#TheCupAwaits: Massive Restart For Day 2 of WPT Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open

A herd of 898 entries across two starting flights leaves 333 left standing for Day 2 of the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open. 113 of those players will finish in the money with the bubble likely to hit midway through Day 2 play. $5,845 is guaranteed to everyone who reaches that stage but all eyes are on the $504,820 first-place prize with a prize pool that tops $2.8 million.

Maz Abdallah (pictured) owns a commanding chip lead of 469,500. To put Abdallah’s chip total in perspective, Ajay Gnanasambanthan’s 364,500 that he bagged on Day 1a are 70 big blinds behind Abdallah’s total when play starts. Abdallah is a favorite to make the money today and if he does, it will be his first career WPT cash.

There is a sea of notables lurking on the leaderboard. For starters, the Champions Club is well represented. Season XVII WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble winner Tony Tran bagged 153,500 on Day 1b and is in search of another final table to add to his current 1,050 points in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race. Also looking to add points is WPT Borgata Poker Open champion Erkut Yilmaz, who comes into Day 2 with a large stack of 266,000.

Both Tran and Yilmaz can overtake current Player of the Year leader Tony Ruberto this week at the Hard Rock with a trip to the final table. Yilmaz needs at least sixth place and Tran would have to ladder up to fourth place. Ruberto did not advance to Day 2.

WPT and Seminole Hard Rock own a storied history and previous champions from Main Tour events at the Hard Rock who are in action today looking for another trip to the winner’s circle are Brian Altman, Tony Sinishtaj, Eric Afriat, Kevin Eyster, and Darryll Fish. Sinishtaj leads that group with 318,500.

Other strong stacks coming into Day 2 are Neil Blumenfield (244,000), Farid Jattin (237,000), Marc Macdonnell (215,500), Aaron Massey (206,500), and Season XVI Player of the Year runner-up Joe McKeehen (169,500).

The Day 2 schedule includes 10 60-minute levels with a dinner break after the sixth level of the day. Play starts at 12 p.m. local time and is scheduled to wrap up close to 12 a.m.

As always, keep it locked on WPT.com as the journey toward crowning the first WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open champion moves forward.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com

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