We are through Day 2b and many players have fallen on their sword, but 2,557 remain going into day 3 of the Main Event, which is sure to full of thrills ‘n spills.

Now we get serious, the 2,557 players left from the original 7,319 entries will all be dreaming of glory this morning. However, many of last years final table will not be making it two November 9’s on the bounce, only the previous winner Joe Cada and Eric Buchman remain on above average stacks. Notable casualties from day 2a/b were poker legends, Doyle Brunson; Phil Ivey and Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson. The current chip leader is David Assouline from Quebec, Canada with 387,800 chips, but there are also three more players on the 300k mark and a plethora of competitors around the 200k+ mark.

A big mover ‘n shaker on day 2 was recently signed-up PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst, who amassed a sizable stack and is positioned in 11^th place ready for a big push today. The remaining players will all be fighting it out for the first prize of $8,944,138, but of course, some will be praying to just reach the bubble which stands at position 747. We will most likely see the bubble burst early on day 3, as blinds are currently 500/1000 and many players will need to double-up quickly just to survive.

Total prize money for this years WSOP Main Event is a breathtaking $68,798,600, beating last years entrants by close on 700 players. As mentioned earlier Joe Cada the reigning champ is going well, could he take a 2^nd successive WSOP Main Event title? That would be some story and one I will keep a close eye on over the next few days. The feat has only been achieved a few times in the history of the WSOP, with Doyle Brunson winning in 1976/77; Johnny Chan in 1987/88 and Stu Ungar 1980/81, although the field sizes have massively increased since those days.

Looking at the nationalities of the remaining players it has a distinctly Canadian, American and British feel about it. Canada make up 3 of the top 14 players in the money and America, Britain; Holland and Denmark make up the top 25 positions. A quick look through the remaining big names left running sees the likes of Dan Harrington, Chris Moneymaker; Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Allen Cunningham all well set for day 3.

The oldest player left in the Main Event is Jack Ury, from the US, who at the tender age of 97 years old is back for day3 and will need to make some quick moves with his 8,500 stack. Now that would an excellent story, although unlikely, I find it remarkable a gentleman of that age even attends an event of this gravitas, let alone make it to the 3^rd day. Watch this space for news on Jack Ury and all the others in the WSOP 2010 Main Event.