The second day of the Horseshoe Tunica Main Event saw Moneymaker,
players make money, and a man named Kruger who was his tablemates' worst
nightmare. But before we get to David Kruger (pictured), who leads the final 11
players in this tournament, let's go back to where the day started.
Play began with 126 players and only 72 making the money, but that
didn't stop the players from busting at a frantic pace during the first
two hours of play as names like Chris Moneymaker, Shawn Rice, Paul
Sokoloff, Josh Turner, Steve Karp, Jeremy Gaubert, Jonathan Gaviao, Johnny Landreth, and
Jesse Capps all bust short of the money.
The bubble burst when Gil George busted in 73rd place at the hands of
Orlando Romero, who made the most of his chips by going on a run that
saw him bag up at the end of the day. From there, each player was
guaranteed at least a $2,713 payday. Some of the notable who made the
money, but failed to survive the day included BJ McBrayer (70th), Josh
Palmer (68th), John Holley (64th), Mina Greco (45th), Chris Conrad
(38th), Eric Crain (31st), and a trio of Biloxi Circuit Main Event
winners, Kyle Cartwright (35th), Jerry Monroe (29th), and Martin Zentner
(25th).
As the field dwindled, one player rocketed to the top of the counts.
Kelly Koenig, who is one of the 11 players returning for Day 3 on
Monday, was the first player to hit a million chips thanks to a series
of big hands, like the elimination of former big stack Marshall White.
Koenig peaked at nearly 1.8 million before ending the day with 785,000.
While Koenig started tapering off, Kruger started making his presence known, eliminating Frank Kirkpatrick in a massive pot where Kruger had pocket kings.
Kruger continued to bully his opponents, pick up pots, and knock out
players like Sean Small (17th) to end the day out front with 2,805,000.
The start of day chip leader Jeremy Drewery is not too far behind
though. While the late stages of the day saw Drewery's stack fluctuate
extensively, he managed to bust both Jessie Bryant (14th) and
Christopher Staats (12th) to end the day with 2.1 million. The only
other players in seven-figure territory is Memphis local Matthew
Laawrence, who quietly chipped up to end the day with 1,830,000 and
Circuit ring winner Christian Rodriguez, who bagged 1,115,000.
Though the rest of the field is in six-figure territory, they are not
to be counted out. Ryan Tepen is a ring winner and Circuit regular, and
Chris Trotter is a popular name among the Circuit regulars as well.
And, of course, there is Russ Head, who battled through a brutal cold
today to bag up and attempt to qualify for the WSOP Global Casino
Championship a second time after taking down the Horseshoe Southern
Indiana Main Event.
Play resumes on Monday at 12pm. Live updates will be available on WSOP.com. Here is a look at the remaining players and their stacks:
1. David Kruger - 2,805,000
2. Jeremy Drewery - 2,100,000
3. Matthew Lawrence - 1,830,000
4. Christian Rodriguez - 1,115,000
5. Ben Thomas - 835,000
6. Russ Head - 825,000
7. Chris Trotter - 820,000
8. Ryan Tepen - 810,000
9. Kelly Koenig - 785,000
10. Orlando Romero - 670,000
11. Charles Belcher - 350,000