Valentin Vornicu is the only player with over 600,000 chips in the 2016 WSOP Main Event.

Valentin Vornicu has dominated the WSOP Circuit over the years. The California poker pro has won eight Circuit rings and on Day 2AB of the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event, he took a gigantic step towards winning his first WSOP bracelet.

Vornicu bagged up 838,600 after 5.5 levels of play on Tuesday. He is 252,600 ahead of the next closest player, Jamie Shavel. Despite being one of the most successful players in WSOP Circuit history, this marks the first time he’s played the WSOP Main Event. Even as a WSOP rookie, he recognizes just how early they are in the tournament.

“It’s Day 2. This is a 10-day tournament, anything can happen,” said Vornicu. “I’m happy. I played good I think. I made good calls, made good bets, cards came my way, but it’s just one day.”

Vornicu has been in Las Vegas all summer grinding away and has four WSOP cashes to show for it. One thing he hasn’t had is any real rest days. That all changes now.

“It’s probably my second day off in a month and a half,” said Vornicu, who indicated he plans on catching up on some sleep on Wednesday. “If we make it further, there’s not going to be any more rest days, so I’ve got to take advantage.”

Chad Power, who had a deep run in the 2015 WSOP Main Event, appears to be up to his old tricks. Power finished with 546,800 – good enough for a top five stack.

Another player who has already enjoyed one deep Main Event run in their career and is now in position for another one is Gaelle Baumann. After stone-bubbling the November Nine in 2012, Baumann finished Tuesday with the ninth best stack at 504,600.

Jason Somerville also managed to survive on Tuesday, but will have some work to do coming back on Day 3 with just above starting stack.


Other notables to make it through Day 2AB include Maria Ho (435,500), Alexander Kostritsyn (388,900), former #1-ranked PocketFiver Conor Beresford (386,900), Dietrich Fast (359,500), Prahlad Friedman (332,300) and Antonio Esfandiari (327,400).

Two players who did not manage to make it to Day 3 were former Full Tilt Poker pros and executives Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson. After the fireworks at the end of Day 1B, Lederer had a relatively quiet Day 2 until being eliminated halfway through the day.

A total of 760 players advanced from Day 2AB and will now take Wednesday off as the Day 1C survivors play 5.5 levels beginning at 11 AM PT.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Valentin Vornicu – 838,600
  2. Jamie Shaevel – 586,000
  3. Alvaro Lopez – 573,200
  4. Ramin Hajiyev – 558,400
  5. Chad Power – 546,800
  6. Petr Bartagov – 546,000
  7. Ronnie Pease – 518,100
  8. Jonas Lauck – 510,000
  9. Gaelle Baumann – 504,600
  10. Eric Afriat – 501,000