Scott Stewart enters Day 3 as the chip leader with seven players remaining.
While there were 104 players who began Day 2 of the Tunica Horseshoe Main Event, the night ended with only 7 players remaining. Leading the way after the action packed day is Scott Stewart who bagged up 2,525,000 chips heading into the final day of play. Stewart won multiple flips and races and applied relentless pressure to lock up his stack today but he’s still closely followed by James Naifeh who is looking for his biggest World Series of Poker cash to date. It’s still anyone’s game as an all-star lineup will return for Day 3.
It was a race to the money as the 41 players quickly fell and the money bubble was burst in the second level of play. The bubble boy was Hyun Lee who found himself all in and at risk against Joseph Herbet in a coin flip situation. Lee was on the wrong side of the flip and ended up walking out as the last player to make no money in this event. Some of the other players who didn’t make it past the money bubble include the likes of Vincent Moscati, Bryan Devonshire, Hamid Izadi, Josh Lowing, and Steve Bierman to name a few.
Once the money bubble burst, players started flying off the shelves, dropping left and right as players started the race to the final table. Some of those who fell after the bubble burst included the likes of T.K. Miles, Cory Smith, Roongsak Griffeth, Benjamin Mintz, Schuyler Thornton, Andrew Brinkley, Warren Sheaves, and Shaun Burnett. One of the biggest names to drop before the final table was Aaron Massey. Massey was eliminated in 16th place, taking home $9,448 for his finish when he lost a race against Scott Stewart. Circuit regular John Holley also fell short of the final table after he lost a race against Gil George, then failed to hit his flush draw against Jim Naifeh just a few hands later. Holley finished in 14th place and collected $11,444 for his run in the Main Event.
The final table for this event is truly star studded, with a list of players who have shown multiple successes over the years at the World Series of Poker. Scott Stewart came 13th in last years WSOP Main Event, has a total of five circuit rings and $930,717 in WSOP earnings. Along with that, he also came 3rd in this event last year. Kyle Cartwright has a WSOP bracelet, seven WSOP circuit rings, and a total of $1,269,305 in WSOP earnings. Jake Bazeley boasts an impressive 58 WSOP cashes along with $1,509,724 in WSOP Earning. Gil George recently made the final table of the Choctaw, Durant Circuit Main Event, and Henry Nguyen even once finished runner up to Antonio Esfandiari in a WSOP bracelet event. The two unknowns at the table are Sam Washburn, who has no recorded WSOP cashes, and Jim Naifeh, who hasn’t posted many WSOP results to this point yet either, but perhaps this could be their big breakout.
The final seven players will return at 12 p.m. Monday and will play down to a winner. Right now players are guaranteed at least $28,011 for their finish, but of course, that’s not what they’re looking for. Still up for grabs is the first place prize of $188,068 and the World Series of Poker gold circuit ring along with a seat in the Global Casino Championship. Blinds will begin in level 26 with blinds at 15,000/30,000 and an ante of 5,000. All the action will be available on WSOP.com so be sure to follow along with the live updates.
Day 3 Chip Counts:
Seat 1: Gil George - 635,000
Seat 2: Jim Naifeh - 2,145,000
Seat 3: Sam Washburn - 2,080,000
Seat 4: Henry Nguyen - 2,000,000
Seat 5: Jake Bazeley - 1,060,000
Seat 6: Scott Stewart - 2,525,000
Seat 7: Kyle Cartwright - 1,400,000