Nagata Leads Final 16; Cloutier Still in Contention
We began the day with 223 players, and just 16 survived today's 10 levels of play.
Masayuki Nagata bagged 1,742,000 chips to lead remaining players at the end of Day 2 here at Event #28: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. He holds the chip lead by a wide margin over fellow big stack Dan Martin (1,050,000). Terik Brown (755,000), William Cogan (750,000) and Tommy Townsend (670,000) round out the top five.
Perhaps the biggest story coming out of today, however, is the survival of tournament legend TJ Cloutier. In an era when the game seems to be getting younger and younger, the 73-year-old defied the odds, and he's attempting to secure his seventh World Series of Poker bracelet. He bagged one of the shorter stacks, 335,000, but that hasn't been a hindrance to him thus far, as he mostly hung around with a stack near the tournament average.
Notable players eliminated today include Olivier Busquet (26th), James Woods (54th), Eric Baldwin (60th), Phil Collins (80th) and Men Nguyen (156th).
Play resumes tomorrow at 1 p.m., at which point the tournament will be played down to a winner, who will claim $521,202.