Mazen Abdallah Leads 333 Advancing Players into Day 2

The second starting flight of the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open brought in 481 entries to accompany the 417 who played on Day 1a. All told, 898 runners are in the field which smashed the $2 million guarantee and set a record for the Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event. Mazen Abdallah (pictured) surged up the leaderboard in the last level of the night to take a commanding lead of 469,500 into Day 2.

Abdallah’s total gives him 100,000 more than his nearest competitor,  Ajay Gnanasambanthan, who bagged 364,500 on Day 1a. Hailing from Houston, TX, Abdallah’s career earnings would take a major leap should he make a deep run. 113 players will finish in the money this weekend and if Abdallah is one of them, he’ll secure his largest career score with the min-cash of $5,845.

Level 10 is where Abdallah did most of his damage. In the span of two hands, Abdallah knocked out two players and added 60,000 to a stack that went from 80,000 to his end of day total in the last 60 minutes of the night.

No other players hit 300,000 from Day 1b but the ones who are above 250,000 might be familiar names to some. Caufman Talley (265,000), Vinny Pahuja (263,500), Nick Yunis (261,000) and Jeff Trudeau (250,500) all have heavy bags waiting for them on Day 2. To read more about those who bagged on Day 1a, click here.

The total prize pool sits at $2,873,600 and first-place in the event earns $504,820 along with a seat into the WPT Tournament of Champions. All six players who make the final table secure themselves at least $103,310. Also awaiting the winner are 1,200 points toward the WPT Hublot Player of the Year race.

Day 2 has 10 levels in store, each one 60-minutes in length with the money bubble on pace to be hit midway through the and the Action Clock to be introduced one table from the money.

Play kicks off on Sunday at 12 p.m. local time, and coverage of the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open will continue then.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com

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