WSOP: Kabbaj Puts The Kabosh On The Field

Two hundred and seventy five players sat down Tuesday for the USD 10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Hold ‘em (Event 45). Only a small field of 85 took to the felt at the beginning of Day 2, and by end of play on Wednesday evening only 14 were left standing.

At the end of the night it was John Kabbaj who sat at the top of the leader board with a massive stack of 2,026,000. JC Alvarado and Billy Kopp were not far behind with healthy stacks of 924,000 and 772,000 respectively.

Kabbaj has made his second cash of the 2009 World Series of poker and will be aiming to take his first WSOP gold bracelet.

Tucked away in a far corner a stacked tabled developed which included Isaac Haxton, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Darryll Fish and Bobby Firestone.

Haxton shot himself up the board when he led-out with a bet of 53,000 on the turn of a board that read [10s] 8 Q 9 . Action folded all the way around the table to Dmitry Gromov, who was seated to Haxton’s right. The bet sent Gromov into the tank for several minutes and a small crowd of players gathered around the table. Gromov eventually slid his remaining 135,000 into the middle and Haxton snap-called. Gromov flipped over [Jx] [10x] for gut-shot straight but Haxton turned over the nuts, J K , making the higher straight. Gromov’s hope for one of three outs for a chopped pot ended when the 5 hit on the river. Gromov made his way to the rail and left Haxton with a healthy stack of 410,000.

Grospellier was severely short stacked when he was dealt Q Q . He moved his small stack of 10,000 into the middle and was called by Firestone who showed A K . The very first card on the flop, the A set the stage for Grospellier’s exit. The remainder of the board ran out 7 5 8 9 and the current number one ranked player was done for the day.

Firestone’s victory did not last long. Ten minutes later he ran his pocket nines into Haxton’s pocket tens. Haxton raised from under the gun, Firestone moved all-in on the button and Haxton made the call. The board of 7 A 4 6 3 failed to improve either player’s hand and Firestone was wheeled away.

Michiel Brummelhuis of Netherlands began Day 2 as the chip leader and stayed in the lead till around 9 p.m. Brummelhuis lost his lead when Bryn Kenney took down a monster pot against Andrew Feldman at another table.

Once his lead was lost Brummelhuis was unable to reclaim it and was eventually sent to the rail by Alvarado. Alvarado dealt Brummelhuis his first serious blow of the tournament a few hands earlier, when Alvarado moved all-in with pocket Jacks. Brummelhuis made the call and showed A 6 but the board ran dry and Alvarado’s Jacks held up. Brummelhuis made his fourth cash of the 2009 WSOP.

The remaining 14 players will return Thursday at 1 p.m. to play for top prize of $633,335 and a WSOP bracelet.