The Season XVI WPT Choctaw $3,700 Main Event continued on Sunday, August 6, with Day 2. At the end of another 12 levels of play, Michael Stashin bagged the chip lead with 5.585 million in chips.
When Day 2 began, 278 players remained, made up of the 256 Day 1 survivors plus 22 late entries. They were all vying for a piece of the $3.121 million prize pool that was to be awarded to the top 99 places with $593,173 going to the winner.
At the end of Day 2, just 24 players remained.
Joining Stashin for Day 3 will be WPT Champions Club members Jordan Cristos (1.695 million) and Zachary Smiley (1.645 million), Kevin Calenzo (1.585 million), and Giuseppe Pantaleo (680,000).
Day 2 was filled with plenty of action, including the implementation of the Action Clock and the bursting of the money bubble.
Falling before the money were Jason Brin and James Mackey, both former champions of WPT Choctaw.
The Action Clock, which gives players 30 seconds to act on each decision, entered play when the field was one table off the money. Not too long after, with 101 players left and the top 99 reaching the money, WPT Champions Club member Dylan Wilkerson was eliminated when his pocket queens ran into the pocket kings of Michael Stashin. At the same time Wilkerson was ousted, Gary Snyder was sent packing at another table, sending everyone else into the money.
Lauren Bunch was the first player to bust in the money, falling in 99th place, and the bust outs only mounted from there.Jeff Fielder was out in 92nd, AJ Nimer took 82nd, Dee Tiller busted 63rd, two-time WPT champion Matt Giannetti finished in 59th, and Day 1b chip leader Jesse Rockowitz went out in 40th.
Aaron Mermelstein, another two-time WPT champion, busted in 39th place, and David Peters went out in 38th place. Following Peters to the payout desk a few spots later was three-time WPT champion Darren Elias.
Unlike the end of Day 1a when he spiked a set of fours to beat aces at the end of the night, Elias couldn’t make his pocket fours work against an overpair this time around and busted to Jay Lee’s pocket fives.
The final elimination of the day belonged to TK Miles, who fell in 25th place for a payday of $18,513.
The final 24 players, led by Stashin, return to action on Monday, August 7, and 12 p.m. CT. They’re each guaranteed $21,729 and will play down until the official WPT final table of six is reached.
As always find all the coverage of WPT Choctaw right here on WPT.com.
Photography by Joe Giron of PokerPhotoArchive.com.
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