Only one day remains in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Bicycle Casino. Out of 687 entries, there are now only 14 remaining after Day 2. Kelly Minkin (pictured) will lead heading into the final day with 2,405,000 in chips.
Minkin started the day with the chip lead as well after bagging up 448,000 on Day 1A. At the time, the second place player (Anil Javani) had 363,000, and no one else had more than 300,000. After temporarily dropping down the leaderboard a few rungs, she jumped back into the top spot near the end of the day. Minkin is no stranger to deep runs in WSOP events. She was the last woman standing at the 2015 WSOP Main Event, finishing in 29th place.
Minkin is well ahead of Brendan Baksh currently in second place with 1,925,000. And he's well ahead of Tony Phan, in third with 1,205,000. After that there's a bit of logjam for the next few spots.
Day 2 began with 133 players who advanced from their Day 1 flights. Late-registration didn’t close until the start of play today, and an additional 14 players took advantage of Day 2 registration. Soon after registration was closed, the tournament staff announced the payouts. The top 72 players make the money, with a min-cash worth $2,885. The eventual winner will earn $211,220.
The field reached the money bubble late in the third level of the day. After nearly 40 minutes, Phuoc Nguyen became the unfortunate bubble boy when his pocket jacks ran into the pocket queens of Nichoel Jurgens. The eliminations continued at a steady pace, and only 32 players remained by dinner. Jurgens went on to make it deep into the money, and she was eventually eliminated in 19th place.
Another familiar face who was eliminated late in the day was Scott Stewart. Stewart made a deep run in the WSOP Main Event this past July, eventually bowing out in 13th place. He followed that up less than a month later by winning the High Roller event for at the WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Cherokee for his fifth career Circuit ring. He spent much of today at or near the top of the leaderboard, but ended up busting out in 26th place.
Players who were eliminated in the money today include Robert Mather (72nd place), bracelet winner Ben Keeline (63rd), Pat Lyons (61st), former NFL linebacker Chester Burnett (35th), and Scott Stewart (26th).
Players who started Day 2 but didn’t make it to the money include Maria Ho, Salvatore DiCarlo, Sohale Khalili, and bracelet winners Marco Johnson, Mike Leah, Mel Wiener, Adrian Moreno and Arkadiy Tsinis.
RESULTS SO FAR
LIVE UPDATES FROM DAY 2
Here are the chip counts heading into the final day:
1 – Kelly Minkin - 2,405,000
2 – Brendan Baksh - 1,925,000
3 – Tony Phan - 1,205,000
4 – Chahn Jung - 1,150,000
5 – Edward Liu - 1,085,000
6 – Aaron Frei - 1,000,000
7 – Jordyn Miller - 915,000
8 – Mike Eskandari - 815,000
9 – Frank Stepuchin - 650,000
10 – Jared Jaffee - 625,000
11 – Mike Hauptmann - 620,000
12 – Tuan Phan - 565,000
13 – Brian Small - 390,000
14 – Peter Lipton - 370,000