Tim Stansifer Leads Advancing Field From Day 2a/b
Day 2a/b is of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event is officially in the books with Tim Stansifer leading the roughly 700 survivors from the two returning flights. Stansifer sat atop the chip counts late in the day and had a surge during the last few hands to boost his stack up to a massive 481,500.
This second day was a unique experience at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, as survivors from Day 1a and Day 1b remained segregated for their second day of play. While play occurred simultaneously, those to advance from Day 1a played their flight in the Amazon Room while the returning players from the larger Day 1b flight took to the Brasilia and Pavilion rooms.
Stansifer sits atop the chip counts moving forward onto Day 3, but has has other players close on his heels. Tom Cannuli bagged up the second largest stack with 407,800 and none other than Joe Kuether put third-place chips in the bag with 401,200. Kuether found a spot among the leaders roughly halfway through the day and sat there ever since. Kuether, who has over $2.13 million in lifetime career tournament earnings has never cashed in a Las Vegas WSOP Main Event. He has, however, racked up 24 WSOP cashes including a 24th place in the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event and a third place in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event in 2012 for over $218,000.
Martin Jacobson, who began Day 2a/b as the chip leader, also bagged up a top five stack by the end of the day. Jacobson continued to ride his momentum and will return for Day 3 with 342,700 in chips.
Joining those big stacks on Day 3 are the likes of Antonio Esfandiari (277,800), Abe Mosseri (260,500), Eric Cloutier (236,000), 2003 WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker (222,000), Faraz Jaka (195,000), Ole Schemion (180,900), Marvin Rettenmaier (173,200), Erik Seidel (130,600), Allen Cunningham (114,400), 1996 WSOP Main Event champion Huck Seed (96,500), and reigning champion Ryan Riess (84,900).
While those players progressed onto the next stage of this prestigious tournament, others fell before the bagging phase at the end of the day. Some of the players who were eliminated by the end of Day 2a/b include 2012 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson, Josh Arieh, Mike Sexton, Dennis Phillips, November Niner Michiel Brummelhuis, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Amanda Musumeci, Vanessa Selbst, Annette Obrestad, and Igor Kurganov. Brandon Shack-Harris and George Danzer, who sit in the one and two spots in the WSOP Player of the Year race, were also eliminated from play.
The Main Event continues on Wednesday where players will hit the felt for Day 2c play. As always, PokerNews will be on hand to provide all of the latest from the tournament felt.