Dror Michaelo on Top in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event

California’s Dror Michaelo tops the chip leaderboard after day two of the World Series of Poker (WSOP)’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event in the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

A large field of 2,828 started on Saturday, but that had been whittled down to 362 by close of play – and was further reduced to just 35 last night for this evening’s play.

Michaelo, who didn’t really emerge as a possible front-runner for most of Sunday, holds 876,000 chips after his aggressive style of play garnered him lots of chips throughout the final few levels.

However, he’ll have to wary of some big-name pros for the final day as the likes of Adam Lippert – who held the chip lead at the start of yesterday’s play – Josh Brikis, Adam Geyer, Jakob Tostesen and Kyle Cartwright are still in contention.

However, some other notable contestants did crash out yesterday, including Maxim Sorokin, Benoit Albiges, Jared Ingles, Justin Young, Brett Jungblut, Amit Makhija, Carter Gill, Chino Rheem, Eddie Blumenthal, Layne Flack and TJ Cloutier.

Jamie Kerstetter (147,000) – down in 32nd place – is the last remaining woman in the field as the New Jersey native attempts to become the first female to win a WSOP bracelet this year with success in the Amazon Room.

Every one of the last 35 players are guaranteed at least $15,500, although it is certain they will all be eyeing up the top prize of $668,276 and a gold bracelet.

Top 10 chip counts after day two of the WSOP 2011 $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event:

1. Dror Michaelo (USA) – 876,000

2. Adam Geyer (USA) – 664,000

3. Corbin White (USA) – 639,000

4. Michael Whitfield (Canada) – 624,000

5. Gabriel Morin (Canada) – 624,000

6. Rodrigo Portaleoni (Brazil) – 604,000

7. Michael Aron (USA) – 601,000

8. Marc Mclaughlin (Canada) – 588,000

9. Daniel Close (USA) – 577,000

10. Jakob Tostesen (Denmark) – 539,000