Day 2 of the World Poker Tour Festa al Lago Championship at the Bellagio, saw a little less than 200 surviving Day 1 players, slowly merge with 30 new players who opted to join the event one day late. 

Bolstered by this final group of latecomers that included Phil Hellmuth, Andy Bloch, Kenny Tran, Howard Lederer and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, the total field size for the Festa al Lago Championship reached 275 players; almost 100 less than last year, but still a fairly good size turnout given the overall state of both the poker and real world economy.

Once tournament registration finally closed around 5:30 pm Vegas time on Day 2, the number of players playing quickly whittled down throughout the course of the rest of the evening, eventually leaving only 98 left to compete for a top prize worth $1,218,225.

Some of those players set to return when Day 3 begins again today include Haralabos Voulgaris, Prahlad Friedman, Vivek "FLOG" Rajkumar, Freddy Deeb, Mike Matusow, Justin Bonomo and Mark Seif, currently in second place behind chip leader Jason Somerville.

For more information on Day 2 of the WPT Festa al Lago Championship, or to check out Day 3 live updates, photos and videos from our own Amanda Leatherman visit www.worldpokertour.com.


Story by Mark Anderson