MAURICE HAWKINS HEADLINES DAY 2 OF SEASON
Durant, Okla. (January 18, 2015) — With 1,363 entries, the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Choctaw Casino Resort is the largest of the 2014/2015 season. The $2,044,500 prize pool left the $1,000,000 guarantee in the dust and doles out a $352,699 first prize to its eventual champion. On top of that, the tournament’s winner earns a gold ring and a berth in the prestigious National Championship where they’ll compete for a WSOP bracelet.

Following two starting flights over two consecutive days, the super-sized field is down to 279 players with Jeffery Frye leading the way. Frye lays claim to a monster stack of 423,000 and leads second place Maurice Hawkins by more than 100,000. Hawkins, a four-time ring winner, ran his 20,000-chip starting up to 321,000 and holds more than 100 big blinds heading to Day 2. Joining Frye and Hawkins in the top 10 are Casino Championship points leader Ben Reason (248,500) and Matt Kirby (217,000).

Others fortunate enough to earn a Day 2 berth include Nipun Java (148,500), six-time bracelet winner TJ Cloutier (146,000), 2013 WSOP Main Event 43rd-place finisher Phil Mader (118,500), Seneca Easley (117,000), Austin Buchanan (114,000), bracelet winner Bryan Campanello (72,000) and 2013 November Niner David Benefield (41,500).

Complete start-of-day chip counts are available on WSOP.com.

The tournament permitted one re-entry in any combination of start flights. While players such as Benefield, Cloutier, Reason, Hawkins, Kirby, Kevin Eyster, Buchanan and Ryan Tepen made the most of their second chance, not everyone so lucky. Many came up dry on both bullets, including bracelet winner David “ODB” Baker, seven-time ring winner Ari Engel, Choctaw re-entry winner Ray Henson, all-time Circuit cashes leader Doug Carli, Allen Kessler, Zal Irani, Jeff Fielder, Joe Kuether, Josh Reichard and Tim West. Others unable to punch a ticket to Day 2 were actress Sasha Barrese and Tommy Vedes.

With these names on the rail, it’s on to Day 2 in Durant, Okla. The remaining players take their seats Sunday at 12 p.m. with just the top 153 finishing in the money. Live updates will be made available until the conclusion of play right here on WSOP.com.

Top 10 chip counts:

Blinds begin at 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante

1. Jeffrey Frye - 423,000
2. Maurice Hawkins - 321,000
3. Roy Upshaw - 295,500
4. Noah Nodine - 278,500
5. Rahul Deevara - 272,500
6. Ben Reason - 248,500
7. Kenneth Townsend - 246,000
8. Pejman Niyati - 232,000
9. Bronson Tucker - 231,000
10. Matt Kirby - 217,000

Complete chip counts and chip counts arranged by table/seat available on WSOP.com.