Wednesday, November 29, 2017 10:27 PM Local Time
Day 1 Ends With 85 Left
Level 21 concludes, and that marks the end of Day 1 of this Monster Stack. From a huge starting field of 1,291 entries, just 85 players remain.
James Hammond bagged up the big stack, and he's way out in front of the pack at the moment. His count of 1,810,000 gives him a huge chip lead over his nearest challenger, Jesse Carter (1,089,000). Those two are the only two will will carry seven-figure stacks into Day 2.
Here's the top of the overnight leaderboard:
1: James Hammond - 1,810,000
2: Jesse Carter - 1,089,000
3: Donnie Phan - 765,000
4: Cody Pack - 759,000
5: DJ MacKinnon - 615,000
Pack (pictured) is already a five-time winner on the WSOP Circuit, and MacKinnon has one of his own. Both men will be looking to add to their total on Thursday.
Others who finished near the top include six-time winner Mark "Pegasus" Smith (532,000), bracelet winner Kevin Eyster (407,000), and defending champion Jason Maeroff (391,000). A bit further down the list lurk the likes of Janet Fitzgerald (330,000), David Gunas (207,000), John Bowman (186,000), and Cory Waaland (220,000), who's the current leader in the Casino Champion race at Harrah's Cherokee.
Day 2 chip counts | Day 2 seat draw
They and the rest of the remaining players will return to action on Thursday to settle the score. Blinds will be 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante when play resumes, putting the average stack around 25 big blinds.
Everyone left is guaranteed to earn at least $806, but there's a lot more to play for than that. The ring and a big top prize of $68,742 are reserved for the winner.
Day 2 begins at 1 p.m.