WPT Foxwoods Day 2: Only 68 survive

After two exciting days of poker, 2006 champ Nenad Medic is among the more notable survivors as less than 20% of the original starting field progress into Day 3.

Another two thirds of the 206 runners who started Day 2 were shed from the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals today. Nenad Medic (pictured right) who won this event in 2006 and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi are among the more notable names in the surviving pool.

The chip average is currently at 155,735 and Medic is just about average with 151,300 chips. "The Grinder" meanwhile fought it out among the chip leaders for most of the day but saw himself fall behind towards the end. Mizrachi ended Day 2 with just 216,000 chips, less than half of the stack of the current chip leader.

Big stacks battle for the chip lead

With the biggest stacks in the card room not being separated by too many chips, they battled it out for the bragging rights of the chip lead in the final level. Christian Harder, Todd Terry, Terrence Chan and Soheil Shamseddin all took at stab at the chip lead but it was Steven Merrifield who took the honour in the end.

Merrifield's lead came courtesy of a late confrontation with "The Grinder" (pictured right). Merrifield made fours full of queens to take a big chunk out of Mizrachi's chip stack. After that big pot, he ended the day with 465,100 chips while Mizrachi fell further down the pecking order to stake his claim on the $910,058 winner's purse.

Just 32 eliminations on Day 3 will see the money bubble pop and give the 36 remaining players a guaranteed payout of $21,588. Only 6 players will make it into the televised WPT final table and an appearance there is worth at least $166,06.

Here are the 10 biggest chip stacks at the close of the Day 2:

WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals Day 2 Standings
Place	Name	Chips
1st	Steven Merrifield	465,100
2nd	Soheil Shamseddin	401,000
3rd	Todd Terry	396,500
4th	Terrence Chan	394,200
5th	Curt Kohlberg	370,000
6th	Frank Calo	361,200
7th	Christian Harder	330,400
8th	Jesse Martin	329,800
9th	Joe Serock	277,000
10th	Adam Gerber	270,000