Hellmuth Eyes 14th Bracelet; Politano Aims for Success Before November
Welcome back to our PokerNews coverage of the AU$2,200 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em event from the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific. Today is Day 2 of this tournament, the seventh one of the series, and there are 31 players remaining from the original starting field of 243.
Leading the pack is Alexander Antonios with 138,200 in chips, and he's the only player to finish Day 1 over the century mark. While he may hold the chip lead and be best positioned to make a run at the gold bracelet, all eyes will clearly be on two other players, though.
First, there's 13-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth entering Day 2 with 82,500 in chips. He'll be chasing his astonishing 14th piece of WSOP hardware, and there's only 3 players standing between Hellmuth and that accomplishment. One of those players is 2014 WSOP November Niner Bruno Politano, who just so happens to have bagged up the same amount of chips with 82,500. Hellmuth and Politano are tied for fourth on the leaderboard and are prepared to make some big noise.
Unlike the other eight members of the WSOP Main Event final table that will take place in November, Politano is the only one to make the trip Down Under. Prior to this festival, PokerNews' Chad Holloway interviewed Politano about his trip to Melbourne, and the Brazilian stated that he would "be playing a high-level of poker with the best in the world." He's surely shined so far in this event and has the potential to do even more with a deep run.
Other notables remaining include Jesse Sylvia, Tony Hachem, Ami Barer, Van Marcus, and Ashley Mason.
The cards are scheduled to be in the air at 12:30 p.m. local time, and that's when PokerNews will be live from the floor with all of the action. The top 27 spots are set to be paid, which means the money bubble looms, and you won't want to miss a thing.