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Day Two of the
World Series
of Poker Circuit Main Event at
Caesars Indiana was
a short one by anybody's standards. The field that began the tournament was
smaller than normal, and they played a full day of poker on Day One. Those
two factors combined made for a quick run through the poker room today - 53
players were seated at noon, and by just after 3 PM the last 27 players were
bagging up their chips and getting their new seat assignments. It remains to
be seen whether the extra time off tonight will benefit anyone in
particular.
There were several interesting matchups today. The feature table had Day One
chip leader Clint Keown, a local player; top professional
Men "The
Master" Nguyen; local player David Muse; Louisville local/Tunica
WSOP Circuit final table player
Len Ashby;
and Samuel "Slade" Whitt, the inspiration for the villain in Jesse May's
poker novel Shut Up And Deal. All of them had at least $28,000 in
chips to begin the day, guaranteeing that plenty of chips would be flying
around while they were together. It didn't hurt that two of them began
drinking fairly early - Men the Master started the day drinking coffee but
soon switched to his trademark Corona and began to buy Budweisers for David
Muse. The chatter at this loosened table was priceless.
Muse is a natural talker at the table, as is his tablemate Keown. The two
butted heads twice at the table. On the first hand Keown made a raise with
position after one player had limped, and Muse made a big re-raise from his
big blind. After thinking over the situation Keown folded his J-J face-up,
sending Muse into laughter. Several orbits later, it was Muse making the
initial raise and Keown coming in for the re-raise. Muse thought much longer
than Keown had earlier before finally folding his Q-Q face-up. Muse stood up
from the table and explained to Keown that he had more discipline than
anyone else at the table - and that was why Keown's chips would all be in
Muse's stack on Day Three. While all this talking was going on, it was Slade
who silently took down 5 monster pots within 2 orbits - including a knockout
blow to Len Ashby - to become the table chip leader.
Damon
"The Mexican" Ramirez entered the day with about $11,000 and was in
need of some help to stay in contention as the blinds began to rise. He
developed a rivalry with tablemate Danny Warchol, who had plenty more chips
than Ramirez. When Warchol moved all-in preflop, Ramirez held J-J and was
faced with a tough decision. He made the right call, pushing his chips in to
see Warchol turn up K-J and a third opponent who called with his big stack
and 4-4. Through the first 4 cards Ramirez was far ahead of both his
opponents and looking like he would triple up, but a miracle king on the
river gave Warchol the win and sent Ramirez packing. He played a solid game
yet again, and it wouldn't be very surprising to see him win an event in his
next Circuit stop.
Marc Aubin, another WSOP Circuit regular, came into the day with a healthy
$15,000 stack but took a hit early on and had to go into survival mode. He
was able to pick up the blinds and antes on several occasions when nobody at
the table would call his bets. He found himself in a great situation to
double up and get right back into the thick of things when he caught 9-9 and
moved all-in over a raise from middle position. His opponent had him
outchipped by a wide margin and got good odds to call with A-6. Aubin was a
solid favorite until the ace of spades hit the turn, leaving him only two
outs on the river. Neither of the remaining 9s came and he exited just
before the end of the day's action.
When the 28th place player was eliminated, only two "names" were left - Men
"The Master" Nguyen and "Captain" Tom Franklin. Both have pretty healthy
stacks heading into the third day of play. Also looking solid are Clint
Keown and Adam Friedman. Samuel "Slade" Whitt is in a dominant position
after taking down those big pots late in the day's action and will be a
force to be reckoned with. The action will continue on Tuesday at noon, when
the last 27 players will be whittled down to the final 9 - and with the
final table will come the first payouts of the tournament. It should be an
interesting day of poker once again here at Caesars Indiana.
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