Keranen Takes Lead During Level 19
Players are on break after Level 20, the first level of the day, and it was relatively light on major action for a two-hour stretch this deep in a tournament. Having said that, some notable names did head for the payout desk this level: Mike Sowers (286th), Sam Jaddi (284th), Michael Shklover (278th), John Monnette (272nd), Tony Ma (265th), Konstantin Puchkov (262nd), and Kory Kilpatrick (249th).
At the other end of the spectrum, Griffin Benger has pushed for the chip lead by hitting the 3.3 million mark. He still trails the 3.5 million of Kyle Keranen.
In one recent pot, Benger was in the big blind against Michael Palo on the button, and he check-called 75,000 on a board of 
. On the 
river, Benger checked again before calling 150,000. After his opponent announced a pair of sevens, Benger turned over 
for top two, and he took down the pot.
Trailing Benger at the top of the counts: Zach Jiganti (2845,000), Leif Force (2,563,000), and Dan Smith (2,550,000).
Mark Newhouse is surging today with 2.35 million after outdrawing a pair of kings in the hole with 
by making an ace-high flush as he pushes toward a second straight November Nine appearance.
Notables chipping up this level included Mukul Pahuja and Brian Townsend. Pahuja did his damage with top pair, while Townsend doubled up with KK.
Day 2a/b leader Tim Stansifer rode his early big stack to a deep run, but it came to an end when he put his last 130,000 while dominated.