Hamby is currently sitting in third place with 380k, thanks in large part to a gift from the poker gods. He raised 4.5k before the flop with aces, Gene Strickland reraised to 17.5k, Hamby made it 28K, and Strickland went all in. Hamby called and Strickland flipped over A-K. Hamby’s aces held up and he had momentarily taken over the chip lead. But soon after that things got a whole lot harder for him. Alex Kravchenko, winner of this year’s $1,500 Omaha Eight or Better bracelet, got moved to his table. He also has to contend with Jon Moondes, an amateur who is en fuego. He pushed his stack to 350k after calling someone’s bluff with pocket queens. “There’s nothing better than stacking chips,” said Moondes after the hand. “It’s better than sex.” Hamby looked skeptical, then said, “In this tournament, maybe.”
One table over one of my surprise picks to go deep, Lasse Aspen Melby, has built a 235k stack. He has been stealing a lot blinds with raises from late position and avoiding disasters. During a single round of play he raised from middle position to 4.5k, the standard opening raise of the last round, and everyone folded to him. On the very next hand he again raised to 4.5k. This time both the small and big blind called. The flop came K
J
9. It got checked around. The 7
fell on the turn and again all three players checked. When the K fell on the river, the small blind bet 7k and the big blind made a crying call. Melby folded, not falling for the trap. The small blind showed jacks, giving him a full house. Melby shrugged. “10 on the river and I have the nuts,” he said, meaning he had A-Q.
Melby appears to be in the zone, but with Joe Beevers at his table he’s going to have to be careful he doesn’t get robbed by the Hendon Mobster. The two nearly got mixed up on a big hand. Melby raised from the cutoff to 4.5k. Random guy with shaggy hair in the small blind called. Beevers then raised 16.5k more. Melby wisely folded. When it got back around to the small blind, he moved all in. Beevers was priced in and called with 106. The small blind showed pocket nines. The board came 5343
2, giving Beevers a winning straight.
For the moment the big stacks seem to be picking on the little stacks and staying away from each other, but that could change at any time. Look for some major shakeups on the leader board as Day 2A enters its second half.
