Travel Report: 2012-13 WSOP-C Foxwoods Main Event, Day 2 -- Will Reason Win Out?

Another crazily long day of criss-crossing the tourney floor leaves your humble scribbler in a less than ideal state for chronicling his adventures this morning. We started at noon, didn’t leave until nearly 3 a.m. this morning, and after a few hours of winks I’m up again and eyeing one more day of poker at Foxwoods.

The day went well, all things considered, as the field whittled down from more than 200 to just 16. There were some good story lines emerging along the way, including the fact that among the final group there are two players who coincidentally share the distinction of having both finished 21st in the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Robert “Bobby” Corcione accomplished the feat last summer, the first time I got to know the player. And Paul Snead did so back in 2008. Corcione is a regular player these days, but I know Snead only plays occasionally since his deep ME run, and so it’s kind of intriguing to see both still battling as this tournament has reached the final two tables.

Those who remember Snead probably think first of that incident in which Tiffany Michelle called the clock on Snead in what turned out to be his final hand of the tournament (not against Michelle, but Scott Montgomery). Snead ended up making a great call after his session of contemplation was cut short by Michelle, but sadly suffered Montgomery hitting a three-outer to end his tourney run.

My blogging partner Chad Holloway has been industriously grabbing a few interviews with players here and there during the short 10-minute breaks to use in his future PokerNews pieces, with Snead being one of those with whom he’s spoken (probably for a “Where Are They Now?” column). Snead was very candid with Chad about that 2008 ME bustout and how it really kind of sent him away from poker, at least in a full-time sense. He’s a super amiable guy and a good player, too, one of several personalities left among the final group that help keep things interesting.

Looking at other sidebar stories, not a single woman made the money in this event (out of 63 cashing), the first time I think I have seen that happen in something other than a high buy-in, non-hold’em event at the WSOP. Meanwhile, Ylon Schwartz -- who also made a deep run in that 2008 WSOP ME with Snead, finishing fourth -- was knocked out late yesterday to finish 22nd.

Kevin “BeLOWaBOVe” Saul is probably the player left most likely to grab one’s attention as an observer. A good table talker and a great player, Saul might have been in first position to enter today’s final day if not for losing a big race with the excellently-named Ben Reason near night’s end to give the latter the chip lead. We’ve been somewhat restrained with the puns so far with Reason’s last name, although I couldn’t resist doing so above. I also had to break out a literary reference for my introductory post today.

Speaking of excellent names, one player who busted yesterday and with whom I chatted a little bit before his exit was named Z Stein, his legal name actually being just the letter Z. A nice guy who offered some encouraging comments about the reporting, Stein finished 26th.

Would obviously like to see a relatively shorter day play out today, perhaps giving us a chance to explore Foxwoods a bit more and maybe even play down in the very popular poker room where tons of tables are always going. But it’s likely we’ll go late again, thus diminishing the chance of our doing much of anything other than covering poker today.

Like I say, though, there are some characters and stories still in play. As you finish clicking around elsewhere to follow the WSOP Asia Pacific events -- where their day will be ending just as ours begins -- come follow along over at PokerNews to see how the remaining cast of characters play out today's last act in the WSOP-C Foxwoods Main Event.

(1900th post here, by the way. Damn lot of scribblin’!)