World Poker Tour Festa al Lago Day 2: Affleck and Obrestad Sitting at the Top
Day one of the World Poker Tour Festa al Lago applauded Tony Dunst for his new position as the host of "The Raw Deal," but day two belonged to some other familiar names. Those names are Matt Affleck and Annette Obrestad. At the end of Day 2, they sit in first and second place respectively on the chip leaderboard, after some dominating performances. At the end of play, just 99 players remained. With registration open through level eight, the final tally of players ended up at 355 with a first-place prize of $831,500.
Obrestad, who held the chip lead for quite some time, felted several players throughout the day, including Marco Traniello. Traniello shoved on the flop holding middle pair, and Obrestad called with top pair, sending him to the exit. However, the majority of Obrestad��s chips came in a pot against Danny Schiff, who in one hand against Obrestad raised to 3,000 from the button only to be met with a reraise to 10,000 from Obrestad in the small blind. Schiff made the call and the flop came down Qx9x9x. Obrestad led out for 13,500 and Schiff bumped it up to 32,000. Obrestad wasn't having any of that and reraised to 68,500 and Schiff made the call. The turn brought the 7? and both players checked. On the 6? river, Obrestad check-called Schiff's 35,000 bet. Schiff's ace-jack was no match for Obrestad's ace-queen and she took the massive pot to solidify her position as chip leader at the time.
Matt Affleck��s pre-flop aggression and creative play earned him the top spot at the end of the day with just over 585,000 in chips. He rallied late in the day to top Obrestad, but the accumulation of his chips was certainly a day-long process. Affleck found himself all in a couple of times throughout day two, one of which forced Hoyt Corkins to fold after a preflop three-bet. Affleck reports that ��a gift�� by Erik Seidel late in the day was the reason he was able to take the top-spot from Obrestad by day's end.
Also surviving Day 2 were Andreas Hoivold, Men ��The Master�� Nguyen, David Williams and Jeff Madsen who are all in the top ten chip counts to begin Day 3. Also avoiding elimination on Day 2 were Daniel Negrenau, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Selbst, Lauren Kling, and Maria Ho among others.
For some pros however, Day 2 was the beginning and end to their tournament. Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer were among who arrived late but busted early. Having lost half his stack in his first twenty minutes of play, Ivey recovered by doubling up against Michael Kamran. Just one hand later though, he was eliminated by Michael Benvenuti, holding Jx8x versus Ax10x.
Making an even quicker exit was Howard Lederer, who found himself all-in against late arrival Erik Seidel. Seidel held a higher flush draw and Lederer could not improve by the river. He left the tournament just one hand after taking his seat. Day 2 also ended the tournament lives of Tony Dunst, Jonathan Little, Jennifer Tilly, andChris
Ferguson.
As with Day 1, Day 2 hosted some interesting moments throughout play. Early in Level 7, with blinds at 400/800 Peter Braglia accidentally raised to 20,000. Fortunately for Braglia, Brock Parker called all-in for less, holding A?Q?. Braglia showed K?J?. The Q?9?6? flop looked good for Parker. The 4? on the turn did nothing for Braglia, but it was K? on the river sent the large pot in Braglia's direction.
There was also a bit of controversy regarding the ��oversized-chip rule.�� The issue, which has been a growing concern for players, resulted in some tensions at Table 51 Saturday. A player raised to 1,500 from early position. It was folded around to the big blind who proceeded to throw in a 5,000 denomination chip. The dealer declared reraise and the player from early position moved all in. The big blind argued that he wanted simply wanted change from the dealer, and was only trying to call the original raiser��s bet. By the time the floor person made his way over, the big blinds cards were already in the muck. The tournament director was then called over and ruled that if a player tosses in a single oversized chip, then it is considered a call. The player in the big blind was forced to call the 1,500 even though his cards were already in the muck. There was plenty of debate after the ruling was made, read the entire controversy here.
Action resumes Sunday at noon local time in the Bellagio��s Fontana Lounge and WorldPokerTour.com has the play-by-play.
