Tony Guoga, coming after a strong victory on day 1 would not be denied a chance to take firm control of the leaderboard, winning his second match to take a commanding 9 point lead over his nearest competition, Andy Black and Roland de Wolfe. Tony Guoga won’t relax though, as he knows that he is the target now that he has separated himself from the pack.
The second match on Day 2 consisted of Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Dave Ulliott, Alex Kravchenko, Eddy Scharf and Tony Guoga. The early stages of the heat were very slow, as it took over forty hands for the first elimination to occur. Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott was the first to go after he reraised Alex Kravchenko all-in while holding [Kd][10d]. Tony Guoga called with [As][9c] and Kravchenko folded. The board gave no help to Ulliot as it came down [4c][2c][2h][4h][9d].
The gap between eliminations was not nearly as long, as it only took three hands for the fifth place finisher to leave. Annie Duke and Eddy Scharf saw a flop of [Qh][10s][9c] with Annie holding [Kc][Qd] for top pair and Scharf holding [Jd][10d] for low pair and an open-ended straight draw. Scharf check-raised Annie all-in and Annie committed the rest of her chips to the pot, leaving her in danger of going out. The turn of [7h] was no help for either player, but the river came down as the [8d], giving Scharf his straight and eliminating Annie Duke.
Phil Hellmuth exited in fourth place. Phil had been the short-stack and pushed what little of his chips remained into the pot with [Ah][4d]. Tony Guoga called from the big blind without glancing at his cards. His hand was revealed to be [Qh][Jh]. The flop of [Qs][6d][5s] made Phil’s chances of doubling up look grim, and he was officially eliminated after the turn of [2c] and the river of [9c].
Alex Kravchenko wold once again fall short of heads-up play with his second consecutive third place finish. Kravchenko moved all-in with [4d][4s] and was called by Tony Guoga and his hand of [9h][8c]. The flop brought [Js][8h][6c], giving Tony the advantage. After the [Jh] on the turn and the [Ac] on the river, Krachenko was gone.
The heads-up match between Tony Guoga and Eddy Scharf did not last long. Scharf pushed all-in with [Qc][8d] and Guoga called with [As][Jh]. The board came down [Ac][Kd][8h][9c][7c] to give Guoga his second consecutive victory.
After two days, Tony Guoga held a comfortable lead witht he other players jockeying for position behind him. Here are the standings after two days of play:
Tony Guoga with 18 points
Andy Black and Roland de Wolfe with 9 points
Alex Kravchenko and Eddy Scharf with 8 points
Annie Duke, Vicky Coren and Marcel Lüske with 6 points
Phill Hellmuth with 4 points
Ian Frazer with 3 points
Juha Helppi with 2 points
Dave Ulliott with 1 point