It’s been a brisk weekend in Las Vegas, where the last few scheduled events in the enlarged program (73 events this year) were coming to a close as Day 1 entries for the Main Event topped 795 players – an increase on the corresponding entries last year of 764, and the largest Day 1 field since 2013, when 943 hopefuls signed up for the first day.
The enthusiastic response to registration in the $10,000 buy-in event raised hopes that 2017 Main Event entries may surpass last year’s total of 6,737, and provide a boost to improve on 2016″s overall WSOP entries of 107,833 players from 107 nations, which enabled cashes totalling $221 million.
The Day 1 action ended with Morten Mortensen in the lead and bagging 279,000 chips, pursued by Brit player Sam Grafton on 240,000.
Among those competing were former WSOP Main Event champions Qui Nguyen, who survived the day and goes through for the next round; 2014 victor Martin Jacobson, who had a bad start and battled most of the day to survive, albeit on a low chip count; and Jerry Yang (2007) who was less fortunate and busted out in the final level of Day 1.
The weekend also saw a number of other events completed:
Event 66, the last of the $1,500 buy-in NLHE competitions attracted 1,956 entries and ran to a fourth day before heads up opponents Chris Klodnicki and Jamaican pro Emile Schiff finalised the matter. When the extra day began it looked to be Schiff’s for the taking; he had 9.76 million chips to Klodnicki’s 4.91 million and was playing aggressively and with confidence. However the more experienced Klodnicki (he has around $9 million in career earnings) stayed calm and doubled up to begin a 61-hand fightback that saw him ultimately claim victory and the $428,423 first prize.
Event 60, a $1,500 buy-in Razz competition, attracted a number of top international players that included Phil Hellmuth and Benny Glaser, but it was Chicago IT specialist Jason Gola (40) who emerged the victor after starting the third and last day among the top five chip counts. Gola faced poker pro David ‘ODB’ Baker in the heads up with a significant chip deficit, but fought a spirited and impressive come-back to emerge the victor and claim the $132,957 first prize.
Event 68 was a $3,000 buy-in NLHE contest which was won by Florida player Harrison Gimbel (26), who claimed his first bracelet and $645,922 in first prize money. Heads up with a serious disadvantage in chips against the redoubtable Chance Kornuth, Gimbel scored an early double up that put him back in the game and enabled him to best Kornuth, who earned $399,132.
Event 70, the $10,000 buy-in Ladies NLHE Championship, attracted a field of 718 and was still in the balance when InfoPowa went to press Sunday morning GMT. Leading the pack on the second day was Parm Mehmi on 120,000, chased by Deborah Worley-Roberts (114,900).
Event 72, the $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud Championship was also still playing out as the field of 88 players thinned to just 29 returning for the second day of the competition. John Monnette held the chip lead on 371,000 chips at the end of the first day, followed by Perry Friedman on 363,500.