Day 2 of the Season XVI WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship saw the field of 911 entries whittled down to 53 and the money bubble burst. When it was all said and done, Ben Yu stood tall as the chip leader with a stack of 1.382 million in chips.
Yu is no stranger to poker events and the World Poker Tour. His greater poker career contains more than $2.26 million in live tournament earnings and he’s won two WSOP gold bracelets. One thing Yu hasn’t won yet is a WPT title, but that’s not to say he hasn’t come close. In Season XIV, Yu finished third in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10,000 Main Event for $607,433.
On his way to bagging the lead, Yu knocked out Sean Winter in 57th place. Winter was all in with the 
, but his small pocket pair couldn’t hold up against the Broadway over cards that Yu held with the 
. A jack hit the flop and Yu held from there.
Coming in right behind Yu is Joseph Couden, who entered Day 2 as the tournament’s chip leader. Couden came into the day with 342,500 in chips and worked his way up to 1.339 million to finish.
Also with a seven-figure stack to close out Day 2 was Andjelko Andrejevic, a WPT Champions Club member. Andrejevic advanced to Day 3 with 1.023 million.
Elsewhere on the leaderboard the names of Ness Reilly (973,000), John Dolan (378,000), and Tristan Wade (272,000) can be found. Reilly’s run is especially notable as she just finished eighth in the WPTDeepStacks Hollywood tournament a couple days ago at Seminole Hard Rock. That field had 1,366 entries and Reilly took eighth for $29,587. Now she’s right back in the saddle going deep in a large field.
From the field of 911 entries, 343 players returned for Day 2. Only 114 of them would be paid, though, and it was Farid Jattin who busted in 115th to burst the money bubble. Jattin was done in by Brandon Caputo when his 
fell to the 
of Caputo.
Following the bursting of the money bubble, notables Justin Bonomo, Andre Akkari, Phil Hui, and Joe McKeehen hit the rail. WPT Champions Club members Tyler Patterson and Aaron Mermelstein joined them at the payout desk, leaving less of a chance that we’d see a WPT Champions Club member from a prior season win a title in Season XVI.
The final 53 players have locked up a minimum payday of $10,006, but they’re all chasing the $511,604 first-place prize. Action resumes Monday at 12 p.m. local time and you can continue to find coverage right here on WPT.com.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
Looking to win your way to a World Poker Tour event for your shot at becoming a WPT champion? Play for your chance on ClubWPT.com, where eligible VIP Members can play for over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, including seats to WPT events, no purchase necessary.