Jason Potter Leads Day 2 of WPT World Poker Challenge

Scary-eyed poker pro Phil Ivey is lurking in the top five after Day 2 of the WPT World Poker Challenge. (Bodog Beat Image)

Just as we predicted because we are MENSA level prognosticators, the end of Day 2 of the WPT World Poker Challenge dragged on as the players caught a glimpse of the money bubble. However, no matter how long the players tried to hold on, the inevitability of poker narrowed the field down from its starting 75 to the 27 who bagged and tagged their chips last night, knowing that they would at least get their buy-in dollars back.

Sitting atop the field once the grind to the money played out was Jason Potter with 351,700 in chips. As you may remember, Potter is the poker player who was mugged and robbed of $31,000 in cash during the Aussie Millions tournament in Melbourne. Although arrests were made, returned his money was not. So, a nice payday here would go a long way toward replenishing his funds.

Lurking behind him in this still talent-laden field are poker pros Jordan Rich (2nd - 327,900), Phil Ivey (5th - 286,100), Michael Mizrachi (6th - 255,900), David "The Dragon" Pham (8th - 195,100), Chau Giang (11th - 159,800) and Erick Seidel (12th - 138,600). Also surviving the day is Team Bodog online poker player Jonathan "UFPokerStar" Westra, who is sitting in 19th with 69,300 in chips.

Live updates of Day 3 play are available over at WorldPokerTour.com. All remaining players will take home at least $18,733 but most will have their eyes on the $493,815 first-place prize. Stay tuned to the Beat and we'll keep you updated on the action.