Audrius Stakelis Leads 387 Players into Day 2 of WPT Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open

By Tim Duckworth

Welcome back to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, for Day 2 of the Season XVIII WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open where Audrius Stakelis leads the 387 returning players.

After two opening flights, a field of 988 created a prize pool totaling $1,161,600 that will pay the top 124 players a guaranteed $5,985 in prize money. Reaching the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open final table of six players will earn player’s a $111,895 payday, while awaiting the eventual winner is the $545,070 first-place prize that includes a seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Audrius Stakelis is the best positioned to make a run at reaching the final table as he finished as the overwhelming chip leader with 408,000 in chips. Day 1A chip leader Jason Wandling is the only other player above 400,000 after finishing with 405,500 in chips, while Howard Mash (331,50), Wagner Wysotchanski (329,000), and WPT Champions Club member James Calderaro (321,500) are the only players above the 300,000-chip mark.

Some fellow WPT Champions Club members also surviving into Day 2 include Season XVIII champions Nitis Udornpim (273,500), Geoffrey Hum (186,000), Josh Adkins (174,000), Aaron Van Blarcum (154,000), and Donald Maloney (95,000), along with past champions Jonathan Jaffe, Brian Altman, James Mackey, Joseph Bartholdi, Aaron Mermelstein, Will Failla, Anthony Zinno, Darren Elias, James Romero, Craig Varnell, Darryll Fish, Harrison Gimbel, James Carroll, Mike Vela, Keven Stammen, Ryan Van Sanford, Jake Cody, Jared Jaffee, Noah Schwartz, Ravi Raghavan, Marvin Rettenmaier, Scott Clements, Matthew Waxman, Victor Ramdin, Matas Cimbolas, and Asher Conniff.

In the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race, it is currently Van Blarcum in front with 1,275 points ahead of Maloney (1,250 points) and Hum (1,200 points) while seven players are all tied on 1,000 points; including Adkins and Udornpim. With 1,200 points up for grabs for first place, and 50 points for a min-cash, there is a lot of potential movement on the top of the leaderboard with five Season XVIII winners still alive with all above-average chip stacks.

Click here for the Day 2 Seating Draw.

The plan for Day 2 is to play ten 60-minute levels with a 60-minute dinner break following the sixth level of the day; approximately 6:30 p.m. (ET). It is also anticipated that the money will be reached today, and the WPT Action Clock by Protection Poker will be implemented.

With that, the stage is now set for the start of Day 2 of the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event to begin at 12 p.m. (ET) from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Stay tuned right here to WPT.com for the exclusive live coverage of the tournament from start to finish to see who becomes the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open champion, and wins his or her way to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive

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