Legends of Poker Day 2 Recap

In a quiet corner of the Bicycle Casino, day 2 of the Legends of Poker played out as the antithesis of the World Series of Poker. The first major tournament since hordes or poker fanatics descended upon the circuit, Legends produced a focused group of name professionals who batted until 53 were left standing. Flurries of action were set between long periods of calm, and numerous pros fell early.

Men Nguyen was the first to fall, when he moved all in on a board of K J 2. Brandon Grevlich insta-called and tabled 2 2 for bottom set. Men's A K did not improve and he was sent packing. Noah Schwartz, Mike Matusow, Gavin Smith, Barry Shulman, Scotty Nguyen, Mario Silvestri, Jon Little, and Doyle Brunson were all eliminated shortly thereafter. Haralabos Voulgaris was also eliminated in spectacular fashion. In what was the largest hand at the time, Dutch Boyd raised to $6,000 from late position and Voulgaris smooth called from the cutoff. Todd Phillips called on the button, and the flop came K 10 8. Boyd led for $9,000 and Voulgaris reraised to $40,000. Phillips mucked, and Boyd moved all in for $144,900. Voulgaris insta-called and tabled 10-10 for middle set, but he was drawing to only one out when Boyd showed down the monstrous K-K. The next two cards came 5 7, and Boyd just had Voulgaris covered. This sent Voulgaris to the rail and gave Boyd the chip lead at the time. He survived the day, and ended with $244,000 in chips.

It turned out to be a bad day to have chips early, as big stacks Tuan Le and Francois Safieddine were also eliminated. Safieddine started the day with $165,000 but was eventually eliminated by Barry Greenstein, who nursed a short stack for most of the day. Safieddine was eliminated when he was all in with 7 6 against Greenstein's 3-3 on a board of 6 4 3. Greenstein's set held when the board ran A 6 and he was up to $130,000, finally above average. Joe Sebok wandered over from his seat, shocked to see Barry with so many chips. "What happened? I walked by a few minutes ago and you had like $20,000." Barry replied, "I had three good hands in a row." Greenstein ended the day with $383,500.

Tuan Le started the day with $116,400 and plagued his table with a hyper-aggressive style. He chipped up early and looked to be unstoppable. The poker gods proved they could give and take away, and by 9 p.m., Tuan was eliminated. In his final hand, Tuan got it all in with Q Q on a Q 10 7 6 board. Adam Geyer showed A K for a flush draw and gutshot straight draw. The river brought the 3 and the table went silent. A stunned Tuan streaked out of the room while Geyer sheepishly collected the stacks of chips to his right. That hand brought Geyer to $400,000 and he would finish with the chip lead at $505,000.

Many big names still remain in the field of 53, including "Miami" John Cernuto, Joe Sebok, Gavin Griffin, Dutch Boyd, Tom Schneider, and David Pham. The field will be whittled down to 18 tomorrow. Play restarts at 2 p.m. local time.Stay tuned to CardPlayer.com for all of your exclusive live coverage.