Mizrachi on top after Day 2 of WPT Championship

Posted by Steve Ruddock on May 21, 2012 Posted in Poker News | No Comments »

After a very lackluster turnout of just 103 players on Day 1 of the World Poker Tour $25k Championship at the Bellagio the field was bolstered by 32 additional players adding their name during the late registration phase of the tournament on Day 2. Late registration was open throughout Day 2, and will still be open up until the first hand is dealt on Day 3 today.

Even more players are expected to register before Day 3 gets underway, as players who have been participating in the PokerStars SCOOP tournament series (not available in the US) fly in from around the world. Anyone choosing to register in the lead-up to Day 3 will receive 100,000 chips, which is equivalent to 62.5 Big Blinds at this point in the tournament.

After just 5 players went to the sidelines on Day 1 of the WPT Championship, the knockouts started coming more frequently on Day 2 as the blinds continue to rise (albeit still rather slowly). By the end of Day 2, 95 of the original 135 players were still in the hunt, with big names like Sam Stein, Daniel Negreanu, Tony Dunst, Tommy Vedes, Vanessa Selbst, Matt Giannetti, Dan O’Brien, Andrey Pateychuk, James Dempsey, David Benyamine, and Cliff Josephy all busting from the event.

With such a small field, the tournament is full of big name talent, evidenced by the Top 10 chip-counts, which features six former WPT Champions, including Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi who is currently leading the field with 428,200 chips. Here is a look at the Top 10 chip-counts heading into Day 3 of the 2012 WPT Championship:

1. Michael Mizrachi — 428,200

2. Rinat Bogdanov — 381,000

3. Guillaume Darcourt — 356,600

4. David Steicke — 345,500

5. Isaac Haxton — 313,500

6. Tony Ruberto — 309,100

7. Steve O’Dwyer — 301,900

8. Ubaid Habib –288,100

9. Matt Juttelstad — 274,000

10. John Hennigan — 265,500

There is plenty of other firepower a little further down the leader-board as well, with the likes of Justin Young, Jonathan Little, Joe Serock, Matt Waxman, Noah Schwartz, Brian Hastings, Scott Seiver, Marvin Rettenmaier, Abe Mosseri, Joe Cheong, David Williams, Justin Smith, Martin de Knjiff (remember him!?!?!), Dan Shak, John Juanda, and Vanessa Rousso still vying for the coveted 2012 WPT Championship title.

It’s improbable (I want to say impossible, but I’ve learned over the years anything is possible) that the tournament will approach last year’s tally of 220 entrants, although 150 entrants is an optimistic number to shoot for at this point. We’ll know for certain at around 3 PM EDT, when Day 3 gets underway and the final tallies are in. At some point on Day 3 we will also find out the payouts for the tournament.

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