by Andy Glazer - poker.casino.com
Although Binion’s officials will still be a couple of hours coming up with sheets showing the newly redrawn tables for The Big One, Day Two (I love capital letters), Tournament Assistant Director Tom Elias let me eyeball the sealed chip bags, and barring a bleary-eyed 4:30 a.m. error, here are the 20 chip leaders entering play today:
1. Mehul Chaudhari, $92,500
2. James Van Alstyne, $84,100
3. Michael Sukonik, $78,275
4. Carlos Mortensen, $72,250
5. Hassan Habib, $64,825
6. “Miami” John Cernuto, $63,000
7. Kathy Liebert, $57,775
8. Berry Johnston, $55,225
9. Raymond Beck, $55,125
10. Simon Zhang, $53,000
11. “Captain” Tom Franklin, $52,125 (the remains of a $85,000 pot he won!)
12. Randy Hudson, $51,400
13. Mel Judah, $51,575
14. Barry Greenstein, $51,275
15. Larry Bellfuss, $51,000
16. Dewey Tomko, $49,850
17. TJ Cloutier, $48,200
18. Ty Bayne, $43,600
19. David Chiu, $42,525
20. Day Kim, $42,125
These “Titanic Twenty” aren’t merely holding lots of ammunition. As readers familiar with the big time tournament circuit may realize, fully three-quarters of them are legitimate tournament stars who haven’t collected these chips by accident, and who probably know a thing or two about how to help them grow fruitful and multiply.
With more than half the field eliminated on the first day, an average stack at this point is about $21,000.
/Andy Glazer