Massive Day 2c Begins at Noon
The first players have their slip for Day 3 in hand. Day 2ab was a massive day at the World Series of Poker yesterday, and today we're doing it all over again. Day 1c attracted a gigantic field of 4,262 and lost 962 players, so today at noon, 3,300 players return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino for five more levels of play on Day 2c.
Levels are once again each 2 hours long, with a 20-minute break after every level. The dinner break of 90 minutes takes place after Level 8, which should be around 6:40 p.m. The money will not be reached today; that most likely happens towards the end of Day 3, or beginning of Day 4.
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 300 | 600 | 100 |
| 20-minute break | |||
| 7 | 400 | 800 | 100 |
| 20-minute break | |||
| 8 | 500 | 1,000 | 100 |
| 90-minute break | |||
| 9 | 600 | 1,200 | 200 |
| 20-minute break | |||
| 10 | 800 | 1,600 | 200 |
All in all, this year’s Main Event is the third-largest in history (only topped in 2006 and 2010) and the prize pool sits at almost $68 million. First place is guaranteed $8,150,000, and the total places paid is 1,084 with a min-cash of $15,000.
Excitement was in the air as players from the first two Day 1 flights in the Main Event returned to the Rio to battle it out in Day 2a and 2b flights. When play got underway, 2,959 players in total were back in action with only about 1,100 making it through for Thursday’s Day 3.
During Tuesday’s action, the two flights remained separate. Leading the field from 2a was Lawrence Bayley with 618,000 chips and Mickey Craft in 2B with 608,100. Other notables remaining from 2ab are Marvin Rettenmaier (359,100), Charlie Carrel (343,000), 2016 November Niner Kenny Hallaert (331,800), Cherish Andrews (330,700), Melanie Weisner (319,400), Mike Matusow (228,200), Chris Vitch (221,200), Scott Seiver (195,600), 2005 Main Event champion Joe Hachem (134,700), and 2004 Main Event champion Greg Raymer (106,400). Reigning champion Qui Nguyen, however, did not make it through Day 2.
The Day 2c field of returnees will combine with those remaining from Tuesday into one big pool for Thursday’s third day of play. Leading the beginning 2c field is France’s Jerome Brion with 247,900 chips. Brion has more than $194,000 in tournament winnings, his biggest a seventh-place finish in an EPT-Barcelona €1,100 event for $98,169.
Other notables who will be in action on Day 3 include: Nick Maimone (213,000), Andre Akkari (189,900), Jason Koon (166,600), Brandon Shack-Harris (160,000), Aditya Agarwal (150,900), Ryan Hughes (147,300), 2017 WSOP Player of the year front-runner John Monnette (123,800), Brian Rast (126,900), Phil Hellmuth (87,400, and Daniel Negreanu (26,000).
Play is scheduled to reach the final table on Day 7 (Monday, July 17). Days 8-10 will then resume and be played on July 20-22 to reach a winner – all played out live in front of ESPN’s cameras. Wednesday’s action be live on PokerGo beginning at 12:30 p.m. and then live on ESPN from 5-7 p.m. Here is a look at the payouts for the final table:
| 1st | $8,150,000 |
| 2nd | $4,700,000 |
| 3rd | $3,500,000 |
| 4th | $2,600,000 |
| 5th | $2,000,000 |
| 6th | $1,675,000 |
| 7th | $1,425,000 |
| 8th | $1,200,000 |
| 9th | $1,000,000 |
Here's the complete Day 2c seat draw: