Maurice Hawkins (pictured) enters Day 3 with the chip lead and a chance to win his third Circuit Main Event of 2016.
West Palm Beach, Fla (November 20, 2016) -- Day 2 of the Palm Beach Kennel Club is complete after 10 60-minute levels of poker. The day began with 49 players and finished with just five remaining. The final five players are all guaranteed at least $23,607 for making it this far in the tournament. They will be returning Monday at 12 p.m. for Day 3 and the conclusion of the event. Tomorrow's champion will earn $95,921, a WSOP Circuit gold ring and a free entry to the $1 million guaranteed 2017 Global Casino Championship.
Here's the list of the five remaining players and their chip counts:
Seat 1: Khoan Ho - 1,140,000 (38 bb)
Seat 2: Maurice Hawkins - 1,510,000 (50 bb)
Seat 3: Josh Hillock - 1,420,000 (47 bb)
Seat 4: Filipp Khavin - 445,000 (14 bb)
Seat 5: Lacy Wills - 700,000 (23 bb)
- Day 3 will begin at the start of Level 26: 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante
- All remaining levels are one hour long
TJ Shulman (7th) entered Day 2 with 402,000 chips and the chip lead. He was followed in the counts by Flight A's best finisher, Jake Dollinger, who began the day with 349,000. Shulman started out hot to extend his chip lead early, but Dollinger had the opposite fortune. Things went south for Dollinger early and often and he busted before the money. Others busting before the money was reached include two-time ring winner Bob Beck, 2015 November Niner Joshua Beckley, and last year's winner in this event, Peter Vitantonio.
On the third level of the day, the field was reduced to 28 players. The top 27 players were slated to earn a cash. Hand-for-hand play began and lasted several hands. Matthew Zimmerman would eventually become the unlucky bubble boy after he was eliminated by Khavin. Zimmerman was down to his final three big blinds and shoved all-in preflop. He was called by two opponents, including Khavin. Khavin flopped a set of fives and Zimmerman's king-jack offsuit couldn't catch up.
After the money was reached, there was a flurry of bustouts. Six players were eliminated within the next hour including six-time ring winner Vincent Moscati (26th), Russ Head (24th), Alex Nguyen (23rd), and T.K. Miles (22nd). Play eventually calmed and the bustouts started coming at a slower pace. At the dinner break, 17 players remained.
After the dinner break and before the final table was reached, Dmitriy Shilnikov busted in 16th place, Brian Reinert in 15th place, and Event #5 winner, Tim Seidensticker in 10th place. The final table was reached after Seidensticker's elimination and Hillock entered as the chip leader.
Maurice Hawkins had been lurking on the bottom half of the counts for several levels prior to the final table, but he started his climb to the chip lead by eliminating Tim Seidensticker on the final table bubble. Hawkins entered the final table third in chips out of the nine remaining players.
Next to hit the rail were Bryan Rosen in 9th place and Jason Bullock in 8th place. Finishing in 7th place was Shulman. Shulman was on the wrong end of a cooler where he had pocket queens and Khavin held pocket aces. The last player eliminated on the day was Ryan Chase in 6th place.
Play lasted one and a half more levels after Chase's elimination without any additional bustouts. Khavin, Hillock, and Ho will all be competing for their first gold ring on Monday while Wills will be chasing his second. Hawkins will attempt to win his third career Circuit Main Event and eighth gold ring. If Hawkins can win, he will move to tied for second on the all-time gold rings list. Only Alexandru Masek would have more than Hawkins with nine.
Find the complete results up to this point here.
Live updates until the last river card will be available right here on WSOP.com.