March 17, 2015 (Los Angeles, CA) - Throughout Day 2 of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Bicycle Casino, Adam Weinraub was a one-man wrecking crew. At the start of the day, there were 137 players, and Weinraub was third in chips. He almost immediately jumped into the chip lead, became the first player to cross the million-chip mark, and never relinquished the chip lead the rest of the day. When play stopped for the night Weinraub had 3,690,000 in chips, more than a quarter of the chips in play.
There are 14 players advancing to Day 3. Behind Weinraub are Robert Suer (1,485,000), Brett Murray (1,480,000), and Richard Munro (1,230,000). No else is over one million in chips.
The tournament had two starting days, on Saturday and Sunday. There were 129 players who advanced to Day 2 from the starting days. And since late-registration was available until the start of play on Monday, another 8 players registered before the start of Day 2. Those players provided a few interesting storylines early in the day. Despite starting Day 2 with under seven big blinds, Ashton Griffin quickly built his stack and joined the ranks of the chip leaders. He was eventually eliminated in 41st place ($3,715). Another Day 2 entrant was Dan Heimillier. Unfortunately, Heimiller had not yet arrived when play began. He was reportedly driving to the Bike from the WPT event at Thunder Valley. He eventually arrived with only 5,000 left in his stack, just under two big blinds, and was eliminated on his first hand.
The tournament attracted total of 669 entries, generating a prize pool of $1,003,500. The eventual winner will earn $205,720, and the top 72 places make the money.
With 137 players at the start of Day 2, the tournament reached the money bubble early in the third level of the day. After a short hand-for-hand play, Jesse Capps became the unfortunate 73rd place finisher when his ace-queen failed to improve against Paul Lee’s ace-king. The remaining 72 players were all guaranteed a payout of at least $2,810.
Other players who made the money include Shane Schleger (19th, $8,650), Josh Evans (42nd, $3,715), Maria Ho (52nd, $3,350), Chris DeMaci (53rd, $3,350), and Tavish Margers (56th, $3,060).
Among those who advanced to Day 2 but didn’t cash are defending champion Nipun Java, Ben Keeline, Neil Scott, Matt Stout, Vincent Moscati, Nancy Nguyen, and 8-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Alex Masek.
Day 3 will begin at noon on Tuesday.
Here are the chip counts heading into Day 2:
Adam Weinraub – 3,690,000
Robert Suer – 1,485,000
Brett Murray – 1,480,000
Richard Munro – 1,230,000
Gevork Kasabyan – 935,000
Nick Phoenix – 860,000
Blaise Hom – 665,000
Joshua Jackson – 605,000
Hermilo Vargas – 570,000
Sean Riley – 515,000
Martin Cohen – 505,000
Kevin Kung – 345,000
Martino Bakri – 310,000
Ilya Shpiner – 190,000