Matt Mamiya Bags Day 2 Chip Lead in Event #71: $1,500 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha
A total of 94 players returned for battle on Day 2 of Event #71: $1,500 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha returned to the Pavillion room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and after 10 levels of play only 15 hopefuls remain.
Leading the charge heading towards the final day is Matt Mamiya with 3,100,000 with the likes of Day 1 chip leader Mourad Amokrane chasing him closely with 2,940,000.
Amokrane has been near the top of the counts for much of the event thus far, rising to the top on Day 1 and maintaining the position throughout play on both days. Spain's Paulo Villena closes the podium with 2,080,000 in chips. With total live earnings of $568,245, there is little doubt that Villena should be considered a serious contender for the chase of the gold.
Event #71 Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Mamiya | United States | 3,100,000 | 62 |
| 2 | Mourad Amokrane | France | 2,960,000 | 59 |
| 3 | Paulo Villena | Spain | 2,080,000 | 42 |
| 4 | Kao Chieng Saechao | United States | 2,000,000 | 40 |
| 5 | Gabe Ramos | United States | 1,600,000 | 32 |
| 6 | Rodney Horton | United States | 1,595,000 | 32 |
| 7 | Todd Jacobs | United States | 1,360,000 | 27 |
| 8 | Ronald Larsen | United States | 1,205,000 | 24 |
| 9 | Ryan Terpstra | United States | 1,140,000 | 23 |
| 10 | Matthew Humphrey | United States | 1,075,000 | 22 |
Another notable who made his way into final Day 3 is Jeff Gross (1,070,000), who struggled with a small stack the first hours of the day and fought hard to bag over a million chips with which he will return for the finale. He will be joined tomorrow by others experienced players such as Matthew Humphrey (1,075,000), Nikolay Yosifov (570,000) and Borja Gross (515,000).
All the returning players may have $5,223 locked up and there are still 15 bounties in play, but they all have their eyes on one of the last WSOP gold bracelets of the series and the $132,844 top prize.
The pace of play on Day 2 was as fast and furious as Day 1, and there was definitely no shortage of action.
Russell Alesi was the last player to fall on Day 2 for a 16th place finish worth $4,584, after he pushed his last few chips with a hand containing a pair of eights against Ronald Horton who found a board giving him a pair of nines.
“I only played 8 hours of PLO before that tournament” confessed Alessi with a smile right after his elimination. “I definitely waited too long to start playing Omaha!”
There was a pile of notables and bracelet winners to leave with some consolation on Day 2 as Jonathan Abdellatif (28th, $3,315), Joseph Di Rosa Rojas (42nd, $2,890), Uri Reichenstein (52th, $2,562), Diogo Veiga (57th, $2,313), Joao Vieira (74th, $1,985), Felipe Ramos (82nd, $1,890), and Dario Sammartino (89th, $1,890) all failed to find a bag. The two-time WSOP champion in PLO events Dash Dudley also saw his deep run come to an end, falling in 49th for $2,563.
Play resumes at 3 p.m local time in the Amazon room on Saturday and restarts at Level 21 with blinds of 25,000/ 50,000 with a 50,000 ante. There will be a 15-minute break after every two levels.
The PokerNews team will be there from when the first card is dealt until the last card hits the felt and the 71st bracelet of the 2021 WSOP is awarded.