Vitor Coelho Leads WPT Jacksonville After Day 2

Day 2 of the World Poker Tour Jacksonville ended with 42 players remaining, leaving the field just short of the money bubble. When play resumed on Monday, two more players would have to be eliminated in order to find out which 40 players were guaranteed to make the money out of the remaining field.

For the players who were relatively secure in their chip stacks, a payday of at least $7,510 seemed likely. But each of the 42 remaining players still had the ultimate goal of first place in mind, which carries a cash prize of $325,928.

The Jacksonville stop of the WPT event featured a format that has become increasingly popular on the tour. Rather than the standard $10,000 buy-in, the tournament cost players just $3,500 to play, helping to raise the size of the field significantly. In addition, the tournament had two Day 1 fields (Day 1A and Day 1B). Not only did this allow players to begin the tournament on the day of their choosing, but players who busted on Day 1A were welcome to buy-in again on Day 1B to give themselves a second shot at building a stack.

The remaining field features a mix of well-known tour veterans and lesser-known players looking to capture their first major title. The only WPT winner still in the field was Dwyte Pilgrim, who actually boasted the chip lead during the day on Sunday before dropping to about an average stack by the end of play.

The leader heading into Day 3 was Vitor Coelho, who held a rather impressive lead over the field with 945,000 chips. The next four players – Connor Drinan, Alex Venovski, Darryll Fish and Sam Soverel – were all sitting between 510,000 and 605,000, well behind the leader.

The money bubble should break early in Day 3, after which the players will continue playing until they reach the official televised WPT final table of six players. The final six will come back to battle for the title on Tuesday. All players reaching the final table are guaranteed to take home at least $46,315.