Bodog Beat

Poker pro Daniel Negreanu made some serious moves during yesterday's play at the WPT Festa al Lago to move into the chip lead. (Bodog Beat Image)

Players dropped like flies during Day 2 of the WPT Festa al Lago. A lot of them. And not just the short-stacks coming into the day, but several of the big stacks, including the chip leader. It was a tumultuous day and in the end 60% of the players who arrived at the Bellagio yesterday morning ended up leaving much earlier than they would've liked.

None left as surprisingly early as the chip leader to start the day, Antonio Esfandiari. The poker magician began the day with a more than 100k chip lead over second place but proceeded to lose half of his chip stack within the first level. Even a minor comeback couldn't help the WPT-sponsored pro pull anything out of his sleeve, and he ended the day by fueling the rise of the new chip leader, Daniel Negreanu. Esfandiari ran pocket aces into Negreanu's set of jacks and then A-J into A-Q to say goodbye.

Negreanu is now the one sitting on a comfortable 50k over second place, but he has several players not too far behind that mark looking to take him down, and if yesterday showed anything, it's that the chip leader isn't safe no matter how big the chip lead may be. Among those players that made moves up the leader board is Team Bodog poker pro Justin Bonomo, who started the day with a below average stack but finished the day sitting in third. He is joined in the top ten by Nenad Medic, JC Tran, Jennifer Tilly and Joe Sebok with many more well-known poker players ranged out below that.

The remaining 104 players return to the Bellagio in just a few hours to play closer to the $1,411,015 first-place price in order to become the next WPT-Made Millionaire. The money bubble bursts with 50 players left standing and if yesterday's pace is any indication, then that should come about 15 minutes after play starts.

Stay tuned for more WPT Festa al Lago updates from the Bodog Beat and don't forget that you can get started on your way to becoming a WPT millionaire for as little as a $1. Check out how to qualify online for the WPT and get one of the $12,000 Player's Choice packages on offer.