DOWN TO THE FINAL NINE AT HARRAH'S ST. LOUIS MAIN EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP

After two days of play in the Main Event Championship at Harrah’s St. Louis, the final table stage has been set.

Kyle Cartwright, who back in February accomplished the astounding feat of winning two consecutive WSOPC Gold Rings in only his third and fourth-ever live tournaments, sits atop the chip leaderboard heading into the final stretch with over 2.875m – nearly a third of the chips in play.

Cartwright started day two near the bottom of the leader board but after building up a healthy stack with the help of a good run of cards, the 23-year-old University of Memphis graduate turned up the aggression to distance himself even further from the pack.

Trailing in second place in chips is Steve Goff of Eureka, IL with 1.27 million.  

The $1,600 buy-in event drew 449 players, generating a total of $646,762, the largest poker tournament prize pool in Missouri state history.

Greg Raymer, Dennis Phillips, Dwyte Pilgrim and TJ Cloutier were among the notables who competed in the three-day event.

Raymer, who went to high school in St. Louis and graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of Missouri-Rolla, took to the mic just before day one play began to share a few words with the players and make the announcement to shuffle up and deal.

A barrage of day one eliminations, which included Pilgrim and Cloutier left 92 players bagging up their chips for the night and returning for day two play which began promptly at noon CST. Raymer and Phillips were among the survivors along with WSOPC veterans Mark “Pegasus” Smith and John “Cowboy” Land.

Unfortunately, all four men saw their exit on day two before the money bubble burst shortly after 4pm.

Harris Paroya of Lee’s Summit, MO started day two atop the leaderboard, but was eliminated late in the day finishing in 21^st

The final nine players will return at noon Tuesday to play for $142,490 and the coveted WSOPC gold and diamond ring. The Main Event champion here at Harrah’s St. Louis will also earn an automatic seat to the $1 million-dollar freeroll WSOPC National Championship to be held in May at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

A second seat to the WSOPC National Championship is also up for grabs with two players, Goff and Phil Stelzer in prime position to overtake Jordan Drummond in the overall Casino Champion points race. Drummond currently sits at 80 points. A third place finish in the Main Event will put Goff, who currently has 22.5 points in the lead. Stelzer currently has 27.5 points and can take the lead from Drummond with a fourth place finish.

This was the second year that the World Series of Poker Circuit Events has come to Harrah’s St. Louis. Tournament organizers have deemed this year’s series to be an overall success with increases over last year’s attendance and prize pools. This year’s opening event saw a 20% increase in attendance over 2010.

The final nine players of the Main Event will resume day three Tuesday at 1 pm CST.

Visit WSOP.com for live updates of the Main Event Championship.

The total payouts so far are as follows: