Just 2,186 Players Remain In 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event

Don’t look now, but Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is sitting on a top 10 stack heading into day 3 of the World Series of Poker main event. The Florida-based poker pro has already put together an incredible summer with 12 cashes, including a fourth-place showing in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship for $380,942.

He first won the PPC back in 2010. That same year, he also made the final table of the WSOP main event, earning $2,332,960 for his fifth-place finish. With 549,400 in chips, Mizrachi is in great position to make another deep run in poker’s greatest tournament.

Mizrachi will be just one of 2,186 total players from an initial field of 6,737 to return for day 3 action at the Rio. Only the top 1,011 will make the money.

Leading the way will be San Diego’s Valentin Vornicu, who bagged the most chips from day 2AB. He will take 838,600 in chips into the day, with his next closest competitor being day 2C chip leader Gustavo Lopes with 630,700.

Notable players with big stacks as the field approaches the money bubble include Chad Power (546,800), Gaelle Baumann (504,600), Andrew Chen (447,200), Ole Schemion (438,400), Maria Ho (435,000), J.C. Alvarado (430,700), Marc-Andre Ladouceur (410,500), Kenny Hallaert (410,100), Dan Heimiller (402,000) Tony Dunst (388,500) and Kristen Bicknell (381,500).

Former main event winners who are still in the hunt for repeat titles are Phil Hellmuth (82,300), Ryan Reiss (349,000) and defending champion Joe McKeehen (183,900). Some of the bigger names to be eliminated during day 2 included Fedor Holz, Martin Jacobson, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey.

Here is a look at the top ten stacks at the end of play:

For a complete listing of the overnight chip counts click here.

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2016 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.