Tripp Kirk Leads as Bubble Looms in Event #49
Tripp Kirk looks to be the chip leader going into Day 2 of Event #49, the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Kirk turned his 4,500 starting stack into a tournament leading 101,000 chips and is the man to catch when play resumes on Friday afternoon.
Kirk is a regular on the WSOP Circuit where he has 19 cashes and a handful of final table appearances. Kirk also has two WSOP in the money finishes on his poker résumé; a 70th place finish in a $1,000 buy-in event in 2010 and a 16th place finish in a $1,500 event in 2011.
Hot on Kirk’s heels are a plethora of talented players and big name professional players. Germany’s Thomas Butzhammer has 92,900 chips, which are enough to place him second overall going into Day 2. Butzhammer has two cashes so far at the 2013 WSOP and is odds on to make the money in this event.
Other notables vying for the $546,080 first place prize and the coveted WSOP bracelet include Lily Newhouse (90,000), Ryan Reiss (84,600), Dutchman Govert Metaal (80,900), the in-form Russell Crane (79,700), Eric Baldwin (73,900), Matt Stout (56,500), Erica Lindgren (43,400), David Peters (42,600), and Faraz Jaka (23,500).
Day 2 gets underway at 2 p.m sharp on Friday inside the vast Amazon Room and the players will continue to bet, raise, three-bet and bluff until 10 60-minute levels have been completed. The money bubble is guaranteed to burst because from the 2,247 players who started the day with high hopes only 257 remain and of those, 243 will receive prize money.
Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team from 2 p.m local time as we bring you all the action, as it happens, from Event #49 of the 2013 WSOP.
**Late Edit** We received a message through that indicates Kirk may not be the chip leader, but a Brent Becker is. Becker has apparently bagged up 108,400 chips which would make him the man to catch. As soon as the official chip counts are in from the WSOP, we will update accordingly.