ARRIS KONTOS LEADS DAY 2 OF HAMMOND MAIN EVENT

With two starting flights in the books, the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event is heading to Day 2 with by far the biggest prizepool of the new Circuit season.

589 players came out on Friday afternoon and put up the $1,675 to play Day 1A. Another 787 players showed up on Saturday for Day 1B, creating a field of 1,376, a prizepool of $2,064,000 and a first place prize of $356,043, by far the biggest prizepool of the new Circuit season and just edges out last season’s Main Event at Choctaw for the biggest prizepool of the calendar year

After 15 levels of play on both Day 1s, the original 1,376 entries has been trimmed down to the final 281. Those 281 will be back to play Day 2 on Sunday, with cards getting in the air at noon.

Arris Kontos leads the pack after bagging 441,000 on Day 1B. Brian Yaremych, Valentin Vornicu, Matthew Moses and Michael Kielbasa join him atop the chip counts with 396,500, 329,500, 310,000 and 301,000 in chips, respectively.

Other notables who survived a starting flight and are coming back on Sunday include Kelly Minkin (281,500), Blake Bohn (215,000), Nick Pupillo (213,500), Harrison Gimbel (159,500), Joe Kuether (170,500), Nick Jivkov (94,500), Viet Vo (134,500), Kenny Nguyen (176,000), Aaron Steury (151,500), Aaron Massey (123,500) and Tom Koral (101,500).

There was a lot of top notch poker talent that made its way to the Chicago area to play the event and lots of familiar faces were unable to move on. Ryan Van Sanford, Ralph Massey, Cord Garcia, Andy Spears, DJ MacKinnon, Owais Ahmed, Jerry Payne, Jean Gaspard, Ravi Raghavan, John Holley, Jarod Ludemann, Joe Ebanks and Mark Smith were just a few of the well-known pros who won’t be making an appearance on Sunday.

When cards get in the air on Sunday, the money bubble will be looming over everybody’s head with top 153 players earning a payday. A min-cash is worth $2,766, but the payouts escalate all the way to the previously mentioned $356,043 first place money that goes with a Circuit ring and an automatic entry into the WSOP Global Casino Championship to take place in 2016.

Day 2 is scheduled for 10 levels of play, with the levels being increased to 60 minutes in length. The bubble is expected to burst early in the day and be close to a final table by the night’s end.

A complete list of the chip counts can be found in the “Reports” tab and a complete seating chart will be posted in the morning before the restart.

Check back with WSOP.com for complete coverage of Day 2 of the WSOP Circuit Hammond Main Event.