A longer than anticipated Day 2 came to a close early Thursday morning at the WPT Caribbean Main Event on the beautiful island of St. Maarten. The increase to 90 minute levels today gave the players deep stacks and a lot of play as they marched down to the money bubble at 15 players.
The night finally ended around 3:30 a.m. and every one left in the tournament is guaranteed at least $4,920 in prize money now that the money bubble has burst. Christophe Rosso (pictured above) is the chip leader with 474,000. He is joined near the top by George Griffith (421,500), and Season XIII WPT Borgata Poker Open champion Darren Elias (421,000).
There are still a lot of familiar faces in the field, and quite a few of them happen to be WPT Champions Club members with a chance of winning another WPT title. Those former champions are Jonathan Roy (371,000), Anthony Zinno (286,000), Mike Linster (115,500), and Will Failla (90,000).
We lost some big names today as well. Defending WPT Caribbean champion Tony Dunst ended his title defense early on Day 2. Barry and Allyn Shulman, Mihai Minole, Marvin Rettenmaier, Mike Leah, Allen Kessler, Micah Raskin, Jan Fisher, and Pieter de Korver joined Dunst on the rail throughout the day.
The remaining field will return at 4 p.m. local time on Thursday to determine the final six players that will compete at the final table on Friday. Tune back in at that time to follow the play down day action in live updates, chip counts, and photos from paradise. Thanks to Joe Giron for today’s great photography, you can find more of his work on his website: www.joegironphotography.com.
Here are the official chip counts for Day 3:
TABLE 1
Seat 1. Mike Linster – 115,500 (38 bb)
Seat 2.
Seat 3. Ziga Jamnikar – 157,000 (52 bb)
Seat 4. George Griffith – 421,500 (140 bb)
Seat 5. Alain Medesan – 304,500 (101 bb)
Seat 6. Will Failla – 90,000 (30 bb)
Seat 7. Christophe Rosso – 474,000 (158 bb)
Seat 8. Jonathan Roy – 371,000 (123 bb)
TABLE 2
Seat 1. Bruce Kramer – 66,000 (22 bb)
Seat 2. Jon Gray – 213,000 (71 bb)
Seat 3. Grant Lang – 204,000 (68 bb)
Seat 4. Frederic Maniez – 267,500 (89 bb)
Seat 5. Darren Elias – 421,000 (140 bb)
Seat 6. Anthony Zinno – 286,000 (95 bb)
Seat 7. Dan Murariu – 122,000 (40 bb)
Seat 8. Peter Tahin – 45,500 (15 bb)