Poker Pro Josh Arieh Still On Top at New Orleans WSOP Circuit Event

Bodog poker pro Josh Arieh is the chip leader heading into the final table of the New Orleans WSOP Circuit event championship. (Bodog Beat Image)

The top of the leaderboard at the WSOP Circuit event championship at Harrah's New Orleans did not change much during Day 2. Well, the very top at least. Bodog poker pro Josh Arieh finished the day exactly where he started, sitting in the top spot.

Arieh began the day with 140,000 in chips with 49 other competitors in the field. There were no real challenges to his lead during the course of the day and he went on to build his stack up to 510,000 with only eight other players left between him and the win. He currently has a 186,000 chip lead over second-place David Fox.

We don't like to make ridiculous predictions or jinx anyone, but still...

The final table also features defending champ Lou Esposito but he is sitting in the short stack (490,000 behind Arieh) and will have a mountain to climb if he's looking for a repeat performance.

Here are all of the final table chip counts:

Josh Arieh – 510,000
David Fox – 324,000
Ted McCollom – 252,500
Leonard Pruzansky – 174,000
Bruce MacGregor – 123,500
Philip Sparta – 85,500
Nic Gellepis – 65,000
Andy Philachack – 35,000
Lou Esposito – 20,500

Play resumes at 2pm CT. PokerNews.com has live updates and we'll keep you posted on Arieh's title bid.

UPDATE:   Players are now on dinner break at the final table. There are three left and Arieh still has the lead with 700k.