After paying $5,000 for their tournament ticket, 516 poker professionals and amateurs with money to burn took their seats here at the Rio to compete in a six handed format that rewards aggression and reading ability. To confirm the fact that the World Series of Poker's big buy-in events bring out the best in the game's greats, several top flight pros made deep runs during the first two days of play, with several of the six handed tables featuring four or five elite players.
Justin Young, Bertrand Grospellier, Phil Galfond, Brian Hastings, and T.J. Cloutier are just a few of the big names were felted before the bubble burst. Brian Rast (54th), Olivier Busquet (51st), and Eric Froehlich (49th), Daniel Negreanu (39th), and Justin "Boosted J" Smith (19th) all made the money, but in a heated competition with their peers from the tournament circuit, the only goal for each was to win a bracelet.
By the end of Day 1 it was Jonathan Little who led the chip counts, and after ten levels of play yesterday he had maintained that lead, bagging up 1,290,000 to begin the action today. With numerous victories in high profile events to his credit, including a million dollar score at the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown in 2007, Little is definitely a threat to post a wire-to-wire victory, as he showed on Day 2 with his dominant performance.
Little will be joined by Allen Bari (1,191,000) and Vasile Buboi as those with more than a million chips to work with, and Bari was responsible for ending the tournament lives of numerous players as Day 2 progressed.
Joining these million dollar men are dangerous pros Andrew Robl (554,000) and Erick Lindgren (525,000), each of whom got in on the action during yesterday's play.
To get ready for all the action on the felt, take a look at PokerNews' Daily Update video presented by Kristy Arnett, and come back at 1:00 p.m. local time as Event #32 (No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed) crowns the latest WSOP champion. You can also take a look at the seating draw below, to find out which pros will be facing off against one another to begin the day.
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