Chris Hinchcliffe Leads Final 64 Players at WPT Rolling Thunder; Rayo Kniep Second

Day 2 of the Season XVI WPT Rolling Thunder $3,500 Main Event came to an end on Sunday from Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Northern California. Chris Hinchcliffe (pictured above) bagged the chip lead with a towering stack of 723,000, and he’ll be the man to catch as the tournament progresses further.

There are 64 players remaining from the 440-entry field.

Although the field isn’t in the money yet, Hinchcliffe is primed to make the third WPT Main Tour cash of his career. His best is also the first and largest live tournament score of his career, coming back in Season II of the World Poker Tour when Hinchcliffe took third in the PartyPoker Million III for $441,463.

Hinchcliffe recently earned the second largest score of his career when he won the L.A. Poker Classic $350 Kickoff Event for $142,175.

Second in chips to finish Day 2 was Rayo Kniep (pictured below), a software engineer from Germany who works for Google.

“I’m a lucky player,” Kniep said with a laugh. “Running up a ton of chips and playing with people that I know from television. That’s why you play poker. If you have a good time, enjoy it. I can’t help myself. I’m running so good so I have such a good time.

Kniep bagged a stack of 567,000.

“One hand, I had ace-king suited,” Kniep said. “I open, somebody called, small blind squeezes. I was told before that he’s a professional who likes to squeeze loose so I call. The flop comes nine-seven-five, or something, and he continues. I call one street because I don’t think he has anything. He checks and I go all in. He calls it off with king-eight. That was was the moment where you are so tense, you go, ‘Whooo!’ It came out there.”

Kniep doesn’t have much poker success to date, but that doesn’t mean it all can’t change with one deep run in a World Poker Tour event. With the second largest stack heading to Day 3, there’s a big chance that thought becomes reality.

“This is my first-ever Day 3,” Kniep said. “My dream is to make the final table. I know it’s silly of course, as an amateur player. Telling your friends you can see me on the stream, that’s something I would look forward to.”

One of the players Kniep got to play with one Day 2 was WPT Champions Club member Olivier Busquet, and it’s an experience he absolutely loved.

“Absolutely!” Kniep said when asked if he enjoyed playing with Busquet. “Playing with him, talking with him. Super cool guy. Obviously, I know him from television and asked how he gets on Poker After Dark. I doubled him one hand, so I would’ve preferred busting him of course, but it’s cool (laughs). A lot of famous players are here, they’re so emotionless. They don’t seem happy. I prefer people like Olivier.”

Like Kniep, Busquet advanced to Day 3. Where Kniep will be searching for his first WPT title, Busquet will be looking to win his second. Busquet finished Day 2 with 176,000 in chips.

Fourth in chips heading to Day 3 was Joe McKeehen, and then WPT Champions Club member finished Day 2 in fifth overall. McKeehen bagged 494,000 and Panzica finished with 460,000.

Pat Lyons, Anthony Zinno, Aaron Mermelstein, and Dylan Wilkerson are the other WPT Champions Club member who advanced to Day 3 of the Season XVI WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event.

On the night of the 90th Oscars, DJ Alexander spoke to WPT.com about his love for movies before going on to bag a stack of 186,000. Derek Wolters, who finished third in the recent WPT L.A. Poker Classic Championship and sits second in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race, also spoke to WPT.com on the day. Like Alexander, Wolters went on to bag chips and finished with 167,500.

Jeff Fielder, winner of the season-ending WPTDeepStacks Championship that took place at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in December for $220,616, also advanced to Day 3 in this tournament, but he’s on the shorter side with 60,000 in chips. There are only five players behind Fielder on the leaderboard.

The top 55 spots are set to pay in this event, with a min-cash worth $5,990. From the prize pool of $1.408 million, the first-place prize of $295,128 will go to the winner. Included in the top prize is a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions at ARIA Resort & Casino in May.

Be sure to stay tuned right here to WPT.com for continued coverage from the Season XVI WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event, starting with Day 3 on Monday at 12 p.m. local time from Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com

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