Making a last-minute decision to fly to Florida and buy-in, Vedes registered at the last possible moment at noon on Day 2.
A frequent late-registerer in tournaments, Vedes had no problems wiith the 200/400 blinds and was on the right side of a few coolers to run his 30k starting stack all the way up to 253,300 in just five levels.
Vedes ended Day 2 second overall in chips to Texan Clyde Hinton who holds the chip lead with 262,900.
2010 November Niner John Dolan, one of the Day 1 chip leaders, also had a strong day. Dolan over the chip lead at one point before finishing the day in fourth with 224,300.
William Brown (227,800) and Michael Lind (219,600) round out the top five heading into Day 3 tomorrow.
102 Players Return for Day 3, Money Hits at 27
Of the 210+ who returned for Day 2 just 102 made it through the day, but there’s no shortage of veteran pros well stacked to make a move tomorrow.
Among the contenders are Kyle Bowker (213,400), Fred Goldberg (183,800), Andrew Lichtenberger (149,000), Joe Serock (127,500), Matt Waxman (122,400) Ebony Kenney (104,300), Matt Marafioti (76,300) and Jonathan Little (73,500).
Hanging on closer to the bottom of the chip counts are Chad Brown (44,800), Matt Giannetti (43,700), Ashton Griffin (39,300), David Sands (32,300), Dan O’Brien (28,300), Tristan Wade (28,000) and Lauren Kling (19,000).
Notable bustouts today included Christian Harder, Andy Frankenberger, Jason Mercier, Allen Kessler, Chino Rheem and reigning champ Taylor von Kriegenbergh.
Payouts don’t hit until 27 players are left so there’s still a ways to go to the money.
A min cash is worth $25,056 with $779,520 on the table for the winner. Top 5 in chips to end Day 2: 1. Clyde Hinton - 262,900 2. Tommy Vedes - 235,300 3. William Brown - 227,800 4. John Dolan - 224,300 5. Michael Lind - 219,600
Follow the updates live at WPT.com; check Jess Welman's interview with Vedes below:
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