Brian Altman Leads 203 Players into Day 2 of WPT Maryland at Live! Casino; Registration Open to 2:30 p.m. ET

By Tim Duckworth

Welcome back to the Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover, Maryalnd, for Day 2 of the Season XVIII WPT Maryland at Live! Casino $3,500 Main Event where WPT Champions Club member Brian Altman (pictured above) leads the 203 survivors from the 393-entrant field.

The previous four installments of WPT Maryland have seen three WPT Champions Club members collect their second WPT title with Aaron Mermelstein (Season XIV), Art Papazyan (Season XVI), and Tony Ruberto (Season XVII) each striking WPT gold for the second time. The last three installments of WPT Maryland have seen fields of over 550 players with the prize pool guarantee eclipsed. With a tweak to the Season XVIII structure, currently 76 more entries are needed to reach the $1.5 million guarantee – and with registration open through to the start of Level 11 (approximately 2:30 p.m. ET) there is still a chance that mark is reached.

Day 1A of the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino attracting a total of 217 entries, and after eight levels of play, just 115 players would remain as Altman held the lead with 307,800 in chips. Sitting behind Altman are Gansukh Sandagsuren (221,000) and Carlos Requena (218,500) who are the only other players over the 200,000-chip mark, while WPT Champions Club members Darren Elias, Aaron Van Blarcum, Anthony Zinno, Frank Stepuchin, and Olivier Busquet also survived into Day 2 along with WPT Player of the Year Mukul Pahuja.

Day 1B saw 176 entrants fill the Maryland Live! Casino Event Center, and once the dust settled after eight levels of play, there would be 89 players surviving into Day 2. Leading those players is Rajasekar Govindan with 220,400 in chips after taking a sizeable pot from David Stefanski on the final hand of play to take the lead from Ken Adams who ended with 200,900. WPT Champions Club members Anthony Gregg, Erkut Yilmaz, and Donald Maloney, along with WPTDeepStacks champions Quentin Jones and Faraz Jaka, also survived into Day 2.

Finishing Day 1B in fourth position overall was Ed Sebesta (pictured above). Amazingly, Sebesta is the only player to bag chips in both flights after finishing with 44,100 on Day 1A, and 177,700 on Day 1B. With his 44,100-chip stack coming out of play, Sebesta’s choice to fire a second bullet was a decision worth it’s weight in potential WPT gold as he’ll enter Day 2 sitting seventh overall.

Ed Sebesta Plays for a Higher Power at WPT Maryland by Sean Chaffin.

Day 2 will see registration open through to the start of Level 11 where blinds will be 1,000-1,500 and a 1,500-big blind ante. Players will endure ten 60-minute levels with a 75-minute dinner break after Level 14 at approximately 6:45 p.m. (ET) with play ending at approximately midnight with the tournament close to – if not in – the money.

To view complete information on the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino structure and schedule, click here.

The stage is now set for Day 2 of the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino from the Live! Casino & Hotel at 12:15 p.m. (ET). 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 Maryland champion, and wins his or her way to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive

Looking to win your way to a World Poker Tour event for your shot at becoming a WPT champion? Play for your chance on ClubWPT.com, where eligible VIP Members can play for over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, including seats to WPT events, no purchase necessary.