California native takes a sizable chip lead into Day 3 with plenty of talent lurking behind him
December 11th, 2018 (Los Angeles) - Only one day remains at the World Series Circuit Main Event at the Bicycle Casino, and the starting field of 547 has now withered down to just 13. The leader of the pack going into Day 3 is Steven Forman.
The remaining 13 players will return tomorrow to battle it out for the $174,055 first place prize, along with a seat into the 2019 WSOP Global Casino Championship. Each remaining player will also be guaranteed at least a cash of $10,590.
Forman is headed into the final day as the chip leader with 2,655,000. Second in the pecking order is Jorge Leiva who bagged 1,785,000. Rounding out the top five are Brett Apter (1,675,000), Sandeep Pulusani (1,620,000), and David Lamberd (1,490,000).
Seven-time ring winner Vincent Moscati is still in contention with a healthy 965,000 and will be looking to add number eight to his resume. Another well-known player to make it through is 2016 WSOP.com online player of the year Ian Steinman, who is heading into the final day with 810,000 in chips.
The second day of the tournament started with 110 players, those of which advanced from the first two starting flights. The bubble popped in an unlikely hand between Tom Braband and Jason Bral, when Braband had his pocket queens river a full house, only to run into Bral's pocket kings that had already turned a bigger full house.
Some players to finish in the money include Nikhil Gera ($2,940) who took down this tournament two years ago. Chris DeMaci ($3,595) just after taking down the first event of this series. Bracelet winner Ankush Mandavia ($4,600), Nick Phoenix ($4,600), Said El-Harrak ($5,305), Phil Laak ($5,305), and Day 2 start of the day chip leader Eli Loewenthal ($8,745).
Some of those eliminated short of the money include Scott Stewart, Luke Brereton, Andrew Wisdom, Tony Ruberto, Zachary Millman, Tuan Le, and Jonathan Sherfy.
Day 3 begins Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., and play will down until a new Circuit Main Event champion has been crowned.
The chip counts heading into the final day of play:
1 - Steven Forman - 2,655,000
2 - Jorge Leiva - 1,785,000
3 - Brett Apter - 1,675,000
4 - Sandeep Pulusani - 1,620,000
5 - David Lambard - 1,490,000
6 - Jason Bral - 1,175,000
7 - Craig Varnell - 1,125,000
8 - Alexander Farahi - 1,075,000
9 - Vincent Moscati - 965,000
10 - Ian Steinman - 810,000
11 - Steven Spunt - 780,000
12 - Marcos Exterkotter - 765,000
13 - Viet Vo - 470,000
Full Chip Counts
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