Sixty Players Advance to Day 3 of the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship
The sun has set on Day 2 of the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship, here at the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. The cards were back in the air at 11 a.m. local time when 767 players returned to their seats, and play continued until only 60 remained. Those players have bagged up their chips and will return Thursday for Day 3.
Day 2 started with a bang as the eliminations came fast and furious. The large field that spanned two sections of the Horseshoe Ballroom quickly whittled down to a little over 100 by dinner break.
Emerging from the fracas with the chip lead in tow was Kenny Huynh (5,920,000), one of only two players returning for Day 2 who has already won a bracelet. Huynh captured his bracelet in 2020 in a $400 No-Limit Hold'em online event that netted him $133,857. Chris Dombrowski (1,620,000) is the only other bracelet winner still in the hunt.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Huynh | United States | 5,920,000 | 59 |
| 2 | Michael Dobbs | United States | 5,805,000 | 58 |
| 3 | Sihao Zhang | Luxembourg | 5,605,000 | 56 |
| 4 | Una Kelly | United States | 5,565,000 | 56 |
| 5 | Darryll Fish | United States | 5,130,000 | 51 |
| 6 | Hector Berry | United Kingdom | 4,660,000 | 47 |
| 7 | Kuan-Yu Lin | China | 4,650,000 | 47 |
| 8 | Diogo Cardoso | Portugal | 4,600,000 | 46 |
| 9 | Kenneth Kemple | United States | 4,550,000 | 46 |
| 10 | Harrison Ashdown | United States | 4,175,000 | 42 |
Things are tight at the top of the chip counts, with only eight big blinds separating Huyhn and fifth place. Michael Dobbs (5,805,000), Sihoa Zhang (5,605,000), Una Kelly (5,565,000), and Darryll Fish (5,130,000) are essentially one pot away from the title of chip leader. Fish is arguably the most experienced grinder among the final 60, having accumulated almost $5.3 million in earnings, although a bracelet has, thus far, eluded him. Could this be the event where Fish finally gets the proverbial monkey off his back?
Ray Henson (1,080,000) could challenge Fish for the unofficial title of most experienced player in the field because he has racked up close to $3.4 million in winnings and has numerous WSOP final tables under his belt. Henson has a trio of third place finishes on his resume; he'll hope to go two places deeper in this PokerNews event.
We lost many notable players such as Jamie Kerstetter, Ben Yu, Loni Hui, and Martin Kabrhel, who came into Day 2 as one of the biggest stacks. Kabrhel was eliminated when Jugal Daterao shoved all in on a draw-heavy flop, Kabrhel called with an open-ended straight draw and ten-high flush draw, finding himself against bottom pair and an ace-high flush draw. The turn gave both players a flush, however, Daterao's was better, and Kabrhel was eliminated when he missed his one out to a straight flush.
Sadly, none of the PokerNews Deepstack Challenge qualifiers progressed to Day 3. However, both Raymond Chiu and Michael Beattie played impressively throughout and saw healthy returns on their free entries.
Day 3 begins at 11 a.m. local time on June 27 at Level 28 with blinds at 50,000/100,000. Players will play down to five players with a 15-minute break every two levels. Stick with PokerNews for all the action in our inaugural WSOP bracelet event!