The behemoth field of the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee $1,675 Main Event was reduced to just 16 players on Sunday night after an action-packed Day 2 of play. The tournament attracted a total of 957 entries over two starting flights played on Friday and Saturday.

Action on Day 2 developed quite quickly and it took three levels of play for the money bubble to burst. The Main Event featured a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million, which was exceeded by nearly half a million thanks to the great interest in the tournament. The amount of $1,435,000 was generated in prize money and was split into 99 portions, min-cashes starting from $2,943. Milan Dragic was the first player to leave with a payout.

Brad Albrinck, the player who was crowned the victor of last December’s edition of the tournament, was eliminated on Day 2. Luckily, the player made it into the money. He busted in 21st place, good for $11,857.

The 16 remaining players are set to return to the host casino, Harrah’s Cherokee, at noon local time. They will be seated at two tables initially, and will have to play down to a final table and then to a winner. Each of the hopefuls is guaranteed a minimum cash of $14,226. And each of the top three finishers will leave with a minimum six-figure payout of $124,515. The winner will receive the amount of $272,744 as well as a WSOP Circuit gold ring.

The 16 survivors will be led by Charles Johnson, who bagged and tagged a total of 2.38 million in chips on Sunday night. This would be the Georgia-based player’s fourth cash from the WSOP Circuit. He has not won a gold ring from the series before, but has now secured himself with an excellent position to try to win the Harrah’s Cherokee gold piece and title.

Johnson catapulted himself into the leading position late on Day 2. The player collected a massive pot by eliminating Robert Hankins towards the end of play. Hankins, an eight-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner, ran into Johnson’s set with pocket queens to leave the tournament in 18th place, good for $14,226.

Ryan Jones, who is known to be a Harrah’s Cherokee regular, finished second in chips last night with 1.935 million. The player is vying for his second Harrah’s Cherokee title after he won one back in 2015. He bested a field of 786 entries back then to eventually collect his first-ever gold ring and the amount of $235,804. Jones has won one more Circuit gold piece over the course of his poker career.

In February 2017, he emerged the victor in the WSOP Circuit Rio Las Vegas $1,675 Main Event for his second piece of WSOP Circuit jewelry and the amount of $269,327. Jones now has nearly $600,000 in winnings from Circuit tournaments.

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