The first Day 2 (Day 2ab) started on Tuesday with 2,219 players and finished a short while ago with roughly 1,100 survivors. Mickey Craft (from the 1a flight) and Lawrence Bayley (from Day 1b flight) were the top 2 players at the end of Day 2ab, both bagging over 600k in chips each.
Bayley, the current overall chip leader with 618k in chips, had the third largest stack when Day 2ab began. He remained in the top of the chip counts for the most of the day before taking the chip lead toward the end of play.
"I got paid when I had nice hands basically," said the Main Event first timer. "The structure is so amazing and I just look forward to idealizing my stack. I play deep a lot these days, and I just have to keep finding the right spots and make the most out of it."
Craft boosted his stack early on Day 2ab after winning a three-way all in with pocket aces. He was up against KK and 44, the board rolled out 10x 9x 6x 9x 5x to boost his stack to over 300k (both his opponents in the hand were eliminated).
"You don't run across those hands very often in a tournament," Craft said. "That was awesome. This is my first Main Event and I got hit in the face by the deck."
Craft will bring 608k in chips when he returns on Day 3.
Among the notables to survive Day 2ab were Marvin Rettenmaier (359,100), Charlie Carrel (343,000), 2016 November Niner Kenny Hallaert (331,800), Cherish Andrews (330,700), Melanie Weisner (319,400), Mike Matusow (228,200), Chris Vitch (221,200), Scott Seiver (195,600), 2005 Main Event champion Joe Hachem (134,700), and 2004 Main Event champion Greg Raymer (106,400).
About 3,300 players will battle it out on Day 2C (starts today at noon local time). Check back for an update on Day 2C tomorrow morning!