The $351,650 first place prize is now within sight in the $5,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Scramble. Well, it is for the 17 remaining players, and especially for Gege Gocaj, who finished Day 2 with a sizable chip lead.
On Sunday, 128 of the original 365 entries returned to action at bestbet Jacksonville, one of the top poker rooms in the US. Only 46 of those players were fortunate enough to reach the money.
Just after the dinner break, the bubble burst with poker vlogger and World Poker Tour ambassador Andrew Neeme busting the 47th place finisher with kings against queens. At that point, every one left in the field was guaranteed at least $9,4000.
Weng Hangs on But Falls Short of Final Table
Bin Weng, who has been the hottest player in tournament poker this year, entered Day 2 with the chip lead and was the only player above 400,000 chips.
For the first few hours on Sunday, he was up to the same tricks — pushing people around and stacking chips. But then he took a massive stumble just before the bubble burst when he bluffed off over 80% of his stack to Caleb Larsen, who risked his entire stack on the king-high board with pocket queens, and was correct in doing so.
Larsen jumped into the chip lead at that point and would finish the day second in chips with 1,985,000 (99 big blinds), trailing only Gocaj (3,100,000). As for Weng, he became short-stacked following that failed bluff, but would battle back before inevitably bowing out in 22nd place ($12,900) when he ran into the pocket kings of Toby Boas, who bagged 1,025,000.
Caleb Larsen Makes Gutsy Call on the Money Bubble
Other notables to bust and cash on Day 2 include Jerry Wong (44th place for $9,400), Stan Jablonski (38th for $10,100), Neeme (36th for $10,100), Hunter Cichy (26th for $11,300), and Scott Eskenazi (18th for $15,000).
Gocaj, who has just $92,000 in live tournament cashes on The Hendon Mob, is in a great position to far more than double his career earnings. He is not only the only player above 3 million, but the only one above 2 million chips.
Day 3 will begin at noon PT on Monday from bestbet Jacksonville. It will last as long as it takes to reach a six-player final table. The following day (Nov. 14), the final six will return to action to play down to a winner starting at 2 p.m.
Top Day 2 Chip Stacks
| Place | Player | Chip Stack |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gege Gocaj | 3,100,000 |
| 2 | Caleb Larsen | 1,985,000 |
| 3 | Frederic Normand | 1,885,000 |
| 4 | Brian Senie | 1,730,000 |
| 5 | Heng Zhang | 1,680,000 |
*Images courtesy of WPT/Drew Amato
