Australia's James Obst Leads the Final 20 in Event #32
Day 2 of Event #32: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed – a tournament that originally attracted 550 runners and created a prize pool of $2,585,000 – began with 190 players, but after 10 levels of play, just 20 remained in contention for the $633,357 first-place prize.
The man best positioned to make a run at it is James Obst, who finished atop the chip counts with a stack of 1.971 million. Others who'll return for Day 3 are Day 1 chip leader Simon Deadman (1.02 million), Nacho Barbero (1.037 million), Tuan Le (800,000), Jennifer Tilly (715,000), Mike Gorodinsky (437,000), and Jason Mercier (328,000).
With just 60 players slated to get paid, 130 had to leave empty handed. They included Eric Baldwin, JC Tran, Daniel Colman, Joe Cada, and Mike Leah. After Mark Dube fell on the money bubble, the remaining players were guaranteed $8,892, though the eliminations did not stop.
Among those to bust in the money were Jason Somerville (60th - $8,892), Jesse Sylvia (37th - $11,916), John Gale (33rd - $13,855), Fernando Viana (22nd - $20,059), and Martins Adeniya (21st - $20,059).
Top 10 Day 2 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Obst | 1,971,000 |
| 2 | Nacho Barbero | 1,037,000 |
| 3 | Simon Deadman | 1,020,000 |
| 4 | Olaoluwa Okelola | 996,000 |
| 5 | Pierre Milan | 914,000 |
| 6 | Tuan Le | 800,000 |
| 7 | Pablo Fernandez | 767,000 |
| 8 | Maxx Coleman | 736,000 |
| 9 | Jennifer Tilly | 715,000 |
| 10 | Alberto Fonseca | 605,000 |
The final 20 players will return to action at 1 p.m. on Wednesday and will look to either play 10 levels or to a winner, whichever comes first.