Connor Daynard soars above Day 1B field at WPT Playground

The second Day 1 flight of the $3,500 World Poker Tour Playground Championship wrapped up after ten levels of action and drew 229 entrants. Connor Daynard leads the advancing 73 players with 435,500.

Jeffrey Reardon (388,500) and Adam Cader (383,500) form the chase pack with Bradley Ellis, Jeff Cormier, and Rob Wazwaz finishing in the top ten stacks.

Mike Leah shook off his Day 1A woes that saw him struggle to gain any traction and bagged a healthy 253,500. Michael Noor, Phil Kessel, and Wenping Chen finished with an average stack.

Wang's world tour continues

Michael Wang bagged up 222,500 to earn a badly needed day off before Sunday’s Day 2. He’s been on a world tour since August and is looking forward to time on the couch.

Michael Wang has flown over 31,000 miles in the last eight weeks.

Alicia Skillman

Ema Zajmovic, the only female open WPT champion, finished with just shy of double the starting stack for a Day 2 run and she’s joined by Mathieu Daigneault, Derek Dufour, and John Tabago have their work cut out for them as short stacks.

Erik Lemarquand, Marc Normand, and Howard Feingold took the felt today but did not advance and look to be in action on Day 1C.

Defending champ David Dongwoo Ko joined the field today strapped with his belt. He was all smiles, let people take photos with it but said he hopes to have a pair of belts. He was eliminated after the dinner break and should be in Saturday’s field.

David Dongwoo Ko is mounting a title defense but he will need Saturday's flight.

ALICIA SKILLMAN

One more flight

Day 1A drew 143 entrants with 44 advancing to Sunday’s Day 2, which puts the total up to 118 players qualified for Sunday.

Saturday is the final Day 1 flight and tournament officials are ready for any size crowd with two auxiliary areas with tables if needed. They’ll play the same ten-level schedule and have a short turnaround with Day 2 starting about 12 hours from when 1C finishes.

On the other side of the room, the $1,150 WPT Prime event played down to a winner. Sixteen players returned for Day 3 and Yunkyu Song took down the event for $164,251.

Top Five Chip Counts

^{All photos courtesy of World Poker Tour - Alicia Skillman}