Stars dot leaderboard after Day 2C of WSOP Main Event

A handful of former champions are still alive in the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship after Day 2C action ended early Friday at the Rio Convention Center.

David Jackson of Jacksonville, Fla., finished with 408,800 chips and had the unofficial lead for the final starting flight.

The Main Event continues at noon today with Day 3 as approximately 1,800 survivors from the three starting flights are combined . The tournament runs through Tuesday, and the final nine players return Nov. 8 at the Rio’s Penn & Teller Theater for the final table.

The top 1,000 places are guaranteed to take home a minimum $15,000 payout, and each member of the “November Nine” final table will earn a seven-figure score, with ninth place worth $1,001,020.

Former Main Event champions Ryan Reiss (291,700), Scotty Nguyen (181,200), Joe Hachem (148,500) and Phil Hellmuth (88,800) bagged chips at the end of Day 2C. Other notable professional poker players still alive include Matt Glantz (306,00), Las Vegas residents Antonio Esfandiari (176,100) and Daniel Negreanu (123,600), five-time bracelet winner Daniel Alaei (199,800) and J.C. Tran (113,700), who made the “November Nine” final table in 2013.

Zach Jiganti of San Francisco (401,900) finished Day 2C unofficially in second place, followed by Reno’s Shawn Van Alsdale (388,000), Louis Salter of London (344,400) and Hugo Perez of Plano, Texas (343,300). Also near the top of the leaderboard with approximately 285,000 chips is Spanish phenom Adrian Mateos Diaz of Madrid, who turned 21 this month and already owns World Series of Poker Europe and European Tour Grand Final titles.

None of the chip totals from Day 2C surpassed those from Day 2A/B, and Amar Anand will be the overall leader when play resumes Friday.

Ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey won’t duplicate last year’s Main Event run as he was eliminated Thursday. Also hitting the rail was professional poker player Ronnie Bardah, who set a record last year with his fifth consecutive Main Event in-the-money finish.

Former Main Event winners Jamie Gold, Huck Seed, Peter Eastgate and Robert Varkonyi all were eliminated on Day 2C, as was actor Ray Romano.

CHIP COUNTS

1, David Jackson (Jacksonville, Fla.) 408,800

2, Zach Jiganti (San Francisco) 401,900

3, Shawn Van Asdale (Reno) 388,000

4, Jens Lakemeier (Germany) 360,000

5, Hugo Perez (Plano, Texas) 345,300

6, Louis Salter (London) 344,400

7, Justin Schwartz (Milford, Conn.) 320,900

8, Salvatore Dicarlo (Las Vegas) 312,200

9, Ville Mattila (Orimattila, Finland)

10, Hans Joaquim Hein (Sehnde, Germany) 308,800