PETER VITANTONIO LEADS 120 PLAYERS IN NOLA MAIN

Peter Vitantonio leads 120 players going to Day 2 of the Harrah's New Orleans Main Event

May 19, 2018 (New Orleans, LA) - The second of two Day 1 flights for the $1,675 Harrah's New OrleansMain Event drew 438 entries. Combined with 239 Day 1A entrants, the 677 total field easily beat the $750,000 guarantee for a $1.015 million prize pool to pay out the top 72 finishers. Peter Vitantonio ended the day leading the 77 surviving players with 388,500 and the overall lead.

Day 2 will see the combined field of 120 players fight for the 72 spots that pay - 60% of the returning field earns a cash. The min-cash comes in $2,843, a trip to the final table locks up $19,477 and the top two finishers earn six-figures. The winner takes home $208,184, a seat in the 2018 Global Casino Championship and the last domestic Main Event ring of the 2017/2018 Circuit season.

Circuit standouts Cory Bierria, Ashly Butler and last year's ME champion Jason Baldridge all return to Day 2 with a decent stack. TK Miles, Leif Force and Cory Waaland also advanced, but have a lot of work to make up as some of the shortest stacks. Vitantonio is riding a heater after finishing runner-up in the $2,200 High Roller event.

Maurice Hawkins won the previously mentioned High Roller Friday for his tenth ring but couldn't get any traction going Saturday. He busted two bullets along with Ari Engel, Fikret Kovac, Valentin Vornicu, Robert Hankins, John Holley and Caufman Talley.

When the Circuit debuted in 2005,  New Orleans was one of the main spots with a $10,000 buy-in and was also know as the Bayou Poker Classic. Walter Chambers defeated Corey Bierria heads-up for the ring and both players bagged up on Saturday.

Day 2 kicks off Sunday at noon sharp with the schedule slated for ten, 60-minute levels. They'll play the full levels regardless of how many players are remaining. Follow all the action with live updates right here on WSOP.com.

Top Ten Overall Chip Counts

1. Peter Vitantonio - 388,500
2. Jamie Linebaugh - 286,000
3. Robert Elliott - 265,500
4. Corey Bierria - 256,000
5. Donnell Dais - 253,500
6. Derek Siess - 247,000
7. Darren Martin - 245,500
8. Filippos Stavrakis - 238,500
9. Michael Monaghan - 221,500
10. Brandon Caputo - 213,500

Complete Chip Counts
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