The focus of the WPT Online Series has been on the massive WPTDeepStacks for the past couple days with attempts made to reach the final table. A bumper crowd of 3,554 players have been whittled to a more manageable 18 and it’s Russia’s Maksim Bukreev who is the chip leader right now.
Bukreev returns to the felt armed with 12,489,620 chips and in pole position for the huge $557,658 first-place prize. Bukreev won’t have matters his own way because there are some very talented poker players in the chasing pack. Each of them will have a say in where the title finishes up.
British star Phil Mighall is the player closest to Bukreev in terms of chips. The Brighton-based grinder is the only other player to return to the action with an eight-figure stack. Mighall has 11,196,277 chips at the restart and has a realistic chance of glory.
Other household names to bag up a top 10 stack at the conclusion of Day 2 included Luke Martinelli (8,493,085), former MILLIONS Online champion Jon Van Fleet (8,338,413), Peter Chien (6,883,622), and Jareth East ($5,641,535).
Two members of Team partypoker are lurking outside the top 10 chip counts and are still in the hunt for the title.
Joni Jouhkimainen is the best placed of this duo. Our Finnish star sits back down at 21:00 CET with a 4,847,848 stack. Everyone’s favourite Scotsman Ludovic Geilich is one place behind Jouhkimainen with 3,957,765 chips in his arsenal.
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maksim Bukreev | Russia | 12,489,620 |
| 2 | Phil Mighall | United Kingdom | 11,196,277 |
| 3 | Luke Martinelli | New Zealand | 8,493,085 |
| 4 | Jon Van Fleet | Canada | 8,338,413 |
| 5 | Timothy Begley | Brazil | 7,895,559 |
| 6 | Dimitrios Farmakoulis | United Kingdom | 7,020,158 |
| 7 | Peter Chien | Canada | 6,883,622 |
| 8 | Rimantas Boguzas | Lithuania | 6,776,683 |
| 9 | Jareth East | United Kingdom | 5,641,535 |
| 10 | Mihail Zavoloka | Russia | 5,491,227 |
Mini WPTDeepStacks To Pay Its Champion $157K!
The only thing mini about the Mini WPTDeepStacks is the word in its title because a massive $156,956 awaits the champion. If the tournament ended now it would be Brazilian sensation Murilo Branco Ruiz who would get his hands on this sum as he’s the overnight chip leader.
Ruiz has 17,158,908 chips in his stack, or a shade of 68 big blinds at the restart. Thirty-eight players remain and there are some legitimate stars among those returning players.
United Kingdom’s Marc Wright (15,696,899) certainly knows his way around a poker table. As does former Irish Open champion Griffin Benger (12,021,526) and Michael Tureneic (10,448,011).
Canada’s Shawn Buchanan (10,283,944), Jan-Eric Schwippert (8,543,801), Paul Van Nunes (5,296,742), and Kenneth Hicks (4,218,789) are also among the returning players.
Play resumed at 21:00 CET on May 27.
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murilo Branco Ruiz | Brazil | 17,158,908 |
| 2 | Alessandro Ferrari | United Kingdom | 16,135,943 |
| 3 | Marc Wright | United Kingdom | 15,696,899 |
| 4 | Ignacio Gaspari | Argentina | 15,465,362 |
| 5 | Anton Yakuba | Ukraine | 13,545,777 |
| 6 | Peter Haden | Sweden | 12,289,309 |
| 7 | Griffin Benger | Canada | 12,021,526 |
| 8 | Ivan Banic | Croatia | 11,947,067 |
| 9 | Bernado Soares | Brazil | 11,422,496 |
| 10 | Michael Tureniec | Sweden | 10,448,011 |
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