by Chris Newton

So the Winner of Event two The $500 Limit Holdem - 154 entries

is Mark Hight ( sitting in seat 1 - the same as yesterdays winner ) collecting $24,646

	Mark Hight with His Winning 8 4

	Mark and Michael from Harrahs

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Mark and Keith ( Caboose ) settle down to an intensive heads-up battle ( well intensive for this table - it lasted for at least 30 minutes ). Mark always seemd to get out of any trouble he got into today. He shipped a few stacks to Keith early on in this match but not too many.

Then the inevitable long run of wins came and he started to eat into Keith's stack in a significant way.

The final hand came when Keith very voluntarily pushed in with Ah Kh , Mark couldn't help himself, holding most of the chips now, in calling with 8d 4d. Help straightaway on the flop for Mark when it comes 8c 6s 2h a Jc on the turn leaves 6 outs to continue this match but a redundant second pair comes in the form of the 4s and we have a winner and a second place finisher..

Second today Keith Barrett officially collecting $13,594.

	Caboose Hiding his Thoughts

We start three way action with Mark Hight and Keith Barrett with a significant advantage over Pablo Gonzalez.
Almost straight away Pablo doubles up to about 40,000, the other two split the rest of the chip between them.

Gonzalez again dwindles down and finds himself all-in with A 2. No problem with this one though as there are two Aces on the board and Pablo doubles up again
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A half a dozen hands later, he is all-in again against both his opponents check it down. No problem again, he has Kings this time, doubles up again.

But once again he dwindles. And with only 12,000 left on the BB Pablo re-raises Keith's raise to put himself all-in. Not the biggest of hands; 8s 2s for Pablo. Keith sports Jc Tc. Boy this one was dead in 2 seconds flat when the flop came 9c 7c 5c . It was over in an instant. Not even the possible straight flush on the board would cause a split as Keith would have a better straight flush.

So the ever sparkling and animated Pablo Gonzalez comes 3rd in this event collecting $7,469.

	Pablo and One of His Inquisitive Stares

Nick with his 11 yellow chips doesn't have much time to make a decision. The time comes on the second hand after the break when he is in the BB. There are two raises behind him but he plays for the 11,000. On a flop of Qd 6s 3c ( Nick has made top pair ) Caboose checks , Pablo bets and Caboose calls. Similar betting on the turn when the 7d comes but for 8,000 now. On the river Caboose check raises Pablo to 16,000 - Pablo shows Kings and folds. He was right Keith (Caboose) had flopped a set of sixes. Nick Helm shows Ace Queen but has to satisfied with 4th place money of $5,975 today

	Nick when had a few More Chips

The break comes before the end of this level an unusual hand came up just before the break.

The board read 9 4 4 4 with Nick all-in and Keith and Pablo still betting . A King on the river produced only one bet from the active players who both show a King to split the 12,000 side pot. Then Nick turns over the last King to force a three way split of the main pot and he still has chips.

The action is ramapant now - it's like they are trying to get it finished or something like that.

Keith (Michael keeps calling him Caboose - hope I got that right ) survives 3 all-in hands; one with Q 2 witha 2 on the flop. Pablo finds himself all-in at one stage with K 7 , there is a K on the flop however and he had the lead all the way.

Nick is the low stack at the moment down to his last 9,000. Keith has about 20,000 and Pablo and Mike nearly split the rest of the 232,000 on the table.

The action seems to liven up now. Losts of raising and flops seen.

Christian seem to be the victim of many of the plays and it is he who finds himself all-in with Ks 9d . Pablo has the Kh Js and hence has Christian dominated pre-flop. The flop changes little when it comes down 7c 4c 6h. A Ten clubs on the turn produces a few more outs but the river comes an Ace spades, so Pablo's Jack becomes the winning card in a high card run down. Christian Rasmussen goes over to collect his prize placing of $4,481 for 5th.

The time completes for this level and we will now play 3000-6000 Limit holdem.

The chip stacks are almost all square and the player call for a 5 minute break to "have a chat".

Nick had been taking his fair share of pots but all of a sudden Mark Hight starts to make his presence felt.

It is he that calls David Kutcher's all-in bet on the flop of 3 2 4. David has Ace 4 and doesn't look too bad with top pair and various draws , but Mark has the over-pair ( just ) a pair of 5s. He also thereby has 2 of the outs David needs for a straight. A Ten comes on the turn and a repeat 3 hits on the river giving Mark the higher two pair and the pot,. David Kuthcer has to be content with 7th place and $2,988.

Mark continues to take more than his fair share of pots.Pablo also has taken most of the pots he has contested and sees himself with the lead.

The short stack John Harris has about 7,000 left when he is in the BB. He rasises from the BB only Nick having called pre-flop. Nick also calls the 2,000 raise. The flop comes 6s 6c Ah, John bets , Nick raises the 1,000 John has left and once called shows Ace 7. John has two 9s ( yesterday's winning final hand ). The turn is the 2c and the river NOT a 9 but a Ten. John Harris departs in 6th place with a payout of $3,735.

The low chip stack at the start of play was only 2,800 so it was always going to be hard for Yerushalem to make much head-way. He eventually pushed his last chips in with Kc 4c , John Harris fairly flush with chips doesn't hesitaite to make the call with his Ah Jh. The flop is Tc 9s 7s , no help for the rookie Yerushalem but the turn is an Ace of clubs giving him many outs, clubs, King or a 4. Its very low and red however being the 2d and signals the exit for Yerushalem Yehuda in 8th place, collecting $2,241.

Slow progress for many hands, the most signifficant was that of Yerushalem doubling up.

Level 11 completes without much further incident. The clock starts for level 12 which sees 1000-2000 blinds.

Soon after the original second low stack of Harvery's has come under pressure. He gets his remaining chips in when in the BB with only John Harris sitting to his left having called pre-flop. John has Ad 3s and Harvey was forced to go with Td 5d. Some slight help for Harvey when the flop comes Jh 8c 7c but no pair. A Qc on the turn makes little difference and the 6c on the river makes all the difference to Harvey as his hand does not improve. So Harvey Vandeven exits this tournament in 9th place collecting $1,494

The button is with David in seat 9. It's a simple open raise by John in seat 8 to take the 2400 in blinds. This of course means we are playing 800-1600 Limit Holdem at this stage. There are 232,400 in chips on the table.

Yerushalem goes all-in on the second hand with two 7s , Nick Helm makes the call from the BB with K 6. All high cards but no King for the first 4 board cards. A 6 on the end improves Nick but not enough to knock Yerushalem out.

The Players

Although there were fewer entrants in Event 2 the $500 Limit Holdem , when I left last night there was still 4 tables and all seemed to be playing with some fervour. The last 9 will regather today at 2:00 pm to complete the battle for the larger money.

CU Soon

The Barracuda