Kevin Elias Holds Chip Lead at WPT Southern Poker Championship

The World Poker Tour’s Southern Poker Championship began Sunday, drawing 214 players to the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The tournament saw a slight increase in the number of participants this year, as the 2010 field had just 208 players in attendance. The total prize pool for the tournament – which had a buy-in of $10,000 – is just over $2 million.

After the first day of play, 144 players remained in the hunt for the title, including defending champion Hoyt Corkins, who held slightly more than the average stack of 44,583 chips. A total of 27 players will make the money, with the winner taking home a cool $584,481.

Several notable players dotted the leaderboard after the first day of play. The chip leader was Robert Keller, who holds just over 179,000 chips. Gavin Smith was second, with 144,525 chips. Other notables included World Series of Poker Main Event 3^rd place finisher Joseph Cheong in 6^th place with 101,325 chips, and Jonathan Little, who found himself in 9^th with 91,925 chips.

Day 2 saw the field further reduced to only 66 players. Kevin Elias now holds the chip lead with 229,900 chips, just ahead of Jordan Smith, Ryan Hughes, Lee Markholt and Vitor Coelho. Gavin Smith and Hoyt Corkins both find themselves with healthy stacks (190,000 and 167,000 chips respectively), while Chad Brown is also comfortably above the average chip stack. Two notables on the short side are Nick Schulman and Jason Mercier, who have two of the three smallest stacks remaining in the tournament.

Tuesday’s 3^rd day of play will see the field reduced to 27 players; the final table will be determined on Wednesday, with the final six dueling on Thursday. The final table action will be taped for a WPT telecast during the upcoming season.