Rahul Byrraju 2nd in Chips With 23 Players Remaining in WSOP Event 56

A fairly large contingent of Indian poker players has descended upon the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino to play at this years` WSOP. For many players, it is their first appearance at a WSOP event but for almost all of them it’s living a dream – a personal goal to win the WSOP bracelet.

One player seems closer to realizing this dream today i.e. Rahul Byrraju (cover image). Hyderabad based Rahul Byrraju is a regular high stakes cash game player and certainly no stranger to tournament success. He won the Macau Poker Cup high rollers event for over USD $80,000 in June 2011. He already has one-cash ($3,020) to his name (60th place finish in event 45) at this years` WSOP and is guaranteed to improve on this record, as he is presently 2nd in chips with just 23 players remaining out of a starting field of 1,736 in event 56: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em at the WSOP.

Day 2 of event 56 saw 243 hopefuls looking to make it in the money where only the top 198 players would be assured a payday. It took an hour of play to reach this milestone but not without incident as many notables fell to the rails along the way. Among those who failed to make it to day 3 of the event included Eric Seidel, Dan Smith, Pius Heinz and Jesse Sylvia.

The mild mannered Rahul Byrraju has a playing style, which is in stark contrast to his personality and the Indian maverick saw a swingy day to make it to the top in chips. His biggest pot of the day came from Chris Karambinis who doubled him up to almost 478K in chips when his King high straight was beaten by Rahul`s nut flush on the board .

Rahul Byrraju is presently 2nd in chips (1,190,000) behind OJ Ojiri (1,510,000) who is leading the pack of 23 players at the end of day 2 in event 56. The final 23 will re-convene tomorrow to play down till the winner and the $730,756 (over ₹4 crores) first prize. Will India claim its first WSOP bracelet tomorrow? Keep watching this space to find out!

Follow the complete live coverage of this event on WSOP.com