12 December 2016 (Bell Gardens, Calif.) – One more day remains in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Bicycle Casino. Out of 842 total entries, now only 16 remain.
The chip leader heading into the final day is Paul Nguyen (2,200,000 in chips), who is looking for his first WSOP Circuit final table. Nguyen catapulted into the lead late Monday when he eliminated Mohsin Charania in 17th place. Nguyen is followed by Harry Arutyunyan (1,880,000).
Day 2 of the Main Event began Monday at noon with 176 players. There were 152 who advanced from Day 1. Flight 1A (Saturday) had 71 players survive and Flight 1B (Sunday) had 81. But late registration was open until the start of play on Day 2, and a whopping 24 players took advantage of the opportunity to join the fray.
The tournament reached the money bubble early in the third level of Day 2. After about 20 minutes of hand-for-hand play Steve Firestone was eliminated on the bubble and the remaining 90 players were each guaranteed a payout of at least $2,855.
The 842 entries generated a prize pool of $1,263,000. The top 90 players make the money, and the eventual winner will earn $246,295. A year ago, this event drew 641 players, and this year’s field represents an increase of over 30%.
Two-time bracelet winner Tuan Le is among the players returning on Tuesday. He is currently in sixth place with 1,200,000. Others still in the hunt include Ankush Mandavia, Mike Shin, T.K. Miles, and Alex Massman, who has a shot at taking the lead in the Casino Champion race.
One of the players in contention today was last year’s champion, Valentin Vornicu. Vornicu started Day 2 in fourth place. He made it into the money again this year, but was eventually eliminated in 51st place and will not advance to Day 3 to defend his title.
Charania just barely missed out on making it to Day 3; he was eliminated by Paul Nguyen just before the end of the night. Also nearly making it to Day 3 was bracelet winner Phil Laak, who was eliminated in 18th place.
Other players finishing in the money include Jack Duong (90th), James Collopy (83rd), Cord Garcia (82nd), David Singontiko (81st), Scott Clements (67th), Matt Salsberg (58th), Marco Johnson (52nd), Nipun Java (39th), David Pham (34th), Jared Jaffee (31st), Lily Kiletto (20th), and Jesse Yaginuma (19th).
Day 3 begins Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. in the tournament room at the Bicycle Casino and will continue until the last Circuit Main Event winner of 2016 is crowned.
Here are the remaining players and their chip counts. Click here for full results so far.
1 – Paul Nguyen – 2,200,000
2 – Harry Arutyunyan – 1,880,000
3 – Mark Hamilton – 1,590,000
4 – Ankush Mandavia – 1,570,000
5 – Alex Massman – 1,235,000
6 – Tuan Le – 1,200,000
7 – Nikhil Gera – 1,145,000
8 – Mike Shin – 1,085,000
9 – David Mendelson – 940,000
10 – Sean Jazayeri – 890,000
11 – Sam Renshaw – 885,000
12 – Nathan Brady – 750,000
13 – Scott Vener – 700,000
14 – T.K. Miles – 495,000
15 – Eddy Sabat – 235,000
16 – Dave Plaskett – 200,000