James Obst Tops 29 Survivors After Day 2 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Stud Games: 5,000 Ante, 5,000 Bring-In, 20,000 Completion 20,000-40,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 10,000/15,000 Ante, 5,000/10,000 Blinds
The Main Event of the mixed game players at the 2024 World Series of Poker is one step closer to crowning a winner at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, as Day 2 of Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship has concluded for the night. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner James Obst was atop the leaderboard the previous night and retained his lead after another six levels of 100 minutes each.
Thanks to the extended late registration for the first three levels and dinner break, the field size grew to 89 entries and generated a prize pool of $4,249,750. Only the top 14 finishers will lock up a cash of at least $102,299, whereas the winner can look forward to the coveted gold bracelet and a top prize of $1,178,703. The attendance fell ten entries shy of last year's number, which brought 24 late entrants whereas in the 2024 edition only 14 players joined the fray on Day 2.
Obst advanced with 1,961,000 and he is closely followed by Jeremy Ausmus (1,839,000) as well as Johannes Becker (1,764,000). Daniel Negreanu finished Day 2 in the top ten with 1,341,000, edging past three-time winner Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (1,329,000). Negreanu and John David Rogers were responsible for the elimination of 17-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth in the final level of the night.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Obst | Australia | 1,961,000 |
| 2 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 1,839,000 |
| 3 | Johannes Becker | Germany | 1,764,000 |
| 4 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 1,546,000 |
| 5 | David Benyamine | United States | 1,531,000 |
| 6 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | 1,428,000 |
| 7 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 1,341,000 |
| 8 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 1,329,000 |
| 9 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 1,255,000 |
| 10 | Hal Rotholz | United States | 1,055,000 |
Only 29 players advanced and outside of the overnight top ten are other stars of the international poker scene such as Phil Ivey (815,000), Phil Hui (700,000), Stephen Chidwick (604,000), Viktor Blom (570,000), Gus Hansen (395,000), and John Monnette (128,000). The vast majority of the survivors either have at least one WSOP bracelet to their name or have been selected in the $25k Fantasy Draft, to showcase the stellar line-up of this field.
No longer in contention are numerous top pros including two-time champion Dan Cates, Benny Glaser, Paul Volpe, Julien Martini, and Shaun Deeb. Defending champion Brian Rast had been eliminated on Day 1 already and former winner Elior Sion followed mid-way through Day 2.
Likewise, six-time bracelet winners Jason Mercier and Josh Arieh were unable to spin up their short stacks. They were joined on the rail by Nick Schulman in the later stages. The five-time bracelet winner clashed with Joao Vieira in the final hand of the penultimate level, in which he flopped a set and rivered the second nut straight in a Pot-Limit Omaha hand. Vieira missed the nut flush draw with aces but rivered broadway to earn one of the largest pots of the day.
The final level of the night featured only three eliminations, two of which came in quick succession. Roman Yitzhaki and Rob Hollink were ousted in No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw before the roller coaster ride of Hellmuth ended on the PokerGO live stream table.
Day 3 will recommence at 1 p.m. local time Tuesday in the Horseshoe Event Center and the action is scheduled to be streamed on the PokerGO platform. Six levels of 100 minutes each will likely bring the field close to or beyond the money bubble and you can find all the action right here on PokerNews.