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Pupillo, Elias, Weng Among Top Stacks in Day 2 of Big, Big Kickoff
Yesterday saw the two flights of Event #2: $2,200 Big, Big Kickoff draw out 456 entrants to play at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This marks the second event of this 10-day series and 58 players will return to play at 1:15 p.m. local time with $4,825 locked up, all eyes fixated on the $182,000 and title sitting at first place.
Nick Pupillo (820,000) holds a commanding lead of the field, a familiar face to all who play tournaments stateside with over $7 million in recorded earnings and three Borgata Titles. Sitting towards the top of the counts are Borgata title holders, BetMGM ambassador Darren Elias (532,000) and Bin Weng (448,000).
Top Ten Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Pupillo | United States | 820,000 | 102 |
| 2 | Darren Elias | United States | 532,000 | 66 |
| 3 | Justin Liberto | United States | 466,000 | 58 |
| 4 | Lucas Bernui | United States | 450,000 | 56 |
| 5 | Bin Weng | United States | 448,000 | 56 |
| 6 | Abraham Gordon | United States | 423,000 | 52 |
| 7 | Todd Lewis | United States | 423,000 | 52 |
| 8 | Paul Spitzberg | United States | 404,000 | 50 |
| 9 | Justin Arnwine | United States | 402,000 | 50 |
| 10 | Nathaniel Marmur | United States | 387,000 | 48 |
A stacked field of poker legends sit among the remaining players including Justin Liberto (466,000), Justin Arnwine (402,000), Michael Wang (272,000), Jeremy Becker (255,000), WSOP Main Event champions Joe McKeehen (188,000) and Jonathan Tamayo (94,000), and BetMGM Ambassador Michael Lavin (42,000).
Event #2: $2,200 Big, Big Kickoff Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $182,000 |
| 2 | $126,375 |
| 3 | $87,725 |
| 4 | $58,425 |
| 5 | $40,950 |
| 6 | $32,625 |
| 7 | $26,425 |
| 8 | $22,050 |
| 9 | $18,200 |
| 10-11 | $14,725 |
| 12-15 | $12,275 |
| 16-23 | $10,525 |
| 24-31 | $8,800 |
| 32-39 | $7,450 |
| 40-55 | $6,125 |
| 56-58 | $4,825 |
Players will return to play at 1:15 with 6 minutes left in Level 17, with blinds returning to 4,000/8,000, with an 8,000 big blind ante. All following levels will be upped to 40 minutes each with a 15-minute break occurring at the conclusion of every three levels. A 40-minute dinner break will be provided on Day 2 and play will continue until a winner is crowned.
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