Joe Cada Eyeing Up Second Bracelet in WSOP Event #31

One-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion Joe ‘The Kid’ Cada leads the way after Day 2 of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event #31 in Las Vegas.

Just 19 players survived the opening two days from a tournament that attracted 2,811 entries – which is 311 up on last year – to create a prize pool of $3,794,850 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

However, 2009 main event champ Cada, from Michigan, leads the pack in the chase for the $664,130 top prize on 1,869,000 chips to be closely followed by second placed Michael Aron (1,745,000), of Florida. Ukrainian Valentyn Shabelnyk sits in third place on 1,391,000, while Pennsylvania’s Cherish Andrews – the Day 1 chip leader – is fourth on 1,383,000 as the only other players to break through the one million mark.

2009 Main Event Champ On Top

Cada, who picked up $8,547,042 in 2009 for besting a 6,494-entry field, will be aiming to become the first main event champ to collect a second WSOP gold bracelet since 2001 winner Carlos Mortensen added the $5,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event #34 in 2003.

The youngest ever main event champ has already secured a cash at this 43rd annual series, pocketing $5,295 for 60th place in $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event #14.

There are other several well-known players included in the final 19, including Vegas’ Carter Phillips (seventh on 586,000), Louisiana’s Jonathan Poche (ninth on 491,000), JC Tran (12th on 339,000), of Sacramento, and Brooklyn’s Dwyte Pilgrim (14th on 293,000).

Terrence Chan Makes The Money

It took 21 gruelling levels of play to cut the field back to today’s final 19, with the Day 2 field chopped down from a starting 331 as the likes of Terrence Chan (20th for $19,012), Soi Nguyen (32nd for $15,407), James Akenhead (37th for $12,599), Ted Forrest (45th for $12,599), Erik Cajelais (49th for $10,436), Erika Moutinho (58th for $8,728), Angel Guillen (140th for $3,719), Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald (164th for $3,719), Mohsin Charania (166th for $3,719), Charles Chattha (180th for $3,339), Sean Getzwiller (182nd for $3,339), Mikhail Lakhitov (192nd for $3,339), Nick Binger (223rd for $3,036), Eric Baldwin (233rd for $3,036), Vitaly Lunkin (255th for $2,770), Sam Chartier (272nd for $2,770), Lauren Kling (283rd for $2,770) and Mustapha Kanit (288th for $2,770) busted out but still cashed as 297 made the money.

Greg Raymer Fails To Cash

Day 1 was brutal, seeing 2,480 players eliminated over 11 levels to leave just 331 survivors. Incredibly, that was just 34 places away from the money, so it should come as no surprise to read that a vast number of big-name pros hit the rail early, including David Williams, Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero, Matt Affleck, Greg Raymer, Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom, Melanie Weisner, Andy Frankenberger, La Sengphet, Ari Engel, Kara Scott, Dutch Boyd, George Lind III, Justin Bonomo, Max Pescatori, Ana Marquez, Kathy Liebert, Amanda Musumeci, Tony Dunst, Martin Staszko, Steve O’Dwyer, Mickey Petersen and Jennifer ‘Jennicide’ Leigh.

WSOP 2012 Event #31 Final 19

1. Joe ‘The Kid’ Cada (USA) – 1,869,000

2. Michael Aron (USA) – 1,745,000

3. Valentyn Shabelnyk (Ukraine) – 1,391,000

4. Cherish Andrews (USA) – 1,383,000

5. Maxi Lehmanski (Germany) – 908,000

6. Adam Kornuth (USA) – 892,000

7. Carter Phillips (USA) – 586,000

8. John Nelson (USA) – 550,000

9. Jonathon Poche (USA) – 491,000

10. James Kasputis (USA) – 457,000

11. Huy Quach (USA) – 410,000

12. JC Tran (USA) – 339,000

13. Tom Chambers (USA) – 302,000

14. Dwyte Pilgrim (USA) – 293,000

15. Jerrimie Pacheco (USA) – 291,000

16. Kevin Huddleston (USA) – 238,000

17. Patrick Karschamroon (USA) – 188,000

18. Jean Thomas (France) – 180,000

19. Najib Kamand (UK) – 142,000