Day 2a of 2009 World Series of Poker Has 630 Survivors
Day 2a is now in the books. 1,476 players walked into the Amazon Room at noon today and only 630 of them survived to walk out again more than 12 hours later.
On the positive side of the ledger, Eric Cloutier ended the day with the big stack at 384,000.
Cloutier finished as the unofficial overnight chipleader. The 34-year-old bagged up 383,000 chips at the end of the night.
"I think the first level I didn't play many hands, I think I got up to 30,000. Then I went back down to about 9,000 and got lucky on a pair of sevens and a seven came on the river. I had about 35,000 chips at the begining of Level 8," said Cloutier. "In one hand I made a weak beat on the end, he raised me and then I moved all-in. He called me with ace-high and I had a pair of twos and that put me up over 60,000. Then after that it went aces, kings, queens - I got a lot of good hands."
Seven other players also broke the 300,000 mark, including Ed Perry, Brandon Demes and Greg "FBT" Mueller.
Demes, 22, began playing poker professionally about two months before graduating high school, according to Michigan Live. He's never had a real job and right now he's just enjoys traveling the world and playing poker.
"I've been to about 15 countries, just been playing all the tournaments," said Demes, who moved out to Arizona two years ago. "I'm just comfortable living out of a hotel and my suitcase. I don't worry too much if I bust out (of the tournament)."
Demes, who's playing in his first main event, cashed in two preliminary events at this year's World Series, finishing 84th in Event No. 36 for $5,614 and also 21st in Event No. 47 for $8,739.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a number of well-known pros won't be returning for Day 3. Some of the day's notable bust outs included Gavin Smith, Amarillo Slim Preston, Mike Matusow, Dewey Tomko, Gus Hansen, Sandra Naujoks, Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilley, Tony G. and Barry Greenstein. Day 2b kicks off at noon tomorrow with a field almost twice as large as today's and, as always, we'll be there to bring you all the day's action.
Ace King, Gambling911.com
