2017 World Series of Poker

Just 15 players remain in contention in Event #51: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, and storylines abound as the tournament heads to Day 3.

First off, there's Josh Arieh, who bagged the chip lead with a massive 1,695,000, giving him a wide lead over second-place Bruce Yamron (1,040,000).

Most famous for his third-place finish in the WSOP Main Event in 2004, Arieh already has two bracelets. He took down a $3,000 Limit Hold'em in 1999 and a $2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha in 2005. He's in prime position for his third after bagging more than 15 percent of the total chips.

Then there's Chris Ferguson, who finished with 486,000. The man once known as "Jesus" to the poker world has spent the past few years as persona non grata, only daring to show his face at the WSOP again in 2016. Ferguson put forth a strong effort that year and has followed it this year by piling up more cashes.

Those cashes have put him squarely in the WSOP Player of the Year race, where he sits in seventh at the time of writing, but the man atop the leaderboard also remains in this event. Ray Henson, who has a slight lead over Ryan Hughes — Hughes soft bubbled this tournament on Day 2 after a tough beat at the hands of Mark Herm — bagged a roughly average stack of 588,000.

The money bubble eventually did burst, but it took an extended level and some time putting off a break. Eventually, Ben Lamb went down in 33rd. Start-of-day leader Dario Sammartino, Phil Hui, John Monnette, Scott Clements and Fabrice Soulier were some of those making it into the money but failing to see bagging time.

The remaining players return to Brasilia Room at 2 p.m. Wednesday for Day 3, and a winner will be crowned who will take home over $500,000. Come back to PokerNews to see who it will be.

Damjan Radanov raised in the cutoff, John Monnette stuck in about 100,000 on a reraise for most of his stack, and Josh Arieh repotted in the big blind to chase away Radanov.

Monnette:
Arieh:

"How do you wake up with that?" Monnette wondered aloud.

The board ran out , no help to Monnette after he missed his flush draw.

Tyler Groth potted for 96,000 on a board of , and Bryce Yockey called. On the river, Groth potted again and Yockey snap-called.

"Wheel," Groth said, tabling . "Oh my God. Full house."

A disgusted Yockey mucked .

"That's like the seventh time I've had a full house and a low and gotten scooped in this tournament," he said in frustration.

"I forgot I had that," Groth said, leaning back in his seat and apologizing for the slowroll.

Christopher Roth raised to 36,000 from under the gun and both Damjan Radanov and Ari Engel called.

The flop landed and both Engel and Roth checked to Radanov who bet 40,000. Engel moved all in for 87,000, and once Roth folded, Radanov called.

Radanov:
Engel:

The turn of the opened up outs for Radanov, and when the on the river completed his flush, Engel was eliminated in 17th place for a $16,675 payday.

Damjan Radanov has just found a double through Ari Engel.

Radanov held with the final board reading . Engel held , and after the river helped his opponent, Engel dropped down to 95,000 in chips.

We didn't see when the money went in, but Ryan Lenaghan got in against the of Viatcheslav Ortynskiy, with a final board of between them. Ortynskiy had flopped top two and turned a boat, and he doubled for 205,000, leaving Lenaghan with about 70,000 back. He busted that in short order.

From the button, Kate Hoang raised to 40,000 and Michael Kong called in the big blind.

The flop fell and Kong bet out 88,000 before Hoang announced a raise. Kong pushed in his remaining 65,000 and the cards were tabled.

Hoang:
Kong:

The turn and river landed the and and Kong was eliminated in 19th place for a $16,675 payday as Hoang climbed back up to 700,000 in chips.