Jason Koon Leads $1,500 No Limit; Hutter Chases Bracelet No. 2
Top tournament pro Jason Koon (1,405,000) is at it again in the $1,500 no-limit hold’em, as he bagged the overnight chip lead with 24 players remaining. Barry Hutter sits in second place with 1,096,000 chips and he looks to win his second bracelet of 2015 after winning the $1,500 no-limit hold’em shoot out earlier this series.
Hutter, with four cashes already, sits 14th on the WSOP Player of the Year rankings, and he looks to jump the ranks with another deep run in this event. Koon, who came into the $10,000 pot-limit hold’em final table as chip leader before busting in ninth place, looks to avenge his two close calls this summer.
On the second day of play, 260 players returned out of the 1,655 that originally started, and 171 would make the money. After the bubble burst a slew of big names hit the rail including Alex Kravchenko, Erwann Pecheux, James Dempsey and Toronto Maple Leafs star player Phil Kessel.
The biggest hand of the day took place between Koon, Olivier Busquet and Kyle Ho, when Koon woke up with aces. Busquet held two kings, Ho was drawing slim with two queens, and the board brought no tomfoolery. Koon had Busquet covered by just 2,000 chips, and Koon scored a double knock out to take the chip lead, which he would not relinquish.
Other top pros that remain include former November Niner John Dolan, who finished sixth in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, and 2014 $3,000 Omaha Eight-or-Better champ Philip Hui.
Play will resume Thursday at 1 p.m. local time as the field looks to play down to a winner.