WSOP Main Event Day 2ab: Former Champ Qui Nguyen Bosses the Day, Galen Hall, Timothy Su and Anton Morgenstern Riding High

A blockbuster day of action was free of earthquakes and disqualifications, but full of drama as the World Series of Poker Main Event truly got going.

With around 100 players taking advantage of the late registration offer to sit down at the start of Day 2 with 60,000 chips, there were around 3,350 players in seats as the action kicked off. But that number dropped harder and faster than a flying shoe, as big names busted along the way.

Former WSOP Main Event champions Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson and Ryan Riess ‘The Beast’ both made swift exits. Daniel Negreanu was cut down in a trio of damaging pots and Kid Poker left before the day reached it’s halfway point. Other big names were busted in short order too, with recent 2019 WSOP bracelet winner Stephen Chidwick, all-time money list leader Justin Bonomo and Phil Galfond all biting the dust.

The story of the day was undoubtedly the strong performance of Qui Nguyen, 2016 Main Event champion, who introduced the action and gave the players their traditional “Shuffle up and deal!” to kick-start the action. Thereafter, Nguyen went on a heater to rack up 602,400 by the end of the day, doubling his day-entering stack of 180,000 after flopping a wheel with ace-deuce to skittle a player holding pocket aces.

The top of the leaderboard didn’t belong to Nguyen, however. Timothy Su grabbed the chip lead with 791,000 chips, while Tony Blanchandin (744,500), Anton Morgenstern (above, 735,000), Florian Duta (731,500) and Galen Hall (705,900) both had incredible days at the felt. Day 1a leader Bryan Campanello entered the day with 417,000 and left it with a little more at around 450,000, but will still be pleased to have well over average, and it’s a marathon, the Main Event.

With over 1,000 players surviving the day, we’re still some way from the money, and these players will return on Monday. That’s because on Sunday we have Day 2c, with all the advancing players from the record-breaking Day 1c sitting down to the battle for a Day 3 seat. We can’t wait to see which stories develop, and you can bookmark the PokerGO action right here!

Top 10 Day 2ab Chipcounts:

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You can watch the WSOP Main Event action unfold on ESPN and check out additional coverage on PokerGO throughout the biggest poker tournament in the world and bracelet event coverage on CBS All Access.