The WSOP Circuit will see another champion crowned as its $1,675 Main Event is about to come to conclusion with Canadian poker pro Owen Crowe leading the remaining eleven survivors into Day 3 of the prestigious tournament. The event takes place at the famed Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles and generated a massive field, with 705 contenders entering the battle for a share of the $1,057,500 prizepool.
Day 2 of the WSOP Circuit Main Event saw 159 contenders attacking the poker tables in an attempt to scoop up the first-place prize and the coveted ring. As many as 143 players returned from Day 1A and 1B, with 16 new players entering the field. As Day 2 progressed, the field was gradually reduced to eleven contenders but it was Canadian player Owen Crowe who completed the day as a chip leader. Poker pro Adam Miller who lead at the end of Day 1A and Kristy Arnett who emerged as a chip leader at the end of Day 1B also made the cut and will return to combat for the champion title at Day 3.
Day 2 Sees a String of Rapid Eliminations
A hectic race for the money commenced and many of the contenders that entered the game at Day 2 were eliminated. Some of the victims to hit the rail included Ryan Lenaghan, Joseph Cheong, and Scott Stewart. It did not take long for the money bubble to burst, either. Simon Brooks fell victim to Adam Swan after his ace-nine failed him against his opponent’s ace-king. The elimination of Brooks saw the remaining contenders competing for a guaranteed payout of at least $2,960.
Eliminations continued at a rapid pace after the bubble burst as players Kevin Eyster, Bruce Kramer, Dam Heimiller, and Adam Geyer all hit the rail. Former main-event champion Joe McKeehen was also among the victims at Day 2.
McKeehen experienced a disheartening cooler with pocket kings against the pocket aces of opponent Ben Keeline, which caused the former main-event champ to get eliminated in 38th place with a prize of $3,530. His nemesis Keeline lasted a bit longer but eventually finished in 14th place after his pocket jacks proved powerless against the king-queen of Kevin Gimble. A queen on the turn for Gimble caused Keeline to go home with $13,270 in prize money.
It was a slow progress for current chip leader Owen Crowe who started Day 2 with 164,500 in chips. The Canadian’s progress was slow but steady for most of Day 2 until he finally took off during the last two levels of play when he experienced a good streak and managed to increase his stack from half a million to 3 million in chips.
Day 3 will see eleven players returning at 1:00 pm to compete for the champion ring and a first-place prize of $216,790. These include notable names like David Pham, Kristy Arnett, Brett Murray, and Crowe’s compatriot Tom Brabard, who comes second on the chip counts list with 2,530,000 in chips. Time will tell whether Crowe will succeed in earning his first champion ring.
