Day 2 of the World Series of Poker Event #2 has been underway for about an hour and a half now. PokerStars players Greg "Fossilman" Raymer and Vaughan "sickboy6" Machado are making their way through the field. Machado started the day with about half the average stack but has managed to stay alive by picking off raises with all-in moves. He's rarely had to show down a hand, but when he did, he did it with style. Pocket aces turned into quad aces and kept sickboy6 in the hunt.

As of this moment (3:35pm), there are 81 players remaining in the field. Every remaining player is guaranteed $7,578. I'll keep this thread open for updates throughout the day on our two remaining runners.

4:00pm--Welcome to the world of bittersweet updates. Greg "Fossilman" Raymer has cashed in his first 2006 WSOP event. That is, of course, a good thing. The bad thing is, he's cashing his winner's slip now. Read: Raymer is out.

4:13pm--Well, I've always had faith in Greg Raymer's ability to put a great read on his opponent. He did it this time, pulling a decent stop-and-go from the big blind. Raymer was actually ahead with his A5 on a 446 board against his opponent's K3. Then the board ran out runner-runner diamonds to give his opponent the flush and knock Raymer out in 63rd place.

4:20pm--Vaughan "sickboy6" Machado just confused me. Actually, he just varied his style a bit and left me wondering. With what appeared to be about 30K in his stack, Marchado raised in late position for around 1/3 of his stack. Another late position opponent came over the top--enough to put Marchado all in. After some thought, Marchado mucked...either giving up a steal attempt or reading his opponent for a bigger hand. Ace-jack? Baby pair? We will never know. Regardless, Marchado is still alive and shooting for the bigger money.

4:29pm--You ever have those moments as a parent (or, if you will, a pet owner) where you look up and the baby/dog is missing. Well, sickboy6 is no dog (or baby, for that matter), but he did, as they say in South Carolina, go missing on me for a few minutes. After getting shortstacked, Marchado apparently doubled up wit A3 vs QQ and was promptly moved in an ill-timed table consolidation. That is to say, Marchado is back alive and into a new pay grade.




5:39pm--You just gotta like a guy that calls himself sickboy. Ever-smiling and apparently having a grand old time, Marchado is down to the final five tables in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event. Play has slowed down a bit and the money gets bigger. Marchado just said, "I was up to 60,000 but got caught stealing the blinds." From a distance, you wouldn't take Marchado as a thief. To show how much I know, I'd be giving the guy respect if I were playing against him. Not to say he doesn't deserve respect (recall his quad aces from earlier this afternoon), but it's obvious Marchado isn't just hanging around and waiting to get blinded off. He now sits at about 40,000 in chips...and is still smiling.


6:11pm--Would you believe Marchado even smiled when he busted out. Yeah, the sickboy is gone, through no fault of his own. Short-stacked, he picked up pocket queens and jammed in the rest of his chips. Thing is, a player behind him had pocket aces. And that, as they say, was all she wrote.

For 37th place, Marchado earns $9,094.

Congratulations to both Raymer and Marchado for making it deep in this first open event of the World Series of Poker.