From a starting field of 528 entries, just nine players remain in the $1,675 WSOP Circuit Main Event at Planet Hollywood. Three-time bracelet winner Eli Elezra (pictured) leads the finalists, and his big stack of 3,165,000 will be setting the pace with more than 100 big blinds when tomorrow's decisive day begins. Elezra's nearest challenger is Keith Doering, who will return for Day 3 with 1,660,000 chips.
Here's the final table lineup:
Seat 1: Jake Schindler - 770,000
Seat 2: Kevin Calenzo - 1,635,000
Seat 3: Colin York - 580,000
Seat 4: Daniel Needleman - 555,000
Seat 5: Eli Elezra - 3,165,000
Seat 6: Arianna Son - 350,000
Seat 7: Sean Yu - 535,000
Seat 8: Keith Doering - 1,660,000
Seat 9: Brandon West - 1,310,000
Today's Day 2 started at noon with the 102 players who survived their starting flights. Only 54 of them would earn a share of the $792,000 prizepool. Early action was brisk, with Jeremy Ausmus, Lizzy Harrison, Neil Scott, Vincent Moscati, and Ryan Riess all exiting without a payday during the first couple levels. Just a couple hours into play, defending champion Sean Berrios was eliminated in 56th place, bringing the field onto the direct money bubble.
Lokesh Garg was the odd man out, eliminated as the bubble boy at the hands of Dan O'Brien. Garg was dealt pocket jacks against O'Brien's aces, and three low cards on the flop trapped Garg into committing his whole stack. His elimination left the 54 remaining players in the money, each of them guaranteed to earn at least $3,041.
Three-time ring winner Joe Kuether was one of the first to visit the payout desk, collecting a min-cash for his 50th-place finish. Kuether was followed by Anthony Spinella (46th), Brent Hanks (45th), Matt Salsberg (41st), Woody Moore (39th), Nipun Java (32nd), Kenna James (28th), and O'Brien (22nd) just before the dinner break. Sasha Barrese (54th) and her mother, Katherine (16th), both finished in the money, as well.
Colin York was the chipleader to begin Day 2, and he essentially coasted his way into a final table berth. His start-of-day chiplead didn't last long, however. Jake Schindler took over the pole position during the first level, eliminating Harrison with ace-king against her ace-queen to drag what was, at the time, the largest pot of the tournament. Several other players had their hands on the big stack at one point or another over the course of the ten-level day, though. The rest of Schindler's day was mostly uneventful, and he finished in the middle of the pack with 770,000 chips.
Elezra was hovering around the chip average for most of the day before finding a most favorable spot in the evening's final level. Elezra was dealt pocket eights against the pocket aces of Dale Beaudoin, but the former flopped a set on a king-eight-six board with two hearts. The two men got their stacks in right there, and Beaudoin was unable to find the two-outer he needed to stay alive. The huge pot was pushed to Elezra, and he continued to chip up further over the remainder of the evening.
Elezra, York, Schindler, and the other finalists will be back tomorrow (Monday) to play for the title. Everyone left is guaranteed to earn at least $15,800, but all eyes are on the gold ring and the top prize of more than $170,000 that await the eventual winner. Blinds will be 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante when play resumes, and the average stack is just less than 40 big blinds.
Cards go in the air at noon.