WSOP What to Watch For: Tracy Leads, Ivey Next in Line to Start Main Event Day 2c
Day 2c of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event awaits today, a day that will see a big group of 2,571 players returning to continue their pursuit of the $10 million first prize and most coveted title in poker. Eric Tracy comes back to the biggest stack of anyone today to start with 206,175, while right behind him in the Day 2c counts to begin will be Phil Ivey with 187,025.
That group of 2,571 represents the survivors from Monday’s Day 1c, the last and biggest of the three Day 1 flights for which a whopping 3,768 players showed up. They’ll play another five 120-minute levels today, and those who make it through will join the 882 who survived yesterday’s Day 2a/b for tomorrow’s Day 3 when the entire Main Event field will at last be combined.
Tim Stansifer established the current high-chip mark last night by bagging 481,500, almost 75,000 clear of nearest challenger Thomas Cannuli who finished with 407,800.
All Eyes on Ivey
Having won over $21 million lifetime in tournaments and 10 WSOP bracelets --including picking up one this summer in Event #50: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix — Ivey understandably will be drawing most of the attention once play resumes this afternoon.
Ivey in fact has a track record of Main Event success dating back to 2002, the year he won three WSOP bracelets then made the final three tables of the Main Event to finish 23rd. The following year he got even deeper, memorably bubbling the final table in 10th after busting in a famous hand to Chris Moneymaker.
Ivey would make it all of the way to 20th in the Main Event two years later, then in 2009 earned his best Main Event finish yet, making the final table and the November Nine before getting knocked out in seventh for a better than $1.4 million cash.
That marked the last time Ivey made the money in the Main. In other words, all four of his ME cashes have come following deep runs:
- 2002 — finished 23rd ($40,000)
- 2003 — finished 10th ($82,700)
- 2005 — finished 20th ($304,680)
- 2009 — finished 7th ($1,404,014)
Coming Back to Big Stacks
Sitting right behind Tracy and Ivey in the counts to begin play today are a number of tough competitors, with Nick Yunis, Jared Bleznick, and Blair Hinkle among them.
Here’s how the start-of-Day-2c top 10 will stand when cards go in the air:
2014 Main Event Start of Day 2c Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Tracy | 206,175 |
| 2 | Phil Ivey | 187,025 |
| 3 | Ronald Pease | 181,850 |
| 4 | Nick Yunis | 171,100 |
| 5 | Thomas Sarra, Jr. | 168,100 |
| 6 | Martin Hansen | 167,250 |
| 7 | Jared Bleznick | 165,200 |
| 8 | Blair Hinkle | 161,650 |
| 9 | Konstantin Tolokno | 161,550 |
| 10 | Paul Richardson | 158,825 |
Lots of other familiar faces will be populating the Amazon, Brasilia, and Pavilion rooms today when play gets underway as well.
A total of 113 players will be returning to stacks of 100,000 chips or more, among them Artem Litvinov (142,475), Ali Eslami (132,800), Daniel Negreanu (129,250), Tommy Hang (125,000), McLean Karr (121,075), Daniel Alaei (117,275), Jake Cody (115,525), Jonathan Roy (113,500), Mark Seif (110,550), Jonathan Jaffe (108,975), James Obst (107,000), Seth Berger (103,000), Brad Booth (101,775), and Matt Matros (101,275).
By the way, Negreanu has like Ivey cashed in the WSOP Main Event four times before, making a deep run on one occasion back in 2001 when he finished 11th for $63,940.
Familiar Faces Around the Felt
Other familiar faces in the crowd to start Day 2c will include a number of former Main Event champions: 2009 winner Joe Cada (66,925), 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi (60,900), 2001 winner Carlos Mortensen (55,125), 1989 winner Phil Hellmuth (49,425), 2005 winner Joe Hachem (48,175), 2010 winner Jonathan Duhamel (41,375), 1986 winner Berry Johnston (28,850), and 1998 winner Scotty Nguyen (8,200). Nguyen’s short stack puts him 2,479th out of the 2,571 returners, meaning he’ll have one steep hill to climb today, baby.
Other notables in action today will include Gus Hansen (90,550), Haralabos Voulgaris (73,700), Amir Lehavot (57,750), Daniel Colman (49,225), David Tuchman (47,775), and Howard “Tahoe” Andrew (15,275), with Andrew participating in his 41st WSOP Main Event.
There were a few celebrities in the Day 1c field, a few of whom made it through to return to the action today, including NBA players Paul Pierce (60,400) and Earl Barron (59,000), UFC announcer Bruce Buffer (47,075), NFL defensive tackle Richard Seymour (27,100), and Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué (23,325).
Day 2c begins at 12 noon PDT, so click over to the Main Event live updates starting then to see how Ivey and the other 2,570 players fare today as the WSOP Main Event marches onward.
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