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World Poker Challenge Day 2 Recap

BJ Nemeth

Day 2 of the WPT Reno World Poker Challenge started with 75 players, and play would continue until the field reached the money at 27 players. Phil Ivey entered as the Day 1 chipleader, a position he has already enjoyed several times this season.

When Ivey plays in a World Poker Tour event, a money finish is as good as a final table; he's 8-for-8 at reaching the final table if he cashes. If Ivey could survive Day 2 and cash, history suggests that he'd also make the final table, where a fourth-place finish would tie him with Jonathan Little in the WPT Player of the Year race. Third or higher would give Ivey the outright lead.

But which Phil Ivey would show up on Day 2? Would it be the Ivey from the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, who carried an early chip lead all the way to victory? Or would it be the Ivey who crashed and burned at the WPT Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December, starting Day 2 with the chip lead and then busted a few spots away from the money?

If you watched Phil Ivey play, you know he doesn't make many mistakes, and when he does, he learns from them. There would be no downfall for Ivey today, as he stayed near the top of the leaderboard all day long, even as the end-of-day money bubble (from 29 players to 27) stretched on for nearly two hours after the dinner break.

Young players Jordan Rich and Zach Hyman battled for the chip lead for a while, but it was Jason Potter who finished strongest, leading the field at the end of the day with more than 350,000 in chips. Ivey isn't the only big name player still in the field; he is joined by Michael Mizrachi, David Pham, Chau Giang, and Erik Seidel.

Here are the top five heading into Day 3, along with a few big names in the top half of the counts. The average stack is 145,000.

1. Jason Potter - 351,700
2. Jordan Rich - 327,900
3. Ron Linden - 301,400
4. Zach Hyman - 298,000
5. Phil Ivey - 286,100

6. Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi - 255,900
8. David "The Dragon" Pham - 195,100
11. Chau Giang - 159,800
12. Erik Seidel - 138,600

The 27 players who return for Day 3 are guaranteed at least $18,000, and first place is worth nearly $500,000. Ivey will attempt to keep his streak alive of turning WPT cashes into WPT final tables (could he really go 9-for-9?). That's the business at hand on Day 3, and if he succeeds, he can turn his sights to the WPT Player of the Year race and his second WPT title.

Return for complete live coverage of all the action, including chip counts, photos, and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.