$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 31: 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 35 of 5,018

From a starting field of more than 5,000 entries, just 35 players remain as Day 2 concludes.

Washington’s Rafael Reis leads the way, bagging up 7,325,000 chips to give him the big stack of more than 60 big blinds heading into Day 3. Allan Bieler is the nearest challenger with 6,745,000, followed by Barbaro Diaz (5,505,000), Perry Shiao (5,060,000), and Luis Yepez (4,965,000). The latter three shuffled in and out of the top spots all day long, while Bieler’s arrival on the leaderboard was sparked by a big, late double-up through David Prociak, who was the chip leader at the time.

Others who parlayed Day 2 big stacks into Day 3 appearances include Alvaro Jirau (3,345,000), Michael Johnson (3,230,000), Dustin Murphy (2,875,000), and Damjan Radanov (2,115,000). A complete list of the survivors’ chip counts can be found one post below this one.

Wally Maddah, on the other hand, never had a big stack with which to maneuver on Day 2, but that didn’t seem to pose much of a problem. The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Ambassador worked between five and eight big blinds for nearly the entire day before going on a bit of a late-night run. Maddah’s finishing stack of 1,290,000 puts him two from the bottom of the board, but nearly 11 big blinds should be plenty of ammunition tomorrow, if today was any indication.

The money bubble burst very early on Day 2, with the final 500 players earning shares of the record-setting prizepool of more than $1.5 million. Chino Rheem looked like he might make a run at it during the day’s middle stages, but he flamed out in the mid-hundreds with only a small profit to show for his work. Zo Karim, John Holley, and Jason Young were also among the casualties of the long day, along with Hard Rock Poker team members Sheddy Siddiqui, Darryll Fish, and Stewart Newman.

Everyone who is left is guaranteed to earn at least $4,065 on Monday, with the trophy and a top prize of more than $230,000 awaiting the winner. Play resumes at 2:00 PM with 20 minutes remaining in the level.