Ryan McKnight tops Flight B counts for overall chip lead. Gold bracelet winners and previous champions still in the mix.
December 1, 2018 (Cherokee, N.C.) -- With the conclusion of of Flight B, the Harrah's Cherokee Main Event wrapped up its second, and final, starting flight.
Flight A drew a field of 419 entries on Friday, while Flight B added another 708 into the mix. In total, the signature World Series of Poker event drew 1,127 entrants, creating a tremendous prizepool of $1,707,405. The payout sum will award a WSOP cash to the top 117 finishers. A min cash will be worth $2,800 and the eventual champion will pocket a grand prize of $311,616, along with a Circuit gold ring.
A group of 50 players bagged Day 1A, which ceased with 14 minutes left in Level 17. Day 1B managed to make it all the way through Level 17, ending with 94 survivors.
That means there are 144 players advancing to Day 2 of Event #10. Leading all competitors at the start of the day will be Ryan McKnight who came away with the Flight B chip lead. McKnight bagged 727,00 in tournament chips, barely edging out Scott Anderson for the honor.
Here are the top-five chip stacks going into Day 2:
1st: Ryan McKnight - 727,000
2nd: Scott Anderson - 720,000
3rd: Jake Bazeley - 670,00
4th: Bobby Moon - 655,00
5th: Todd Osborne - 586,000
Day 2 chip counts | Day 2 seat draw
There were a number of gold bracelet winners who showed up for the popular, Circuit Main Event. The ones that found a bag include Will Givens (349,000), Warren Sheaves (255,000), Ryan D'Angelo (209,500), Kyle Cartwright (200,500), Keven Stammen (181,500), Ken Aldridge (94,000).
Jessica Dawley, Kevin Eyster, Jonathan Hilton, three-time bracelet winner David Bach, and 2004 Main Event World Champion Greg Raymer were not as fortunate.
A couple previous Harrah's Cherokee Main Event winners sit among the advancing players. Jake Bazeley (670,000) took down the monumental tournament back in December of 2014 for $239,096. The other past champion is Steven Snyder (267,000) who claimed his title in August of 2016, winning $241,198.
Some other notables advancing to Day 2 are four-time gold ring winner Kevin Davis (257,500), three-time gold ring winners Peter Vitantonio (325,000), Trey Walton (285,000), and Allen Kessler (188,500), two-time gold ring winners Krzysztof Stybaniewics (336,500), Alex Rocha (236,00), and TK Miles (211,000), and many more.
The 144 players remaining are 27 bust outs away from the money. Play resumes at 12:00 p.m. Sunday with 14 minutes left in Level 17: Blinds 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante. Day 2 is scheduled to play through ten, one-hour levels.