Just 2,786 players still have a shot at the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet. (WSOP photo).

Thanks to a record-setting Day 1 flight on Wednesday, the 3,480 players returning to the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event for Day 2C on Friday also set a record for the busiest Day 2 restart in WSOP history.

Through five levels of play, Ignacio Sanchez emerged as the chip leader and the California native heads into Day 3 with 627,200, not only the biggest Day 2C stack but the biggest overall stack in the tournament.

Just 1,655 of the 3,480 players who started the Day 2C managed to survive. When Day 3 begins on Saturday, the 2,786 players who have been able to progress from all three starting flights, will be combined into one for the first time. Just 1,182 players will make it into the money with the money bubble expected to bust either late on Day 3 or early on Day 4.

Former November Niner and PocketFives legend Cliff ‘JohnnyBax’ Josephy spent a good amount of time on Friday as one of the chip leaders, eventually bagging up 285,400 after a rough last level.

Sitting just outside of the top 10 chip counts, Phil Ivey finished his Day 2C with 434,200. Some of the other big names to play their way into Day 3 include Chino Rheem (390,800), Ludovic Geilich (333,900), Dominik Panka (316,800), 2018 seventh place finisher Damian Salas (314,600), Dario Sammartino (309,600), Patrik Antonius (296,600), Matthew Vaughan (289,400), Eugene Katchalov (242,400), former #1-ranked Paul Volpe (234,500) and Australia’s James Obst (224,300)

Chris Moorman was also able to put chips in the bag at the end of the day on Friday, but might return a little bit tired thanks to England’s chances in the World Cup.

Trey Harrell, the 21-year-old out of Florida, also moved on, ending with 132,600.

The Phil Hellmuth Show

While there was no superhero entrance on Day 2C, Phil Hellmuth continued to be the focal point of the live coverage on ESPN and PokerGO. Hellmuth was on the feature table all day long and went from a starting stack of 63,700 to 162,900. One hand in particular left fans at home a little bit awestruck as Ravid Garbi correctly folded a rivered full house to Hellmuth.

With the board showing QcQs6hQdKd and Hellmuth holding Qh5h, the 14-time bracelet winner checked, allowing Ravid Garbi, holding AdKc, to bet 8,200 into a pot of 11,800. Hellmuth raised to 25,000 and Garbi folded instantly.

“I don’t think he’s capable of doing a check-raise light in the Main Event. I think it was an easy fold,” said Garbi. “I knew that if he check-raised there, I was going to fold. When I saw Phil thinking, I told myself, ‘If he check-raises, don’t think – just fold’.”

As players were leaving for the night, Hellmuth talked about how his day went and what he believes it’s going to take for him to continue to advance.

“It’s the calmest I’ve ever been for a Day 2 I think. Not to say I didn’t get a little Poker Brat, but not bad. It was just a calmness. I felt like I knew where I was in a lot of hands,” said Hellmuth. “I understand more than ever that my biggest enemy in the Main Event is myself.”

There were a number of well-known players who saw their run at the $8.8 million first-place prize money end on Day 2 C. Dominik Nitsche, Byron Kaverman, Adrian Mateos, John Juanda, Rainer Kempe, Sofia Lovgren, Gus Hansen, Nick Schulman, Connor Drinan, Eric Baldwin, Martin Jacobson, and Mike Leah all suffered their “worst day of the year” on Friday.

Top 10 Day 2C Chip Counts

  1. Ignacio Sanchez – 627,200
  2. Eric Sfez – 551,900
  3. Matthew Klapstein – 531,700
  4. Victor Choupeaux – 521,600
  5. Collen Yamagishi – 504,300
  6. Farhad Jamasi – 503,400
  7. Randy Eklund – 492,000
  8. Nils Tolpingrud – 475,400
  9. Cory Albertson – 475,100
  10. Louis Boutin – 434,600

First Postlim of 2018 Nearing a Finish

Just 27 of the 1,351 players in the first postlim event, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event, made it through Day 2.

Longsheng Tan finished with the chip lead. Rex Clinkscales and Daniel Weinman both bagged top 10 stacks. Action resumes at 2 pm Las Vegas time on Saturday and will play down to a winner.

Before play began on Day 2 of this event, Adrian Lovin Sorin was informed by tournament staff that he had been disqualified from the tournament and was escorted out of the tournament room and off the property by Rio security. Late on Day 1, Sorin and Maurice Hawkins played a big with Sorin directed a racial slur at Hawkins after winning the hand. Sorin was given a penalty at the time and Jack Effel and tournament staff discussed the issue overnight, eventually deciding to remove Sorin from the event.

The manner in which the incident was handled drew nearly unanimous praise from the poker community, including Hawkins.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Longsheng Tan – 993,000
  2. Heng Zhang – 938,000
  3. Stephen Bierman – 744,000
  4. Trey Brabham – 603,000
  5. Michael Wasserman – 594,000
  6. Timur Margolin – 513,000
  7. John Pannucci – 512,000
  8. Rex Clinkscales – 420,000
  9. Daniel Weinman – 401,000
  10. Chen Yu Hung – 374,000

Pot Limit Omaha Bounty Event Draws 833

One of the more unique events on the 2018 WSOP postlim schedule, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Bounty event, drew out 833 players for Day 1 on Friday. Robert Oxenberg was one of just two players to finish the day with over 200,000 chips, bagging up 210,200 and the overnight chip lead.

Georgios Karavokyris is right behind him with 207,000.

Action resumes at 2 pm Friday

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Robert Oxenberg – 210,200
  2. Georgios Karavokyris – 207,000
  3. Haibo Chu – 190,800
  4. Christopher Doan – 181,200
  5. William Gibbons – 163,100
  6. Igor Sharaskin – 132,600
  7. Christina McAlpin – 132,200
  8. Tiahang Zhang – 119,200
  9. Elio Saade – 111,800
  10. Fernando Brunca – 111,600