It was a showdown between the big guns of poker during Day 2 of the $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold ‘em (Event 33). The tournament was so star-studded even Phil Hellmuth was impressed from his spot on the rail. “Man there are some great players in here,” he said.

Matt Hawrilenko posted himself at the top of the leader board for most of the night, but it was Kenny Hsuing who emerged as the leader at the end of the night. Hsuing will go into Day 3 with a stack of 831,000.

The field was stacked with pros to start with, but as play continued on for the day and more and more players were sent to the rail, some tables became extremely stacked. One table included Greg “FBT” Mueller, Howard Lederer, Ville Wahlbeck and Erik Seidel. That amounts to 11 World Series of Poker bracelets and 119 WSOP cashes at one single table.

Father and son Doyle and Todd Brunson found themselves seated at the same table for at least the second time this WSOP. With Todd in the one seat and Doyle in the six seat, father and son were almost facing each other head on. Interestingly, one-time bracelet winner Todd had a bigger chip stack than his two-time Main Event winner, ten-time bracelet winner father. 

Action later reversed between father and son for a while as Doyle was able to rise to the top of the leader board, at one point piling up the third highest chip stack in the room. But it would not last. Doyle moved all-in from the big blind after a raise from Daniel Alaei. Doyle showed K 7, Alaei felted A 9 and the board ran out A [10c] [10s] 5 3, sending the Texas Dolly on a scooter ride to the rail.

According to floor supervisor Bill Bruce it is the standard to have immediate family members re-draw if they draw the same table before a tournaments begins. However, once the cards are in the air and tables are broken and re-drawn, it is not the standard to have immediate family members re-draw. “That can affect the course of the game,” Bruce said. “It also just goes to show how random the re-draws actually are.”

The younger Brunson made his third cash of the 2009 WSOP, but saw his hopes for a second bracelet dashed when he was eliminated in 14th place, about an hour before play concluded for the night.

At the end of the night 12 players were left and they will return Wednesday at 2 p.m. to play down to a winner. Maria Ho and Jennifer Harman will both be looking to be the first female bracelet winner of the Series.

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