Thomas Conway Leads After WSOP Event #44 Day 2

American Thomas Conway tops the leaderboard after Day 2 of the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event #44 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

The Illinois player holds 880,000 chips in the chase for the $464,464 top prize after 10 more levels of play for a small lead over North Carolina’s Nelson Robinson (871,000), while Darren Rabinowitz, of Washington State, is a distant third on 760,000.

Day 2 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino started with 297 players – all of whom would be paid from the $2,654,100 prize pool – but more than 100 players were eliminated within 60 minutes, including the likes of Victor Ramdin (271st for $1,937), Adam Kornuth (269th for $1,937), Martin Finger (263rd for $1,937), Erik Seidel (261st for $1,937), Pascal LeFrancois (260th for $1,937), Barry Hutter (247th for $2,123), Joshua Tieman (241st for $2,123), David Emmons (240th for $2,123), Scott Sitron (219th for $2,123) and Angel Garcia (206th for $2,336).

Joe Cada Exits in 112th

Other notable players to exit included Ryan Gentry (170th for $2,601), Justin Young (169th for $2,601), Byron Kaverman (154th for $2,601), Paul Berende (153rd for $2,601), Joe Cada (112th for $2,920), Martin Jacobson (111th for $2,920), Jonathan Little (104th for $2,920), Soi Nguyen (88th for $3,795), Mikhail Lakhitov (84th for $3,795), Jude Ainsworth (78th for $4,406), Ivan Demidov (76th for $4,406), Joe Tehan (73rd for $4,406), Maya Antonius (65th for $5,149), Kevin Iacofano (64th for $5,149) and Amnon Filippi (62nd for $6,104), who was knocked out by Buffalo’s Travell Thomas after starting Day 2 among the chip leaders.

Many railbirds had gathered to see how Blair Hinkle would perform after taking fourth place for $192,734 in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event #38. But the Kansas player – while going well for quite some time – busted out in 24th for $13,297 after seeing his top pair bested by the top set of Illinois’ Niel Mittelman.

Anke Berner is Last Woman Seated

One player to look out for later today is Germany’s Anke Berner as the last woman seated in the event. Berner, of Cologne, started Day 2 with only 7,600 in chips – believing she would be out after one hand – but will in fact begin Day 3 on 655,000 in sixth place after storming up the leaderboard

Day 1 saw 11 levels played out and, of course, numerous big-name pros exit, including Terrence Chan, Kathy Liebert, Jason Senti, Liv Boeree, Tony Cousineau, Barry Shulman, Erika Moutinho, Govert Metaal, John Racener, Christian de Leon, Mathew Frankland, David Williams, Melanie Weisner, Padraig Parkinson, Pierre Neuville, Mohsin Charania, John Racener, Christian de León, Mathew Frankland, Amanda Musumeci, Daniel Carter, John Eames, Marcel Vonk, Jeff Madsen, Thiago Nishijima, Tyler Kenney, Ty Reiman, Greg Raymer, John Cernuto, Fernando Brito, Leo Margets, Carlos Mortensen, Kenny Hallaert and Darryll Fish.

WSOP 2012 Event #44 Final 16

1. Thomas Conway (USA) – 880,000
2. Nelson Robinson (USA) – 871,000
3. Darren Rabinowitz (USA) – 760,000
4. Francisco Azares (Venezuela) – 678,000
5. Patrick Karschamroon (USA) – 678,000
6. Anke Berner (Germany) – 655,000
7. Keven Stammen (USA) – 654,000
8. Niel Mittelman (USA) – 578,000
9. Jaspal Brar (Canada) – 551,000
10. Kevin Elia (USA) – 503,000
11. David Forster (USA) – 437,000
12. Jason Everett (USA) – 399,000
13. Rocco Palumbo (Italy) – 382,000
14. Travell Thomas (USA) – 368,000
15. Mario Delis (USA) – 234,000
16. Paul Sokoloff (Canada) – 209,000