Gustavo Lopes leads as WSOP Day 2C comes to a close 4e6en

LAS VEGAS -- A total 3,252 players crowded the hallways at 11 a.m. this morning for the start of Day 2C. After breaking records for being the biggest ever Main Event Day 1, over 3,000 runners came back today. The biggest chip stack left at the end of the night belongs to Gustavo Lopes with 630,700. Lopes was in or around the top five stacks for the latter part of the day. He surged into the top five in the second half of level eight. He eliminated former Main Event champion Martin Jacobson in Level 9 to help build his stack and never looked back. Lopes is currently without a cash at the WSOP and is hoping to convert his big stack into a deep run in the Main Event.

The second place spot belongs to Raffaele Castro, who comes back with 587,000. Castro managed to amass a stack in the closing moments of Level 10 after his pocket kings held against the ace king of his opponent when they were all in preflop. Castro made the final table of Event 63 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em finishing in 8th place for $36,406. He also holds a 4th place finish in a WSOP circuit event held in his home country of Campione, Italy which was good for €40,000.

Close behind Castro in third position is Rafael Moraes, who has 571,900. Moraes has been steadily gaining chips through the day and hit a lucky hand or to to help him build his stack. Moraes has four WSOP cashes to his name, including an 18th place finish in this years MONSTER Stack.

Fourth in chips is Albert Daher, with 570,000, Daher accrued most of his chips in the last level of the day and with only a single WSOP cash to his name, he will be hoping to improve on that in the coming days.

Rounding out the top five is a familiar face in the form of Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, who has a stack of 545,400. Mizrachi began the day with 128,800 and built a stack in typical Michael Mizrachi fashion. He made a late surge in the last two levels of the day and now sits among the chipleaders. Mizrachi is definitely going to be one of the most dangerous players on Day 3, considering the number of chips he has to play with.

Former champions that are still in the hunt for a second Main Event Championship include Phil Hellmuth (82,300), Ryan Reiss (349,000) and defending champion Joe McKeehen (183,900), who will hoping to do the impossible and win back to back Main Event titles. A feat that has not been accomplished since Johnny Chan managed it in 1987 and 1988.

Level 10 saw three of the highest profile eliminations of the day in quick succession. Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Fedor Holz all fell in the tenth level of the day.

All time money leader Daniel Negreanu had an incredibly busy rail, with whom he chatted and received applause and encouragement from all day. He had an up and down day, but eventually decided to shove his short stack with two nines. Unfortunately, he could not outrun the of his opponent Ryan Leng.

Another familiar face who fell by the wayside in the penultimate level of the day was Phil Ivey. Ivey was eliminated by 2016 $1,000 Seniors Event runner-up Jamshid Lotfi when Ivey's flopped open-ended straight flush didn't improve against Lofti's ace high. The Main Event is the only event Ivey has chosen to play at the World Series this year and he never seemed to get going today. He expertly managed a short stack until his big draw couldn't improve against Lotfi's ace-high.

Fedor Holz started the day with 93,300 and managed to mostly maintain or slightly increase that stack until Level 10 where he lost several pots and was eliminated.

Early in the day Kyle Bowker made his table (and twitter) erupt when he folded quad sevens to his opponents river shove on a board reading. His opponent did not show his hand, but Bowker and a few tablemates were convinced that he made the correct fold.

Other players that are coming back with substantial stacks include Olé Schemion (438,400), two time bracelet winner Kristen Bicknell (381,500), former November Niners Amir Lehavot (355,000) and Eoghan O'Dea (306,000).

As it stands currently the Top 10 stacks that are going into Day 3 are:

1. Valentin Vornicu (838,600)
2. Gustavo Lopez (630,700)
3. Raffaele Castro (587,000)
4. Jamie Shaevel (586,000)
5. Alvaro Lopez (573,000)
6. Rafael Moraes (571,900)
7. Albert Daher (570,200)
8. Ramin Hajiyev (558,000)
9. Michael Mizrachi (549,400)
10. Chad Power (546,800)

Days 2A/B saw a total of 760 players progress after ten and a half levels of play. The unofficial total left at the end of Day 2C is 1,416 which means that a grand total of 2,176 players will together for the first time on Day 3.

Play resumes Thursday at noon. They are scheduled to play another five and a half two-hour levels tomorrow with an 80 minute dinner break after Level 3.

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)