Thursday, July 09, 2009
WSOP event 57: Arzoomanian in top 20 as Gaw leads on day 2A

Back from the dead ... Canadian Eric Cloutier

2009 World Series of Poker Event 57: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship (Day 2A entries 1478; 607 players progressed to day 3)

Just under 1500 – 1478 players to be exact – returned to the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for day 2A of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event after qualifying from days 1A and 1B.

Only 607 remained at day’s end, with eight Australians among that tally. They included ANZPT Sydney winner Paren Arzoomanian, who finished the day in 17th chip position overall with 272,900, Tian Shou (209,400,) Chad Awerbuch (199,400), Shane Warne (173,700), Luke McIntyre (125,900), Manny Stavropoulos (106,200), Jon Curtis (80,700) and Chris Levick (20,400).

Warne made a stunning comeback late in the day after being down to less than 20,000 late in the day, and missing the first two hours of play as he returned from the UK.

Former world champions who played on day 2A were “Amarillo Slim” Preston (1972), Johnny Chan (1987/1988), Jim Bechtel (1993), Chris Ferguson (2000), Carlos Mortensen (2001), and Greg Raymer (2004).  Chan was eliminated early in the day. Preston and Johnston lasted until much later, but finally busted out during level nine.  Bechtel, Ferguson, Raymer were the only survivors who will return to play on day three.

Past WSOP gold bracelet winners who will also be among the day three field were Greg Mueller, Phi Nguyen, Mike Sexton, Thor Hansen, Vitaly Lunkin, Burt Boutin, Tom Schneider, San Farha, Farzad Rouhani, Erik Seidel, Bob Sleazak, Keven Stammen, Bill Edler, Ted Lawson and Roland de Wolfe.

Poker commentator, ambassador, and former gold bracelet winner Mike Sexton ended the day in good position, with nearly twice the average stack size. Jack Ury, from Terre Haute, Indiana was eliminated. At the age of 96, Ury holds the record as the oldest player ever to compete in a WSOP event.

The overall chip leaeder is Andrew Gaw, from the Philippines with Eric Cloutier, from Mont Laurier, Quebec, Canada placed second. In a bizarre coincidence, Eric Cloutier’s end of day one chip count was initially misreported and he was wrongly identified as the chip leader.

The confusion resulted from an extra zero being added to Cloutier’s chip count. The error was discovered and Cloutier’s standing fell from 150,000 in chips to only 15,000 in chips. Incredibly, Cloutier then bypassed more than 1300 players ahead of him in the chip count on day 2A.

Top chip counts from day 2A

1 Andrew Gaw (Philippines) 386,800
2 Eric Cloutier (Quebec, ON, Canada) 383,500
3 Ed Perry (Beechwood, OH) 370,000
4 Brandon Demes (Tempe, AZ) 369,800
5 Miika Puumalainen (Kuopio, Finland) 361,200
6 Jamie Brown (London, UK) 360,400
7 Jerry Wong (Plattsburgh, NY) 348,100
8 Samer Rahman (Sweden) 334,700
9 Brian Hansen (Norman, OK) 333,500
10 Kyle Wilson (Vancouver, BC, Canada) 306,000 

Australian through to day 3 from day 2A 

17 Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) 272,900
40 Tian Shou (Sydney) 209,400
46 Chad Awerbuch (Sydney) 199,400
64 Shane Warne (Melbourne) 173,700
155 Luke McIntyre (Sydney) 125,900
217 Manny Stavropoulos (Melbourne) 106,200
312 Jon Curtis (Perth) 80,700
576 Chris Levick (Sydney) 20,400

• Report by Nolan Dalla, additional reporting by Sean Callander, pic: IMPDI for the 2009 WSOP