Dustin Melanson Leads Final 22 Players Into Day 3 of the Main Event
The players at Playground did not disappoint on Day 2 of Event #8: $1,700 No Limit Holdem Main Event at the World Series of Poker Circuit Playground. A total of 237 players returned to the felt to battle another 10 levels, and after the dust settled, just 22 remained. Some excellent players came and went, but at the end of the day, local pro Dustin Melanson bagged a massive chip lead heading into Day 3 with a stack of 8,255,000. He was aggressive and seemed to have a crazy intuition for finding spots to put his foot on the gas. He will be a force on Day 3. He is followed close behind by Hugo Morrissette with 5,885,000 in second place and Stephane Blouin-Verroeulst with 4,920,000 in third.
Some crushers were in the mix for the second day of the Main Event. WSOP bracelet winner and all-around nice guy, Chanracy Khun, was able to make it to the last four tables but was not able to secure the bag, 2022 WPT World Championship Winner Eliot Hudon was also in the mix but could not reclaim the glory, bracelet winner Mike Leah got within the top 100 but couldn’t hold on, and bracelet winner Xing He was able to make it to the three table redraw but would lose a big flip to get short and hit the rail soon after.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dustin Melanson | Canada | 8,255,000 | 83 |
| 2 | Hugo Morrissette | Canada | 5,885,000 | 59 |
| 3 | Stephane Blouin-Verroeulst | Canada | 4,920,000 | 49 |
| 4 | Mohammad Feizi | Canada | 4,410,000 | 44 |
| 5 | Ran Yi | Canada | 3,520,000 | 35 |
| 6 | Robert Wong | Canada | 3,345,000 | 33 |
| 7 | George James | Canada | 3,075,000 | 31 |
| 8 | Wangchao Yuan | Canada | 3,020,000 | 30 |
| 9 | Joey Messina | Canada | 3,005,000 | 30 |
| 10 | Michael Porkolab | Canada | 2,915,000 | 29 |
The Main Event had a guaranteed prize pool of $1,500,000, but the total prize pool exceeded expectations and reached $2,490,000. Currently, all the remaining players have locked up $9,200, but they will come back to a pay jump at 21 that would earn them an extra $1,100. Those payouts are not the ones on everyone's mind, though. They will all have their eye on the massive top prize of $375,000. The biggest career score for almost every player in the field should they make it to the top of the mountain.
Melanson is currently the player to catch, but it is still anyone's game. There are multiple players that are one double away from the chip lead. Play will resume at 11 a.m. local time on Monday morning with the players returning to 50,000/100,000/100,000 blinds.
22 will enter but only one will survive. Stay tuned to Pokernews for updates on this and many other events happening worldwide.