Day 2 of Event 1 ($350 No-Limit Hold’em) came to an end with 19 players remaining — just one player away from the final two tables. They bagged and tagged their chips, and will return to action tomorrow (Monday) to play down to a winner.

That winner will receive a first prize of $138,952.

The remaining 19 players are all guaranteed at least $5,392, and the nine final tablists will be guaranteed at least $12,095.

The field was steadily — and quickly — shrinking all day long. Even the Money Bubble was quick. When the clock was stopped to begin hand-for-hand play, somebody busted during a hand in progress. That technically burst the bubble, and just when all the players were expecting to begin hand-for-hand play, they learned that they were already in the money.

There were a lot of lead changes throughout the day, and nobody seemed to hold onto the chip lead for long.

Tomorrow the blinds will begin at 50,000-100,000 and a 15,000 ante. Here are the official end-of-Day 2 chip counts:

1.  Kevin Ho  –  7,695,000  (76 bb)
2.  Kane Kalas  –  6,690,000  (66 bb)
3.  Zack Goodman  –  6,475,000  (64 bb)
4.  Derek Buonano  –  5,800,000  (58 bb)
5.  David Diaz  –  5,775,000  (57 bb)
6.  Jaime Campos  –  5,460,000  (54 bb)
7.  Alcides Gomez  –  5,285,000  (52 bb)
8.  Steven McKoy  –  4,075,000  (40 bb)
9.  Michael Ortiz  –  3,950,000  (39 bb)
10.  Daniel Navarrete  –  2,865,000  (28 bb)
11.  Josée Thauvette  –  2,500,000  (25 bb)
12.  Jeff Yeh  –  2,340,000  (23 bb)
13.  Mike Chiappetta  –  1,940,000  (19 bb)
14.  Chad Eveslage  –  1,750,000  (17 bb)
15.  Michael Tait  –  1,530,000 (15 bb)
16.  Tim Myers  –  1,230,000 (12 bb)
17.  Mike Beasley  –  1,100,000 (11 bb)
18.  John Liu  –  1,070,000 (10 bb)
19.  Harold Lam  –  775,000 (7 bb)

Of the final 19 players, we counted six of them as the tournament chipleader at some point today — Kevin Ho, Mike Chiappetta, David Diaz, Michael Ortiz, Derek Buonano, and Jaime Campos. But none of them held the top spot for long.

Near the bottom of the chip counts, there were several players who were keeping their heads just above water, but they survived in that state for a long time — including Michael Tait, Mike Beasley, and John Liu. They are all hoping to catch some momentum tomorrow.

Return to SeminoleHardRockPokerOpen.com tomorrow (Monday) for continuing coverage of Event 1 ($350 No-Limit Hold’em) as they battle for the final table and play down to a winner.