DENISE PRATT LEADS FINAL EIGHT IN POTAWATOMI MAIN EVENT

Pratt enters the final day with just shy of a quarter of the chips in play, while Josh Reichard looks to earn his second ring of the series.

MILWAUKEE (February 12, 2017) -- From a starting field of 677 entries, just eight players remain in the $1,675 World Series of Poker Circuit Potawatomi Main Event.

Denise Pratt is not only the last woman standing, she also ended Day 2 as the chip leader with 3,085,000.  Thomas Peebles was the first player to cross over the million chip mark today, and Pratt joined the million chip club shortly after. Peebles finished just shy of the final table when he was eliminated in 12th place ($15,659).  Pratt, however, went on to win a string of very key hands, and then ultimately doubled through Brad Jensen in the end of the last level of play to push herself over the 3,000,000 chip mark and secure the chip lead.

Here is a look at the final eight players/chip stacks:

Denise Pratt – 3,085,000
Ala Aqel – 2,350,000
Chad Wiedenhoeft – 1,895,000
James Gregg – 1,860,000
Garrett Riley – 1,340,000
Nikolas Stone – 1,200,000
Nicholas Pupillo – 1,115,000
Josh Reichard – 695,000

Josh Reichard is one of the most familiar faces left at the final table. Reichard won his sixth WSOP Circuit ring here at Potawatomi when he took down Event #5 ($365 Pot-Limit Omaha) for $17,021. Now that he made the final table of the Main Event, Reichard moved to the top of the leaderboard and is in first place for Casino Champion.  Prior to the start of the Main Event, Reichard earned 50 points for winning Event #5, and is guaranteed at least an additional 27.5 points for securing at least eighth place in the main event. 

When play began on Day 2, there were 132 hopefuls still in the running for the Potawatomi Main Event title. In the early levels of play Craig Varnell, WOSP bracelet winner Dennis Phillips, Andy Spears, Johanssy Joseph, David Cossio, Carter Myers, Ryan Van Sanford, and Mark Kroon all exited the field before the money bubble burst. Kroon came into Day 2 as chip leader but was eliminated just before the money bubble burst when he shoved    into Roger Kregela’s   , and failed to improve.  

A few notables that finished in the money but failed to survive the day included: Lytle Allen, Chad Holloway, Everett Carlton, Michael Holm, Andy Philachack, Nick Jivkov, James Dorrance, Allen Kessler, Ravi Raghavan, Krzysztof Stybaniewicz, Rich Alsup, T.K. Miles, and Chris Karambinis.

The final eight players will return Monday at 12pm to play down to a new Champion. The winner will take home a diamond-studded ring, just over $208,000, and a seat into the 2017 Global Casino Championship.