The $5,000 buy-in WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event continued at Thunder Valley Casino Resort on Saturday, and there were 166 entries on Day 1B. From the 96 survivors that advanced to Day 2 on Sunday, Brett Murray is the chip leader after making good use of his second bullet of the day.
Murray had the chip lead locked up by the last level of play despite some close challengers. “I just played a bunch of hands, and then I got kings into queens for 60k each, and then from that it was just a bunch of small hands, and then I won a flip for a guy’s 12 bigs on the last hand of the night,” said Murray about his cruise through the last levels of play.
Murray is from nearby Santa Rosa, California, and he took 30th place in this tournament one year ago. Murray also took 26th place in the WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley Main Event back in April of last year so he is no stranger to this poker room. “It’s always nice having it at Thunder for sure,” said Murray.
“It’s a tournament so I know you’re going to lose more than you’re going to win, so I try to have an OK mindset when I’m losing live and then hop back in,” said Marshall when he was asked about keeping his focus after his first bullet of the day didn’t go according to plan.
Rounding out the top three were previous WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley Main Event champion Jasthi Kumar (172,500), and Jarod Minghini (152,700). WPT Champions Club members that advanced to Day 2 this evening were Sam Panzica, Tony Tran, Pat Lyons, Harrison Gimbel, and James Calderaro.
Two-time WPTDeepStacks champion Jeff Fielder has also advanced. Hublot WPT Player of the Year race points leader Ping Liu made it to Day 2 this evening after taking fourth place here last year, and last year’s fifth-place finisher Rayo Kniep also bagged at the end of play.
Notable players that did not advance today, but still have one last chance to enter again before the close of registration at the start of Level 11 at 2:15 pm tomorrow include Dan Shak, Candace Collins, Blair Hinkle, Adam Duong, Joseph Cappello, and T.K. Miles.
Day 2 starts at Noon local time at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California.
As always, stay tuned to WPT.com for complete coverage of the WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event. The seating chart with chip counts for every player is available here.
Photography by Melissa Haereiti / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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