Joseph Alban leads 107 players into Day 2 of Thunder Valley Main Event
September 23, 2017 (Sacramento, CA) - After two days of poker, the first World Series of Poker Circuit main event at Thunder Valley Casino and Resort wrapped up both of its starting flights and Joseph Alban (pictured) leads the 107 players that survived their respective Day 1’s.
Alban bagged up 275,500 in chips after finishing Day 1B with the chip lead. Apolinar Borja finished Day 1B second in chips and will start Day 2 second in chips with 245,000. The top five overall stacks are rounded out by the top three stacks from Day 1A. David Rosenbloom (243,000), Paul McCaffrey (241,000) and Ian Kalman (228,000) round out the top five stacks.
Other notable pros to bag chips over both starting flights include Tanya Kirk (206,500), Bob Mather (170,000), Sean Yu (157,000), Nick Pupillo (148,500), Amir Turkzadeh (130,500), Alex Massman (127,000), Pat Lyons (116,500), Stan Jablonski (108,000), Mario Lopez (94,000), James Hoeppner (84,500), Charles ‘Woody’ Moore (84,000), Jed Hoffman (68,000), Steve Kujubu (62,500), Bruce Kramer (40,000) and Allen Kessler (36,500).
Not everybody was lucky enough to survive the day, however, with plenty of top pros hitting the rail before the day was over. Three-time bracelet winner Rep Porter, two-time bracelet winner JC Tran, Jasthi Kumar, leader of this stop’s Casino Champion race Brett Murray, Randy Gil, reigning WSOP.com online player of the year Ian Steinman, Candace Collins, Jared Griener and Harry Arutyunyan were among the slew of talented players that will not be participating in Sunday’s action.
There were 193 entries on Day 1A, with 36 players surviving the day, and 335 entries on Day 1B, with 71 surviving the day. That brought the total field to 528 entries, with 107 players remaining for Day 2 and a prizepool of $792,000, which crushes the $500,000 guarantee that was put on the event.
The remaining players will get cards in the air for Day 2 at noon and making the money will be the first thing on everybody’s mind. The money bubble should burst early in the day with the top 54 players earning a payday of at least $3,041. The eventual winner will take home $170,286, a seat into next year’s Global Casino Championship and a Circuit ring.
When Day 2 gets underway, the levels will be increased to 60 minutes and they will play 10 levels before bagging and tagging chips for the night, as opposed to the 15, 40-minute levels that were played on Day 1.
Players that can survive the day’s action will come back on Monday at noon to play down to a winner. WSOP.com will have complete coverage of all the action.
Top 10 Chip Counts:
- Joseph Alban – 275,500
- Apolinar Borja – 245,000
- David Rosenbloom – 243,000
- Paul McCaffrey – 241,000
- Ian Kalman – 228,000
- Tanya Kirk – 206,500
- Craig Tsuboi – 201,000
- Garrett Gruener – 200,500
- Tony Bracy – 200,000
- Michael Hubbard – 188,000
Complete Day 2 Chip Counts