Valerstein Leads the 21 Survivors After Day 2
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
That's a wrap on this long Day 2 at the WSOPC Palm Beach Kennel Club.
From a starting field of 778, just 379 returned to the felt today including 33 who came in with a fresh 20bb stack at the start of play. Among them were Brandon Adams and Jonathan Tamayo, but both of those pros were sent packing within the first couple levels while the rest of the field hunkered down for the long haul. Brian "Stinger 88" Hastings came out to play too, and his Day 2 went a little better than the others'. It was quite the up-and-down day, but in the end, he bagged up a short stack to punch his ticket for Day 3.
In a field full of relative unknowns, one young man stuck out from the crowd. John Riordan won this event last year at just 19 years old, and he put on a clinic for the first half of this Day 2, holding the chip lead for several hours as the field whittled its way down toward the money. His run-good eventually ran thin, though, and his tumble down the chip counts culminated with a 34th-place exit and a warm round of applause from those who outlasted him.
Riordan will not be returning tomorrow, but 21 players will in the hopes of snagging a piece of Circuit gold. Among them are a few standouts including Hastings, Jeremy McLaughlin, Drazen Ilich, and David Stefanski.
The overnight big stack belongs to Roman Valerstein, though, and he's going to set the pace for tomorrow's run to the title with 2.155 million chips. He'll be joined by another 20 players, and they'll run it all the way down to the winner before it's all said and done. Action resumes at 12:00 noon from here at the Kennel Club, and we'll be back here to finish out the story, too.
Until then...here is the Day 3 table and seat draw:
| Table | Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | 1 | Matthew Smith | 899,000 |
| 41 | 2 | --empty-- | -- |
| 41 | 3 | Rob Williamson | 728,000 |
| 41 | 4 | --empty-- | -- |
| 41 | 5 | Max Itkin | 291,000 |
| 41 | 6 | David Stefanski | 1,216,000 |
| 41 | 7 | Bruce Yamron | 164,000 |
| 41 | 8 | Brian Hastings | 246,000 |
| 41 | 9 | Jerry Payne | 281,000 |
| 66 | 1 | --empty-- | — |
| 66 | 2 | Sterling Savill | 622,000 |
| 66 | 3 | Chris Parsons | 1,400,000 |
| 66 | 4 | Nabih Zaczac | 878,000 |
| 66 | 5 | Chet Farrell | 1,512,999 |
| 66 | 6 | Matthew O'Brien | 866,000 |
| 66 | 7 | Jeremy McLaughlin | 587,000 |
| 66 | 8 | Roman Valerstein | 2,155,000 |
| 66 | 9 | --empty-- | -- |
| 67 | 1 | --empty-- | — |
| 67 | 2 | Jeff Silverstein | 520,000 |
| 67 | 3 | Jim Harnden | 989,000 |
| 67 | 4 | Robert LeBeau | 203,000 |
| 67 | 5 | --empty-- | -- |
| 67 | 6 | Jamil Wakil | 816,000 |
| 67 | 7 | Carlos Auralos | 154,000 |
| 67 | 8 | Drazen Ilich | 958,000 |
| 67 | 9 | Walid Maddah | 87,000 |