Defending Champ Aaron 'AJ' Cummings Among Final 11 in $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw

Last year, Aaron Cummings overcame a 574-player field in this event to win his first and only World Series of Poker bracelet thus far. A tire shop owner in Montana, Cummings only plays poker recreationally and occasionally dips into Vegas, as Montana has very few games running.

With work and family being his focus since his victory last year, the recreational player may not have had the highest hopes for a title defense coming in. That being said, after two full days of playing, he still finds himself in contention for the first successful WSOP title defense since Dan Cates' Poker Player Championship wins in 2021 and 2022.

Out of a field that once contained 574 hopefuls, only 10 players now stand between him and one of the most improbable feats in all of poker.

Cummings will resume his back-to-back quest at 1 p.m. local time in the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, where the lion's share of the $842,963 prize pool will be up for grabs. Besides the coveted bracelet, the winner will walk away $157,172 richer.

Chip Counts After Day 2

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Hideki Nakamura	Japan	2,920,000
2	Mike Krescanko Jr	United States	2,150,000
3	Andres Korn	Argentina	1,970,000
4	Travis Erdman	United States	1,725,000
5	James Tilton	United States	1,580,000
6	Nathan Gamble	United States	1,500,000
7	Aaron Cummings	United States	1,025,000
8	Kristan Lord	United States	1,000,000
9	David Mead	United States	740,000
10	Jon Turner	United States	710,000
11	Brandon Shack-Harris	United States	550,000

Cummings will return eight in chips (1,025,000), putting him in the bottom half of the pack at the start of the final day. In order to win, the Montanan will have to plow his way through a stacked field containing such luminaries as Andres Korn (1,970,000), Nathan Gamble (1,500,000), Jon Turner (710,000), and Brandon Shack-Harris (550,000).

After topping the standings for most of the day, Shack-Harris tumbled down the leaderboard in the final few hours to be left with the shortest stack in the room. Other top pros such as Nick Guagenti (12th - $7,954) and Robert Mizrachi (15th - $7,954) also had deep runs, but while Shack-Harris was still able to find a bag, Guagenti and Mizrachi both got eliminated in the twilight stages of the day.

Coming back as the overnight chipleader is Japan's Hideki Nakamura with 2,920,000 in chips, sporting a healthy lead over the rest of the field led by the youngest of the Krescanko's, Mike Krescanko Jr (2.150,000), who was flanked by his father Mike Krescanko on the rail for a sizable portion of the day. The aforementioned Korn rounds out the top three.

Make sure to return at 1 p.m. Pacific time for the climax of this three-day event. As always, PokerNews will be on deck to cover the action wire-to-wire until the latest bracelet winner is crowned. Until then!