January 22, 2017 (Durant, Okla.) - From a starting field of 1,451 entries, just 31 players remain in the $1,675 WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event.
Allan Hedin ended Day 2 as the chip leader with 2,225,000. Hedin began his climb to the top when he eliminated Zach Nguyen in 37th place ($7,052). Hedin also played a big pot against Gints Galvins at the end of the night to secure his end-of-day lead, just ahead of John Patterson (2,010,000) and WSOP Circuit ring winner Viet Vo (1,900,000).
Shino Fujiwara is the last female standing, and coming into Day 3 11th in chips, with 1,030,000.
Please click this link for a full list of survivors.
Grant Hinkle (1,385,000) is one of the most familiar names in the remaining field. Hinkle is a WSOP bracelet winner, and looking to win his first Circuit ring at this stop. Ian Gordon also has a WSOP bracelet and bagged up 790,000 to end the night.
When play began on Day 2, there were 289 hopefuls still in the running for the Choctaw Main Event Champion title. In the early levels of play Lisa Hamilton, Camille Brown, Sean Berrios, Greg Himmelbrand, Daniel Lowery, Charles ‘Woody’ Moore, and Mike Cordell all exited the field before the money bubble burst. Cordell came into Day 2 as one of the bigger stacks but was eliminated early on after getting his aces cracked by Zach Nguyen.
Michael Campbell took an early day chip lead and maintained one of the largest stacks throughout the day, but Ray Qartomy was the first player to move over the million chip mark. Campbell is coming into Day 3 as the short stack ,and Qartomy ended the day in 6th, bagging up 1,500,000. Austin Peck joined the million chip club shortly after Qartomy earlier this afternoon.
A few notables that finished in the money but failed to survive the day included Jesse Capps, Huy Nguyen, David ODB Baker, Josh Reichard, Mike Rieck, Brennan Benglis, Salvatore DiCarlo, Mark Fink, Previous WSOP Choctaw Main Event Champion Abraham Araya, Marco Palacios, John Reynolds, and last year’s Choctaw WSOP Choctaw Main Event winner Andy Philachack.
The final 31 players will return Monday at 12pm to play down to a new Champion, who will take home the diamond-studded ring, just under $375,000, and a seat into the 2017 Global Casino Championship.
The top ten stacks to start Day 2 are as follows:
1 - Allan Hedin - 2,225,000
2 - John Patterson - 2,010,000
3 - Viet Vo - 1,900,000
4 - John Richards - 1,820,000
5 - Austin Peck - 1,520,000
6 - Ray Qartomy - 1,500,000
7 - Jason Fitzpatrick - 1,425,000
8 - Grant Hinkle - 1,385,000
9 - Jonathan Bloyen - 1,150,000
10 - Aaron Johnson - 1,110,000