David Williams Takes Lead at WPT Borgata Poker Open

Day Two of the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open saw the field cut to just 170 players, with former WPT champion David Williams leading the pack. Williams finished the day with 727,100 chips, leaving him as the only player to eclipse the 700,000 mark.

A total of 100 players will make the money, with the bubble expected to be broken on Wednesday. The eventual winner will receive $922,441; every player who reaches the money will win a minimum of $8,386.

Williams took over the chip lead in the middle of Day 2, after it had previously been held by Vanessa Selbst. As play wound down for the day, Selbst lost a major pot to bring herself down to under 300,000 chips; however, she did survive and return for the third day of play on Wednesday.

Several prominent players were not so lucky, and saw their tournament runs end on Day 2. Top players who were eliminated yesterday included Gavin Smith, Allen Cunningham, Hasan Habib, Maria Ho and Matt Matros.

Meanwhile, there are still several prominent players who are alive in the chase for the final table. Robert Mizrachi, Will Failla, and John Racener are among the best known players with strong chip stacks heading into Day 3. Other chip leaders include Maurice Hawkins, Eric Haber, David Diaz and Darren Elias.

The tournament will play down over the next two days, eventually reaching the final six players sometime on Thursday. The final six will come back on Friday to contest the televised final table and determine a tournament winner. The final table payouts will be as follows:

1^st: $922,441

2^nd: $554,303

3^rd: $335,433

4^th: $280,925

5^th: $230,610

6^th: $186,585