"raw_dawg" Leads the Final Nine in the Main Event

Day 2 of 888poker's XL Retro Main Event is now complete and "raw_dawg" made their way through the 415-player starting field to bag the biggest stack going into the final day of play. There were 2,162 entries (1,969 entries with 193 rebuys) across the Day 1 starting flights which meant the prize pool sneaked above the $500k guarantee to $508,070.

"raw_dawg" was the only player after more than four hours of play to amass more than 4 million chips, but second-place "mylly8" from Finland came very close with about 3.95 million. Brazilian "Rochinh2011" also ended the day with more than 3 million chips in third place.

888poker's XL Retro Main Event Final Table Standings

Place	Player	Country	Chips
1	raw_dawg	NA	4,523,512
2	mylly8	Finland	3,945,831
3	Rochinh2011	Brazil	3,157,164
4	DragoDanzig	Finland	2,559,366
5	brubsb	Brazil	2,536,148
6	kryingkid	Brazil	1,627,140
7	Illraise8	Canada	1,331,429
8	iNFOsHOVE	Sweden	1,033,674
9	crizelda	Brazil	905,736

There were 240 places paid out in the Main Event, and it was a very quick ride to get down to the money. It took less than an hour to make it into the money, and before two hours were complete, the field was down to less than 100 players.

The pace of play never really let up throughout the day, with action finishing just after the four-hour mark. Among the players in the game today were four members of the 888poker Steam Team. David "New_Dave" Gibson, who was playing well above his usual stakes in this one, made a valiant run to the money starting with a short stack, but couldn't quite make it, busting just 10 off the paid spots.

The other three were a bit more fortunate. Vivian "vivi.888." Saliba started the day with the biggest stack of the Stream Team but ended her day in 164th for $813. Nick "eastyyy22" Eastwood was the next Streamer to exit, but he made the top 100 for a score of $1,067.

It was Josh "Josh_Manley" Manley who went the farthest from the team today with a bit of a rollercoaster ride through the day. He was up and down all day, unafraid to get his money in. He grabbed a big stack in a three-way pot with pocket kings, but then lost a chunk of it shortly after on a bad beat with the best queen. Ultimately Manley had to settle for 57th place and $1,219.

Action for Day 3 gets going at 3pm ET on Tuesday, but the final table will be streamed with cards-up action on 888pokerTV. As a result, coverage here on PokerNews will match the delay of the live stream with updates getting underway when the stream begins.