Hellmuth Goes For the Repeat; 121 Players Chasing O'Hara on Day 2 of Event #29
Triumphant returns are the theme heading to Day 2 of Event #29: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw.
Phil Hellmuth returned from a week away and bagged up 121,000, just 121 players between him and back-to-back bracelets in this event. George Danzer, who has hardly played at the WSOP since winning Player of the Year in 2014 and hasn’t cashed in an event in six years, is back on a leaderboard with 100,000. Then there is Yanni Raz, the 2-7 rookie who liked the game so much, he decided to reenter last night and finished with a top-10 stack at 166,000.
Ian O’Hara leads the remaining 122 players, amassing a huge chip lead of 294,500, nearly 60,000 more than second-place Brandon Shack-Harris. He’ll be chased on Day 2 by the likes of Tom Schneider (207,500), Jake Schwartz (157,500), Mike Matusow (149,500), and Alex Foxen (127,500).
Event #29: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian O'Hara | United States | 294,500 |
| 2 | Brandon Shack-Harris | United States | 235,500 |
| 3 | Jon Kyte | Norway | 213,500 |
| 4 | Tom Schneider | United States | 207,500 |
| 5 | Gabe Paul | United States | 189,500 |
| 6 | Michael Lang | United States | 185,000 |
| 7 | Ilkka Heikkila | Finland | 172,500 |
| 8 | Jonathan McGowan | United States | 172,000 |
| 9 | Yosif Nawabi | United States | 170,500 |
| 10 | Yanni Raz | United States | 166,000 |
The plan, when Day 2 begins at 2 p.m. local time, is to play down to the final five players. First, however, the main goal of the surviving players is to make the money, which will come at 66th place. A min-cash will be worth $2,417, all the way up to the top prize of $127,809.
Play will begin on Level 11, with 1,000-2,000 blinds and a 3,000 big blind ante. There will be a 60-minute dinner break after Level 16, which should come around 8:30 p.m.
It was a record-smashing field of 437 entries that began the event. By the end of Day 2, there will be only five remaining. PokerNews will be on hand the entire way at Bally’s Event Center as Hellmuth chases bracelet No. 17 and 121 opponents try to stop him.