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JARED HEMINGWAY LEADS CHOCTAW MAIN EVENT
Jared Hemingway leads final 203 players heading into Day 2 of Choctaw Main Event
January 14, 2018 (Durank, OK) - The World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Choctaw Casino Resort is among the largest of the season. The $1,675 no-limit Hold’em tournament attracted 1,249 entries that created a prize pool of $1,873,500. The eventual champion will take home a first place prize worth $332,539. On top of that, the tournament’s winner earns a gold ring and a berth in the prestigious Global Casino Championship where they’ll compete for a WSOP bracelet.
Following two starting flights over two consecutive days, the super-sized field is down to 203 players with Jared Hemingway leading the way. Hemingway lays claim to a monster stack of 464,000 and has a slight lead on Brian Green’s second place stack of 421,500.
Hemingway is looking to best his fourth place finish in the November WSOP Circuit here at Choctaw Casino Resort. Joining Hemingway and Green in the top 10 are Mike Nelson Casino Championship points leader Ben Reason (248,500) and Matt Kirby (217,000).
Others fortunate enough to earn a Day 2 berth include bracelet winners Justin Liberto (160,500), Johnathan Hilton (156,000), Blair Hinkle (184,500) and six-time bracelet winner TJ Cloutier (60,500). Other notable players to advance are Mike Dentale (224,000), Jeff Fielder (194,000), Ralph Massey (145,500), Mina Greco (110,000), Allen Kessler (52,000), and Andy Philachack (177,000) who won this event in 2016.
Grant Hinkle, who is the defending champion of this event, bagged 135,000 good for 34 big blinds.
“I didn’t want to flame out on Day 1, I’m happy I get a shot at defending my title. In the last level I had nine big blinds, I ran my stack up from 29,000 to 135,000.”
Players that were not fortunate enough to make it through to Day 2 include bracelet winners Kevin Eyster, Dan Heimiller, Larry Wright, and Bryan Campanello. Other notables are Jake Bazeley, Joe Elpayaa, Craig Varnell and Bryan Devonshire. Robert Hankins, who won his ninth ring during this series, was in the field but also failed to advance.
With these names on the rail, it’s on to Day 2 in Durant, Oklahoma. The remaining players take their seats Sunday at 12 p.m. with the top 135 finishing in the money. Live updates will be made available until the conclusion of play right here on WSOP.com.
Blinds begin at 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante
Top 10 chip counts:
1. Jared Hemingway - 464,000
2. Brian Green - 421,500
3. Mike Nelson - 411,500
4. Jason Cang - 340,500
5. Shawn Wheeling - 312,500
6. Michael Adame - 287,000
7. Eric Bunch - 280,000
8. Waklter Rodriguez- 280,000
9. Gil George - 275,000
10. Kevin Patel - 273,000
