Artem Metalidi Leads Entering Final Day of WSOP Event #23

Ukrainian Artem Metalidi will start the final day of event #23 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas as a dominant chip leader.

The Kiev pro ended Day 2 of the $3,000 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event on 1,523,000 chips for a very healthy lead over second placed Spaniard Luis Rodriguez (1,005,000) as the only players to make it above the one million mark in what has been a fast-paced tournament.

Day 1 saw the 924-player starting field chopped down to just 141 survivors, while Day 2 ended with only 18 players still in contention for the $567,624 top prize and a gold bracelet.

Eugene Katchalov Still In

UK-based Metalidi certainly won’t have things all his own way in the Amazon Room of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino today, though, as there are still numerous high-quality players still in the field, including one-time WSOP bracelet winner Scott Montgomery, World Poker Tour (WPT) champ and one-time bracelet-winner Eugene Katchalov, online specialist Andrew Lichtenberger and Triple Crown winner Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier.

However, as it always the case, Day 2 also saw some prominent pros eliminated, including Gavin Smith (29th for $13,722), Will ‘The Thrill’ Failla (32nd for $11,452), Liv Boeree (47th for $8,551), Jason Somerville (51st for $7,643), Galen Hall (52nd for $7,643), William Reynolds (61st for $6,432), Bradley Booth (73rd for $5,927), Dan O’Brien (84th for $5,448), Roberto Romanello (94th for $5,019), David Benyamine (95th for $5,019) and Jason Mercier (101st for $5,019).

WSOP 2012 Event #23 Final 18

1. Artem Metalidi (Ukraine) – 1,523,000

2. Luis Rodriguez (Spain) – 1,005,000

3. Foster Hays (USA) – 679,000

4. Joseph Urgo (USA) – 572,000

5. Damien Lhommueau (France) – 511,000

6. Bertrand Grospellier (France) – 487,000

7. Freddy Deeb (USA) – 425,000

8. Taylor Paur (USA) – 424,000

9. Simon Charette (Canada) – 405,000

10. Eddie Blumenthal (USA) – 395,000

11. Craig Bergeron (USA) – 375,000

12. Scott Montgomery (Canada) – 288,000

13. Thiago Nishijima (Brazil) – 257,000

14. Andrew Lichtenberger (USA) – 246,000

15. Alexander Nudin (Russia) – 245,000

16. Toan Trinh (USA) – 224,000

17. Ryan Fair (USA) – 199,000

18. Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) – 84,000