On Sunday, the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event and Harrah's Philadelphia continued with players from the two starting flights combining into one field. Two-time Circuit ring winner Joe Kuether came into the day as the second largest stack and by the end of the day he rose to the very top of the counts. Kuether will return as the chip lead heading into the final table with 1.885 million. Kuether came into the day as a significant force to be reckoned with and never gave up his spot among the leaders. The Wisconsin native won a key pot fairly early in the day where he eliminated two players with pocket kings. Kuether's opponents held pocket tens and pocket fours and could not catch up to Kuether's cowboys after they made a set on the flop. Late in the day, Kuether hit a rush, eliminating both Matt Stout in 13th place and Joe Cutler in 12th place. This put him over the 2-million chip mark and gave him the lead by a significant margin. While Kuether headlines the final table, he is surrounded by tough competition in established players. Ring winner Tim West has a seat at the final table and will be bringing along a stack of 503,000. Kevin Saul nursed a short stack for the majority of the final half of play on Day 2 and hopes to turn his patience into a second gold ring. Saul will come into Day 2 with 301,000 in chips. Antonio Payne is at a back-to-back final table, coming off of his first ring victory in Event 8. Payne has 588,000 in chips in his arsenal heading to the final table. Day 2 began with 107 players returning from the two starting flights and eight new players registering before the start of play. The field was stacked coming into the day and many players hit the rail before the money was reached. Players to return for Day 2 that failed to make the money include Chris Tryba, Aaron and Ralph Massey, Andrew Spears, Nathan Bjerno, Jeff Gross, Allen Kessler, Jeff Madsen, Eric Baldwin, and many more. The money bubble burst late in the day, awarding the top 36 players with a payday of at least $2,606. Notable names to make the money include Sean Lippel (30th), Kenny Nguyen (25th), Dennis Phillips (21st), Roland Israelashvili (18th), Joe McKeehen (17th), Kunal Patel (15th), and Matt Stout (13th). Also making the money was none other than recently crowned World Poker Tour Championship winner Keven Stammen. Stammen, who won the prestigious event just one night ago, made the trek to Chester, PA to buy in for a 12 big blind stack at the start of Day 2. Stammen found an incredible triple up early in play and fought his way into the money. Stammen ultimately finished in 32nd place for $2,903 in prize money. Play will resume on Monday at 2 in the Harrah's Room at Harrah's Philadelphia. The final table will continue until the next Circuit Main Event champion is crowned.
Final Table Chip Counts:
| RANK |
PLAYER |
CITY / STATE / COUNTRY |
CHIP COUNT |
Seat |
| 1 |
Joe Kuether |
ELM GROVE, WI, US |
1,885,000 |
9 |
| 2 |
Thomas Cannuli |
Cape May, NJ, US |
1,095,000 |
6 |
| 3 |
David Bivins |
Browns Mills, NJ, US |
748,000 |
4 |
| 4 |
Justin Liberto |
Fallston, MD, US |
743,000 |
5 |
| 5 |
Anthony Minniti |
Tyler, TX, US |
589,000 |
1 |
| 6 |
Antonio Payne |
Hazlet, NJ, US |
588,000 |
8 |
| 7 |
Timothy West |
Aston, PA, US |
503,000 |
7 |
| 8 |
Kevin Saul |
Warrenville, IL, US |
301,000 |
3 |
| 9 |
Kyle Bowker |
Walton, NY, US |
269,000 |
2 |