This morning marked the beginning of Day 2 of the $1,675 WSOP Circuit Main Event at The Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa where a total of 50 total players returned to battle it out for one of the top 30 in-the-money spots.
A few notable players that finished short of the money today included: Michael Sanders, Bob Beck, and Allen Kessler.
The money bubble burst in the third level of the day when Mike Lang was eliminated from play. Lang was hoping for a triple repeat, as he had not only cashed the last two Council Bluff Circuit Mains, he actually final tabled both of them. Unfortunately for Lang, today he got it all in today holding against Brian Green's pocket eights, and couldn't improve.
A few of the notables to make the money included Scott Stewart, Cash Carpenter, Charlie Nguyen, Eric Rodawig, Jon Lawson, Brian Green, and Paul Ewen.
The unofficial final table of ten was reached two hours after the dinner break, and Adam Sadick was eliminated in 10th place, very shortly thereafter. The next level saw three more eliminations, Dave Delaney in 9th place, Matt Hamilton in 8th place, and Stanley Webb in 7th place. In the very last level of the night, Jack Do was eliminated in 6th place.
At the conclusion of ten levels of play, just five players remain in the hunt for the Council Bluffs Main Event title. In the very last hand of the night, Woody Moore and Sam De Silva played a monster pot to leave De Silva severely crippled. De Silva will return tomorrow with just over three big blinds, while Moore catapulted to second place in the counts at that conclusion of the hand.
Perhaps the biggest story at the final table is that of chip leader, Maurice Hawkins. Hawkins currently has nine Circuit rings, and is tied with Valentin Vornicu and Alex Masek. Should Hawkins win this Main Event tomorrow, he will break more than one record. Not only would he be the only player in Circuit history to have ten rings, he would also be the only player to have four Main Event rings to his name. As of now, Hawkins is tied with Blair Hinkle and Chris Ferguson, all with three Main Event wins to their names. To add another amazing element to Hawkins' story, he also won this same Council Bluffs Main Event last year for $113,152. Can Hawkins go back-to-back at the same stop to break multiple records? Tomorrow will tell the tale when they play down to a conclusion beginning at 12 noon.
The remaining six players are guaranteed to take home $24,207 for their efforts, but each one has their sights set on the $97,561 first prize payout, the coveted gold ring, and a seat into the 2017 WSOP Global Casino Championship.
Here is a look at the final five players' Day 3 chip counts:
1,925,000 – Maurice Hawkins
1,880,000 – Charles 'Woody' Moore
780,000 – William Perpich
740,000 – David Clare
95,000 – Sam De Silva