It was a short but action-packed Day 2 at the 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship in The Bahamas that saw only six one-hour levels played out. A total of 1,014 entries were recorded when late registration closed with just 255 advancing to Day 3. Leading the pack is Krasimir Yankov who is the only player with a seven-figure stack with 1,002,000 chips followed by Philipe Pizzari (965,000) and Jeremy Ausmus (791,000) to round out the top three.
Yankov is widely known for competing on the European Poker Tour but has recently been dabbling overseas as well. The Bulgarian’s most recent standout performance came in the WPT World Championship where he finished in 11th place. With a handful of six-figure scores on his poker resume already, Yankov will be looking to go one step further and add a seven-figure payday when all is said and done.
Top 10 Leaderboard After Day 2 of the 2023 PSPC
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNTS | BIG BLINDS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | 1,002,000 | 167 | |
| 2 | Philipe Pizzari | Brazil | 965,000 | 161 | |
| 3 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 791,000 | 132 | |
| 4 | Dylan Destefano | United States | 696,000 | 116 | |
| 5 | Chris Moorman | United Kingdom | 685,000 | 114 | |
| 6 | Justin Liberto | United States | 658,000 | 110 | |
| 7 | Tommy Nguyen | Canada | 642,000 | 107 | |
| 8 | Ignacio Gonzalez | Spain | 610,000 | 102 | |
| 9 | Renato Minicuci | Italy | 585,000 | 98 | |
| 10 | Christian Dressler | Germany | 562,000 | 94 |
Speaking of which, the prize pool and payouts were confirmed today once registration was closed. A total of $24,843,000 will be up for grabs over the next three days. There will be 175 places being paid with a min-cash being worth $35,100 and the winner taking home $4,053,200. Each of the final six places will be guaranteed to become at least a millionaire.
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Some more familiar faces advancing to Day 3 with a shot at PSPC glory include 2023 PCA Main Event champion Michel Dattani, WSOP Main Event winners Chris Moneymaker, Martin Jacobson, and Espen Jorstad, along with PokerStars ambassadors Alejandro Lococo, Sam Grafton, and Arlie Shaban. Lococo put 473,000 in the bag for Day 3 and will be joined by Grafton with 377,000 chips and Shaban who bagged the same as Day 1 with 259,000.
Day 2 Action
There were 680 players who returned to their seats after Day 1 and they were joined by an additional nine new entries before late registration closed prior to the start of level 11. One of those late entries was Bryn Kenney whose time at the table was a mere flash. Just 10 minutes in, Kenney bricked out on a flush draw and was sent to the rail by Noah Schwartz.
Five-time Survivor contestant and winner of the 22nd season Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano was also one of the last few entries. Mariano, who is now taking the game of poker a little more seriously, maneuvered his way through to Day 3, bagging up a stack of 119,000.
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One of the feel-good stories of the tournament belongs to Platinum Pass winner Glen Craigen. There is no doubt that Craigen is playing in the biggest tournament of his life but has proven he can still play with some of the biggest names in the game. Craigen recently did an interview with PokerNews where he got a little emotional talking about what this type of tournament means to him.
Joining him in search of turning a Platinum Pass into a massive payday include Ignacio Gonzalez, Renato Minicuci, Dinesh Alt, Bastian Hess, and many others.
With a field littered with familiar faces at each and every table, there were many who fell by the wayside over the course of the day as the field was whittled down to just 255 players. Some of those that were unfortunate to be eliminated were Ryan Riess, Jonathan Little, Ben Lamb, Sam Greenwood, and PokerStars ambassadors Benjamin Spragg, Jen Shahade, and defending champion Ramon Colillas who will not be going back-to-back.
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As the field quickly disintegrated over the course of a few hours, it was announced that only six levels would be played on Day 2. When the action resumes on Day 3, everyone will have their sights set on the money bubble that will likely occur in the opening couple levels of the day.
The cards will go back in the air at 12 p.m. noon EST for Day 3 with the blinds resuming on level 15 at 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante. The levels will continue to be 60 minutes in length and an expected eight levels will be played on Day 3.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates as the action unfolds en route to crowning a new PSPC champion in just a few day’s time.