Welcome To Day 2 of HPT St. Louis $1,650 Main Event
Three starting flights are in the books at the HPT St. Louis $1,650 Main Event and the day has arrived for the entire field to combine under one roof. The three days' entries totaled 480 and 76 will return today with their sights set on the final table.
Before that happens, the top 54 players will make it into the money. Rick Blythe enters the day as the chip leader after bagging a stack of 531,000 on Day 1c and is the only player to start Day 2 over the half-million chip mark. Following close behind Blythe is Day 1b chip leader Bryan Johnson (454,000), Jason Darland (438,000), Lisa Morrow-McBride (437,000), and Day 1a chip leader Robert Mitchell (418,000) round up the top five stacks, and are the only players to take over a 400,000 into Day 2.
That does not mean there are not plenty of formidable contenders still left in the field, 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Blair Hinkle (395,000), Nick Pupillo (375,000), Joshua Turner (374,000), Gyan Gurung (373,000) and Jeff Sauer (375,000) will make their way up the mountain hoping to make it to the final nine.
Other notable players entering Day 2 include 2007 WSOP bracelet winner James Mackey (350,000), BJ McBrayer (240,000), Mike Shin (237,000), Craig Casino (236,000), John Richards (217,000), Alexander Hoff (200,000), 2019 WSOP bracelet winner Brian Green (175,000), Chris Moon (157,000), Nick Davidson (136,000), defending champ Bill Byrnes (119,000), and reigning HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson (80,000).
Cards will be in the air at 11 a.m. local time as the field comes back with their eyes set on the first-place prize of $160,632. Those who do make it into the money will lock up a first-level payout of $3,003.
Blinds will resume at 2,000/5,000/5,000 with 60-minute levels and breaks every two hours. Play will occur until the official fine table of nine is reached, at which point players will bag and return for the televised and streamed Day 3 at noon local time.
Stay tuned to PokerNews to see who will find themselves a seat at the final table.