Tommy Chen holds overall lead as Main Event enters Sunday's Day 2 action
January 20, 2019 (Thunder Valley) - Both starting flights of the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Thunder Valley are now complete, and Matt Affleck (pictured) is the biggest stack coming out of Day 1B.
Day 1A compiled a total of 233 entries, with just 55 moving on to the second day. The second flight sold an outstanding 375 slips, with 114 remaining at the end of the night. That brought the total of the two starting flights to 608, with 169 players moving on to Day 2.
The 608 total buy-ins accumulated a prize pool of $921,120. A total of 63 players will be cashing, with a min-cash being $3,012 and first place pocketing an immense $193,439.
Tommy Chen leads the final 169 players into Day 2 with 340,000 in chips. Chen is not a new face to Thunder Valley, after just final-tabling the Main Event in September. He boasts an impressive $930,000 in WSOP cashes and will surely be on everyone's radar going into Day 2.
Another professional going into Day 2 with a stack is Craig Varnell with 272,000. Varnell is a well-known grinder who just won his first bracelet this past summer; look for him to be making a splash tomorrow.
12-time WSOP ring winner Valentin Vornicu is near the top with 255,500, and he will be looking to add number 13 to the resume.
Some other big stacks to head into the second day include Paul Chai (282,000), Arish Nat (254,000), Marlon Nonales (248,500), Aaron Messmer (240,000), and Jeremy Joseph (216,500).
Among the notable players to bag include Dann Turner (203,000), Daniel Hendriks (204,000), Robert Mitchell (158,500), Steven Spunt (137,000), He Yifu (127,500), Randy Lew (118,500), and Paul Camby (110,500).
Many well-known players busted before making Day 2. The list of those failing to advance includes Allen Kessler, Jason Mangold, Ben Keeline, Chris Ocksrider, Jared Jaffee, and Neil Scott.
The remaining players from the two starting flights will combine for Day 2 on Sunday at noon, and will play ten 60-minute levels before bagging up and moving on to Day 3. Play begins at level 16 with the blinds at 2,000/4,000 and a 500 ante. The tournament will wrap up on Monday when the champion is decided.
Here are the top 10 chip counts after Day 1B. For full chip counts, click on the REPORTS tab, above.
1 - Tommy Chen - 340,000
2 - Paul Chai - 282,000
3 - Craig Varnell - 272,000
4 - Valentin Vornicu - 255,500
5 - Matt Affleck - 255,000
6 - Arish Nat - 254,000
7 - Marlon Nonales - 248,500
8 - Aaron Messmer - 240,000
9 - Jeremy Joseph 216,500
10 - Warren Kashiwagi - 212,500