July 7, 2019 (Las Vegas) - The final day 2 flight of the World Series of Poker main event has finished and the total number of entries has been determined. There were 8,569 entries tallied by the time registration was closed. This flight was the leftovers from the largest starting flight, Day 1C. There were 3,664 players returning at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Julian Milliard bagged the unofficial biggest stack with close to 1-million. He will bring 947,900 into Day 3. There will be 1,793 players continuing their main event dreams Monday with 2,880 returning total.
Three-time bracelet winner, Adam Freidman bagged 549,600. Friedman booked his third bracelet this summer when he successfully defended his $10,000 Dealer’s Choice tournament title.
Actor and comedian Kevin Pollak bagged a smaller stack, but just surviving the day is a mantra of most main event players. He bagged 67,200. He has only cashed the main once before. He finished 134th in 2012.
Mike “Timex” McDonald he bagged the second largest stack from Day 1C, behind James Henson. McDonald made it through the day with 516,700.
Some of the players who didn’t make it through the day went a little quieter than others. Phil Hellmuth, 15-time bracelet winner, had a bluff picked off by Kou Vang at the feature table. Hellmuth was then eliminated a few hours later. He had a standard Hellmuth exit, but quickly apologized and Vang even bought him a smoothie. Vang was eliminated several hours later.
Joining Hellmuth on the rail were James Obst, Patrik Antonius, and John Racener. There are still plenty of players drawing live to be the next main event champion, including several main event champions.
The 2017 winner, Scott Blumstein has spent the last few years working on major changes to his lifestyle and hit the felt looking much slimmer than when he captured his main event title. Blumstein spent the day playing with Mustapha Kanit. He built his stack up to over 150,000 when he beat Kanit in a pot with pocket aces.
However, before the end of the evening, Blumstein would be eliminated with only a few hands remaining. He ran into Ross Ward’s better ace and hit the rail shortly before the players began bagging for Day 3.
Joseph McKeehen, the 2015 champion, said he played one hand. He got in a three-way all in and didn’t win, hitting the rail very early after entering the day with around 10,000 chips.
Johny Chan (232,500) (1987,1988 Champion), and Jim Bechtel (1993 Champion) both found bags as well. Bechtel also found his second bracelet this year in the $10,000 2-7 No-Limit Lowball. He bagged 251,600.
The defending champion, John Cynn (248,900), found a double up with pocket nines during the middle levels of the day.
Tony Miles, the player Cynn beat heads up to win the main event, built a bit of a stack, but found himself short as the day drew to a close. Michael Petro found a double with pocket kings through the 2018 runner-up.
Mark Kroon eclipsed the 500,000 mark during play today. He then hit a pretty big downswing and lost a flip against jacks to be left with about 40,000 during the final level. Kroon was unable to make it through the remaining time and found the rail with only minutes left in level ten.
One player that had a reasonably good Day 2 is Sasha Liu. Liu, known as PokerSasha on Twitter, and a staple at the top of anything Pot-Limit Omaha, worked her way up from 36,800 to almost 400,000. She would eventually bag 292,700.
“Today actually has been much better than Day 1. Day 1, I think, not getting anything going and today has been pretty smooth. Although I just lost a big pot, I made a big bluff but it is what it is, we’re still pretty healthy.”
Liu has two WSOP cashes and $227,754 in career tournament winnings. She is primarily a cash game PLO player and she feels extremely comfortable in the deepstack format of the main event.
“I feel very comfortable. This is a very slow-paced tournament. I just love poker, I play poker everyday -- so at this point I don’t think any tournament is going to make me too nervous.”
The general theme during this main event has been jovial, as are most of the early days in the biggest poker event of the year. Maria Ho made a Twitter thread about her Day 1 experience and it seems that Liu’s uptick during Day 2 was combined with a bit more of a chatty table.
“It’s very friendly actually. Today I talked much more than usual so I’m feeling good.”
Liu will join the remaining players from all flights when Day 3 of the main event starts Monday.
Live Updates from Day 2C
Chip Counts and Seating Charts heading into Day 3