Selbst, the last female bracelet winner in an open event, had an up-and-down day but ended on an up, winning a couple of key flips to finish with 706,000 chips – good for fifth on the leaderboard.
Right above Selbst in fourth is Brit JP Kelly. Also a past bracelet winner, both at the WSOP and WSOPE, Kelly is in great position to take down his third career bracelet with 721,000 in chips.
Out in front of the pack, however, are Jacob Bazeley and Ryan Schmidt.
Bazeley is the outright chip leader with 1,291,000 while Schmidt sits just off the pace with 1,193,000.
A WSOP Circuit regular, Bazeley has a 66th-place finish in last year’s Main Event to his credit.
Notable players to make it in the money but bust out yesterday included Paul Wasicka, Dan Smith, John Juanda, Noah Schwartz, Jason Mercier and Jean-Robert Bellande.
Phil Hellmuth also recorded his 86th career WSOP cash but busted out in 61st.
Action in Event #2 resumes and 1 p.m. from the Rio in Las Vegas. Once the final table of nine is reached, live streaming coverage will be available on WSOP.com.
The top 15 and chip counts:
1. Jacob Bazeley 1,291,0002. Ryan Schmidt 1,193,0003. Abdyl Konjuhi 754,0004. JP Kelly 721,0005. Vanessa Selbst 706,0006. Joseph Cino 703,0007. Kenneth Strickland 685,0008. Kwinsee Khoa Tran 592,0009. Brent Hanks 578,00010. Neil Willerson 479,00011. Kennli Nguyen 411,00012. Richard Park 379,00013. Andrew Badecker 349,00014. Todd Keikoan 265,00015. Michael Kaufman 243,000Event #3, $3,000 NL/PLO Down to Final 64
The first mixed event of the 2012 WSOP, $3k Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha is down to the final 64 players with all now guaranteed a min-cash.
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As profiled in our feature coverage yesterday, among the survivors were Annette Obrestad, Eric Froelich, Justin Bonomo, David Williams, David Benefield, Andy Frankenberger and Sam Stein.
For a look at the match-ups, check the bracket here (h/t to @WesleyNobels via Kevmath).
Players will return for Day 2 at 1 p.m. and will have 24,000 in chips to start with two rebuys.
Another three rounds will go down leaving just 16 players left at the end of the day.
Follow our feature match coverage in our WSOP Coverage section.
Mizrachi, Madsen Contending in Event #4, $1,500 Stud Hi-Lo
A third of the field was cut down on Day 1 of Event #4, $1,500 Sutd Hi-Lo with just 210 players making it on to Day 2 today.
Topping the leaderboard is William Carroll with 49,100 with Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi close behind at 41,500. Andrey Zaichenko is in third with 35,000.
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Also in contention are Jeff Madsen (31,100), Jon "PearlJammer" Turner (28,100), Todd Brunson (27,000) and David Singer (26,300).
Phil Ivey also survived to Day 2 with a stack of 10,400.
The 622 entrants was slightly above last year's for this event, making it the first event with an increased field.
The old-school pro presence was very strong with dozens of notables in the mix including Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Scotty Nguyen, David Benyamine and Allen Cunningham.
Day 2 action resumes at 2 pm today at the Rio.
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