Pilgrim Makes Progress on WPT Indiana Day 2

Level 11: 1,000-2,000, 300 ante

There are still several big name pros left in the field here in Indiana, but Day 2 was a day for players with previous poker success in this part of the country to really shine. Dwyte Pilgrim last made a splash on the circuit in Biloxi, Mississippi during the Southern Poker Classic. Pilgrim dominated the preliminary events, racking up two wins, one runner-up finish and over $120,000 in prize money. Pilgrim was wearing his two WSOP Circuit rings (one won in Atlantic City and the other at Harrahs Rincon) a he played his from 29,000 chips to over 300,000 over the course of Day 2.

Pilgrim ended the day as the chip leader, but he was not the only pro with a long list of Southern poker accomplishments. Tyler Smith final tabled both the Season VII and Season VIII Southern Poker Championships and is in the hunt to make his third career WPT final table. He finished the day third in chips with 217,000. Smith has more on the line than just a third final table though. He is one of the four players in the field still capable of catching up with the current WPT Player of the Year frontrunner, Faraz Jaka.

It looked like Jaka could potentially widen his gap on the competition with a third final table appearance this season, but he busted midway through the day. Now he can only sit back and watch as Smith, Gevork Kasabyan, Shawn Buchanan and Todd Terry vie for enough points to surpass him in the standings. Smith and Kasabyan are well above average, but Buchanan and Terry have some work to do if they are going to survive to the end of Day 3.

Some of the players who failed to make it to the end of Day 2 included Jason Mercier, Prahlad Friedman, Brock Parker, Hoyt Corkins, Erik Seidel, and Eric Froehlich, who began the day as chip leader, but had a rough go of it and made his exit before the dinner break. The field began with 96 players with only 38 remaining by day’s end. Erick Lindgren, Carlos Mortensen, Chris Bell, and William Reynolds are just a few of the big names who will return to the Hollywood casino at 2PM tomorrow for another day of poker action.