The WSOP 2019 Main Event moved on to its second starting flight yesterday, leaving the 375 lost souls from day 1A in its wake. With the second of three day 1’s playing out, the Rio was full of players hoping to follow the 960 survivors from the day before. The field size for day 1A was unusually large at 1,335 and players were understandably interested to see if this trend would be repeated for day 1B.
Day 1B overview
The potential huge field suggested by a 44% rise in day1A has not materialised in day 1B, with the 1,915 entries yesterday representing a drop in numbers from last year, bringing the total combined field for days 1A and B to 3,250. This is very slightly less than the 3,303 of last year. 4th of July celebrations could provide the reason for the shift in which days players wanted to register for, but we are now currently on track for a similar number to 2018.
Day 1B chip leaders
Currently leading the way after the second starting day is UK pro Adam Owen (351,800). With almost $3.3 million in lives cashes, Owen is no stranger to wielding a stack in tournaments. He is followed by Gary Blackwood (330,200) and three-time bracelet winner Asi Moshe (330,200). Tyler Gaston is also close (329,200). The next closest player is Allen Kessler with 301,800, with the rest of the chasing pack all beneath the 300,000 mark.
Notable names going through to day 2
Among the big-stack survivors from yesterday’s action are: Galen Hall (295,700), 2019 bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski (221,900), Olivier Busquet (180,300), Christoph Vogelsang (172,100), Prahlad Friedman (152,400), Anthony Spinella (142,500) and Mark Radoja (139,000).
A little further down the order we have Jonathan Little (110,400), Owais Ahmed (110,400), Jon Turner (107,900), Andre Akkari (103,600), Scott Seiver (89,600), Ryan Riess (89,300), Alex Lynskey (86,600), Greg Raymer (73,100), Daniel Negreanu (71,800), Loren Klein (65,000), Joe Hachem (61,000) and Maria Ho (60,100). Well below starting stack but still alive are Greg Merson (25,000) and Chris Ferguson (36,100).
Asian players progressing to day 2
Among the Asian hopefuls still fighting with above starting stacks are: Chinese players Yue Du (236,300), Jiaxiu Liu (202,800) and Chuanshu Chen (178,000). Also in contention is India’s Aditya Systla (162,700), Japan’s Takao Shimizu (152,600), Korea’s Daniel Lee (144,000), China’s Youcef Zalagh (125,000), India’s Siddarth Karia (123,300), China’s Dong Sheng Peng (122,000), Korea’s Steve Yea (117,600), Japan’s Kazuki Sasaki (112,100), India’s Ankit Ahuja (111,100), Yi Jack Deng (110,400), Japan’s Sota Sato (97,900) and China’s Wenhua Yin (93,000).
Further down but still above starting stack are: Hong Kong’s Yik Chiu (91,600), Korea’s Sung Joo Hyun (86,800), China’s Cao Siyou (85,000), India’s Minesha Lamba (83,500), Hong Kong’s Anson Tsang (82,900), China’s Shaotong Chang (82,000), Hong Kong’s Yinglin Zheng (82,100), Korea’s Hansol Ra (81,200), Taiwan’s Chen-An Lin (79,600), China’s Ping Lin (75,600), Vincent Li (73,900), Korea’s Jeonggyu Cho (73,300), Hong Kong’s Alan Lau (73,000), China’s Yueqi Zhu (71,800), Hong Kong’s Steven Au (67,600), China’s Yilong Wang (67,500), India’s Kunal Patni (66,500) and China’s Ying Fu (64,900). Still alive but shorter stacked is Korean bracelet winner Jiyoung Kim with 20,800.
Main Event: In the field
Having called out Allen Kessler before the WSOP for offering an unfair mark-up when selling a percentage of himself, Shaun Deeb will now be wishing he had stayed quiet. Kessler has come flying out of the blocks in Day 1B and sits among the big stacks with 301,800.
E esta no Main Event da WSOP eh mole? @AllenKessler ! pic.twitter.com/3qCJ7A66in
— andre akkari (@aakkari) July 5, 2019
Kessler couldn’t resist sending a little needle Deeb’s way on Twitter as his name popped up to the top of the chip counts towards the end of the day.
No f’ing way @shaundeeb … https://t.co/w7JK5bmnLA
— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) July 5, 2019
Also, out in the field is a certain young man looking to follow in his father’s footsteps. Daniel Hachem has bagged bigger than his 2005 Main Event champion father, Joe and will be looking to stay among the bigger stacks through day 2, having ended day 1B with 144,700.
The Main Event wouldn’t be complete without its own special traditions, with “beer level” being one of those enjoyed by survivors at the end of day 1.
During the final level, players all order beers to celebrate (almost) reaching day 2. Twitter has also brought to light some of the more bizarre experiences of playing in the Main Event, with reports of drunk people spilling drinks and coughing everywhere and a player shoving blind every hand and berating his table for being scared.
Amazon purple is an absolute twilight zone right now. 2 guys at tables next to each other both on penalties. One is so drunk he keeps coughing on everyone and spilling drinks…other is shoving blind every hand berating everyone for being scared with their 10K.
— Drew Amato (@drew_amato) July 5, 2019
It’s safe to say there’s probably a lot of value in this tournament.
Stay tuned to Somuchpoker for daily reports on the biggest event of the year.
Article by Craig Bradshaw
