Day 2 comes to an end with 23 players remaining, eight spots away from the money. But after 10 levels, it was nearly 2:30 am, and the tournament staff called it a night. Day 3 will begin tomorrow (Sunday) at 12:30 pm.
The chipleader is Mark Lifman (pictured), who dominated the late levels to finish with 564,500, while Day 1 chipleader Nipun Java (380,000) is still near the top in second place. Third in chips is Sara Chafak (340,000), who is best known for winning the Miss Finland pageant in 2012. Reigning champion Dylan Wilkerson made it past the Day 2 dinner break, but fell short of defending his title.
Here are the official seating and chip counts for Day 3:
TABLE 11
Seat 1. Andrea Cornelli – 176,500 (35 bb)
Seat 2.
Seat 3. Warrick Weigand – 50,500 (10 bb)
Seat 4.
Seat 5. Dean Spagnuolo – 35,000 (7 bb)
Seat 6. Mark Lifman – 564,500 (113 bb)
Seat 7. Dean Doucha – 215,500 (43 bb)
Seat 8. Maxine Catano – 127,500 (26 bb)
Seat 9. Aaron Overton – 69,500 (14 bb)
TABLE 12
Seat 1.
Seat 2. Kinesh Pather – 72,000 (14 bb)
Seat 3. Darren Elias – 66,500 (13 bb)
Seat 4. Jarred Solomon – 320,500 (64 bb)
Seat 5. Muaaz Gani – 156,500 (31 bb)
Seat 6. Sara Chafak – 340,000 (68 bb)
Seat 7. Lagen Zackey – 74,500 (15 bb)
Seat 8. Nahum Lum – 145,000 (29 bb)
Seat 9. Modesto Monteiro – 73,500 (15 bb)
TABLE 13
Seat 1. Jonathan Karamalikis – 122,500 (25 bb)
Seat 2. Antonio Silva – 271,000 (54 bb)
Seat 3. Diana Svensk – 139,500 (28 bb)
Seat 4. Joe Rahme – 167,500 (34 bb)
Seat 5. Ben Cade – 219,000 (44 bb)
Seat 6. Bryce Yockey – 83,500 (17 bb)
Seat 7. Nipun Java – 380,000 (76 bb)
Seat 8.
Seat 9. Melanie Weisner – 131,500 (26 bb)
And the prizepool at stake:
1st: R1,382,000*
2nd: R797,200
3rd: R517,100
4th: R355,510
5th: R273,640
6th: R213,310
7th: R168,060
8th: R124,970
9th: R86,180
10th-12th: R71,100
13th-15th: R60,330
* First prize amount includes a $15,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship.
Day 3 begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 12:30 pm local time. Return to WPT.com for continuing live updates as they plan to play down to a winner.