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The third stop of World Poker Tour’s California Swing – the $3,500 Rolling Thunder at Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento – wrapped up two Day 1 flights with 376 total entrants. Day 1B chip leader Ting Ho edged out 1A chip leader Dhaval Joshi by two black chips to grab the overall lead heading into play for Day 2.

Ho spoke with the WPT following play and said she had pocket aces twice near the end of the night. She got her aces cracked in the first hand by an opponent that made a straight holding nine six, then she chipped up big against an opponent that held ace king against her aces the second time.

The WPT blog had some fun with Allen Kessler, reporting a hand where bluffed with jack high and showed.

Registration remains open for two hours into Day 2 so the $1.2 million prize pool could get a touch juicier for the expected 36 – 45 players that make the money.

Eric Baldwin, JC Tran and Ben Zamani bagged up six-figure stacks on Day 1A with Ari Engel, Tyler Patterson, Dan O’Brien and Eddy Sabat clearing the century mark from Day 1B.

Players that entered all three events of the WPT California Swing – the LAPC Main Event, the Bay 101 Shooting Star and Rolling Thunder – qualify for the WPT California Swing title race. At this point Mike Sexton leads with 227 points, but doesn’t qualify for the title as an employee of the WPT, which leaves 2016 Super High Roller Bowl winner Rainer Kempe the effective leader with 207 points.

Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Ting Ho – 181,300
2. Dhaval Joshi – 181,100
3. Jon Borenstein – 173,800
4. Ben Barad – 172,700
5. Michael Tureniec – 146,000
6. Kelly Douglas – 139,100
7. Alan Bittikofer – 132,500
8. Eric Baldwin – 113,700
9. JC Tran – 112,900
10. Kou Vang – 111,400