Veteran Williamson Takes Day 2b Chip Lead; Wheeler, Geilich, Liberto, Piccioli, Ferguson All Through Too
Day 2b of Event #3: BIG 50 - $500 No-Limit Hold’em is in the books after seven levels of play. Out of 5,972 entries, 1,580 returned to the felt today to battle it out with two goals in mind, making it into the money and bagging up at the end of the day for Day 3, which wil take place on Wednesday, June 5th. When the final chip was bagged, 321 players reached that goal and will return in a few days after some well-deserved rest.
Claiming the chip lead is veteran Jerald Williamson with 4,105,000 in chips. Williamson climbed the ranks slowly during the tournament but scooped a huge pot at the end of the day to take over the chip lead from Azad Azram who did the opposite. Azram lost a pot which caused him to bag 3,030,000 instead of the 3,700,000 he had a bit earlier during the night.
Also bagging an above average stack are players like David Towson, Jason Wheeler, Ludovic Geilich, bracelet winners Justin Liberto and Scott Davies, Stoyan Obreshkov, and Cosmin Joldis. Other familiar names to find a bag for Day 3 are more bracelet winners like Kyle Julius, Bryan Piccioli, and Chris Ferguson.
Not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through, some of the players who failed to win their final all-in include Viliyan Petleshkov, Jamie Kerstetter, Matt Affleck, Pierre Neuville, Jordan Young, Aaron Duczak, Jake Schwartz, and many more.
The bubble was again a short-lived affair, similar to what had happened on Day 2a. When the clock was paused and all action was completed on all tables, all open seats were counted and there were 892 players left in the field with 896 getting paid. Four players were eliminated during the process but one of them had left the tournament area already. The three others, David Scatchard, Stefan Williams, and Matthew Clark all collected $750 for their efforts over the past two days.
The 321 remaining players will join the 316 who survived Day 2a and whoever else will survive Day 2c and 2d on Wednesday at 11 a.m. for Day 3. All the remaining prize pools will then be combined into one where they will all compete for their share. Day 1d starts at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 2, which has been sold out. Late registrations and re-entries will be accepted from Level 3 onwards which is at 12 noon local time.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the action from this special anniversary tournament which looks to be breaking all the records so make sure to return when action continues here in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.
and Aaron Duczak checked in the big blind. The player on the button bet 30,000 on which Duczak raised to 125,000. His opponent responded with a shove immediately which Duczak quickly called.
on the turn to give his opponent a flush, making the 
on the river just a formality. 
