Robert Hankins is eyeing WSOP Circuit gold ring number nine with his participation in the record-breaking $365 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed at Harrah’s Cherokee, which is the current host venue of the popular poker series.

Hankins bagged the second largest chip stack last night to secure himself with an excellent position for the start of Day 2 of the above-mentioned tournament. The player was one of the 17 survivors who made it through the day. Rick Drake was the player to scoop the largest stack at the end of the day. The player finished the event’s first day of play with a total of 890,000 and with commanding chip lead. As for Hankins, he collected a total of 671,000 at the end of the event’s first day to rank second in the chip counts chart.

The $365 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed or Event #4 on the schedule of the ongoing WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee is a two-day event. The tournament attracted a record-breaking field of 607 entries who generated a prize pool of $182,100. The money was split in 66 uneven portions, with min-cashes starting from $545.

The event’s structure allowed for speedy action, which eventually resulted in the original field being reduced to just 17 players. The remaining survivors will return to the host venue later today to battle it out to an eventual winner. The champion will receive the gold piece of WSOP Circuit jewelry and the amount of $36,346 in prize money.

It can be said without doubt that the Tennessee-based poker pro is among WSOP Circuit’s most prolific players in terms of gold pieces won from the series. As mentioned earlier, the player has won eight gold rings so far. He captured his first WSOP Circuit trophy back in 2010 when he took down a $230 No-Limit Hold’em tournament at Harrah’s Tunica.

It is interesting to note that it took him four years before taking down another Circuit event. The player won his second gold piece in 2014 and at the same venue he collected his first one. Hankins has been on a particularly hot streak since then, winning six more gold rings over the past three years and cashing in a number of WSOP Circuit tournaments.

To be more precise, the player has actually made 63 in-the-money finishes in WSOP Circuit events since the beginning of his poker career and has collected a little less than $650,000 in the process.

If Hankins wins a ninth gold piece today, he will tie with Alexandru Masek and Valentin Vornicu, who are the other two players to have collected that many gold rings. Here it is also important to note that Hankins will also be just a single gold ring behind the absolute record-breaker Maurice Hawkins.

Day 2 action of the Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em tournament is scheduled to kick off at 1 pm local time at Harrah’s Cherokee with 17 players hungry for quality poker action and a gold ring.

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