Day 2: Ivey leads $50K Poker Players Championship

Poker icon Phil Ivey leads at the end of day 2 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.

The three-time winner of this event has 1,254,000 in his bag to catapult himself into pole position towards the end of the day.

A record low in the history of the PPC, 74 players entered the tournament and now we are down to the last 38 upon completion of the second day.

This year’s champion will take home $1,099,311 but it’s still way too early to discuss the top prizes. Only 12 players will walk away in profit and it is expected that day 3 will bring the tournament close to the bubble.

Having spent more time playing poker in Asia than on American soil over the past few years, the addition of Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan have been welcome attractions to the Players Poker Championship field. Ivey did make his return to WSOP action last year, but Dwan hasn’t cashed at the WSOP for eight years.

Unfortunately for Dwan, he won’t be participating on day 3 as he fell in the final level on day 2.

Former Chip Reese Memorial Trophy winner John “World” Hennigan is close on Ivey’s heels in the chip counts. THe 2014 champion, who won his sixth WSOP bracelet earlier this summer, was among the top stacks for the better part of the day and he finished with 1,209,000.

The remaining field boasts, unsurprisingly, a ton of stellar players with Chris Vitch (1,103,000), David Oppenheim (1,062,000), and Josh Arieh (939,000) rounding out the top five.