Nikita Luther Headlines an Elite Field on Day 2; Joe Cada Still in the Mix
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On Wednesday, many of poker's elite came together for Day 1 of Event #81: $1,500 50th Annual Bracelet Winners Only No-Limit Hold'em. A total of 143 bracelet winners entered so far, with registration still open until cards are in the air today at 2:00 p.m.
Leading the way with heaps of chips is Nikita Luther, sitting on a stack of 538,500 after putting on a clinic on Day 1. The Indian bracelet winner earned her piece of gold in 2018 after winning the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Tag Team event with poker pro Giuseppe Pantaleo, who also advanced in this event.
Michael Gagliano sits in second on the board with 354,000 and is followed by Yuval Bronshtein with a stack of 277,000 to round out the top three counts.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikita Luther | India | 538,500 |
| 2 | Michael Gagliano | United States | 354,000 |
| 3 | Yuval Bronshtein | Israel | 277,000 |
| 4 | Haixia Zhang | United States | 264,500 |
| 5 | Blair Hinkle | United States | 259,000 |
| 6 | Shankar Pillai | United States | 242,000 |
| 7 | Chris Ferguson | United States | 224,500 |
| 8 | Ben Ponzio | United States | 224,000 |
| 9 | James Mackey | United States | 220,000 |
| 10 | Fred Berger | United States | 204,500 |
Players that choose to hop in before the start of play today will sit down with a stack of 50,000, coming in to Level 11: 1,000/2,500 with a big blind ante of 2,500.
Play will conclude today once 10 levels are in the books, with Day 3 coming back on Friday for another 2 p.m. restart. This is a four-day event, with the final six players coming back on Saturday for Day 4 at 12:00 p.m. to play down to a winner.
Familiar faces still in the hunt to add more gold to their resumes include the likes of Joe Cada (195,000), Kevin Gerhart (165,500), Loni Harwood (153,500), Humberto Brenes (112,000), Liv Boeree (61,500) and Giuseppe Pantaleo (22,000).
Day 2 Structure
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 12 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 13 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 14 | 2,500 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 15 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| 16 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| 17 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 18 | 6,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| 19 | 8,000 | 16,000 | 16,000 |
| 20 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
Cards are in the air by 2:00 p.m. local time, so stay locked in on PokerNews.com for updates throughout the day, and on the way to crowning a winner.