WSOP Main Event 2019: Crazy day at the Rio for biggest ever Day 1C!

Day 1C typically brings big fields and interesting stories at the WSOP Main Event, but yesterday was on an entirely different level. The first unusual happening was the sheer number of players who flooded into the tournament areas. This was then followed by a generous helping of Ivey-busting, shoe-throwing, player-mooning, double-disqualifying, earthquake interrupted poker – all before we had even got to the dinner break.

Day 1C overview

After a bumper day 1A had been followed by a relatively small day 1B, it seemed that any chance of a huge field this year had passed by. This was turned back on its head however, by the Day 1C numbers. The single day entry record for the Main Event was broken at the Rio yesterday, with somewhere close to 5,000 players showing up for day 1C. The final tally is not yet official but 2019 looks set to be the second largest Main Event ever and may yet even threaten the largest field of 8,773, set back in 2006.

Late registration remains open until the start of day 2, which will boost the current numbers further. With no player from days 1B and 1C managing to top 400,000, it will be Bryan Campanello from day 1A leading the way into day 2 with a stack of 417,500.

Day 1C chip leaders

The biggest three stacks to emerge from this wild day 1C all breached the 300,000 mark, with Mike “Timex” McDonald bagging up the second largest stack of 306,300. Leading the way is James Henson with 316,100, with Joshua Ray sitting in 3rd spot with 304,200. The rest of the top ten stacks are all very compact, with Robert Kokoska bagging 285,000 in 4th, and the rest of the top ten separated by less than 10,000 chips.

Notable survivors

Aside from the aforementioned Mike McDonald, the following notable names will return for day 2C with comfortable stacks: Adam Friedman (263,100), Max Altergott (190,000), Dzmitry Urbanovich (190,000), Josh Arieh (169,500), Leon Tsoukernik (167,200), Matt Affleck (166,800), Andrew Lichtenberger (141,200), Eric Froehlich (118,000), Joseph Cheong (113,600), Mike Matusow (111,200) and Nick Schulman (103,000).

Further down the order is: Robert Varkonyi (86,000), Brock Parker (92,000), Johnny Chan (72,800) and John Cynn (68,800). Also, still in contention are Jeff Madsen (68,000), Scotty Nguyen (63,800), Jake Cody (62,800), Jason Mercier (61,400), David “ODB” Baker (61,000) and Men Nguyen (60,200).

Asian survivors

Asian players who currently have strong starting stacks going into day 2 are as follows: China’s Jia Tang (236,600), compatriot Chang Luo (186,900), Japan’s Yoshiya Agata (150,000), Japan’s Hiroki Nawa (97,000), India’s Raghav Bansal (96,900), Hong Kong’s Danny Tang (96,400) and China’s Xi Yang (93,000).

Further down, but still above starting stack are: China’s Yunye Lu (80,000) and Japan’s Hirotaka Nakanishi (66,000). Australians Kahle Burns (269,400), Martin Kozlov (75,000), Robert Campbell (60,000), Jackie Glazier (52,000) and Michael Addamo (33,600) are also still in contention.

Among the smaller stacks are India’s Kartik Ved (44,000), Korea’s Kyung Min lee (41,800), India’s Nipun Java (41,000), Taiwan’s Pete Chen (36,400), India’s Dhaval Mudgal (33,000) and Aditya Agarwal (24,000), along with Japan’s Yosuke Sekiya (29,500).

These are the most accurate counts available at the time of writing, with the official counts being delayed by the huge field size.

In the field

The Rio was bouncing with odd stories throughout day 1C, with the first to surface being the elimination of Phil Ivey less than hour after play began.

I don’t feel so bad that I’m playing the @wsop main event in the cheap seats since this guy just walked in and sat down in the storage room of the @RioVegas… @PokerNews pic.twitter.com/GkyCoz47mR

— Mark J (@MarkyPG) July 5, 2019

Reports indicate it was a three-way three-bet pot, with Ivey flopping the nut flush draw and getting the rest in. That may have raised some eyebrows, but it was nothing compared to what happened elsewhere in the room during level 2.

One player, having decided to go all in blind, then promptly flipped over Q3 before anyone had a chance to act, and then proceeded to pull down his shorts to moon at his table. He then pulled off his shoes, hurling them at a player who was thinking about whether to call.

Uhhhhhh what is going on at the #WSOP main event??? Player shoves blind, drops his pants, then throws his shoe on the table 😂 😂 😂(video via @blattsmullet) pic.twitter.com/oHGk5pjlnJ

— Scott Davies (@sdaviespoker) July 5, 2019

He was one of two players disqualified from the event during day 1C and was later videoed pulling his shorts down while walking around on top of a craps table at the Luxor, where he was also ejected from the building.

The #nakedbandit strikes again. First the Rio, and now a show for everyone at the Luxor. 🙊🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️😮🤔@Joeingram1 @WSOP pic.twitter.com/yxxoopzTsJ

— Jeremy Brown (@JGBrown22) July 6, 2019

If that wasn’t enough weirdness for one day, the entire Rio Casino began rumbling and shaking as a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck shortly before dinner. Staff called a temporary halt to the event and sent everyone on early dinner break, and thankfully, play was deemed safe to resume after dinner.

Video during/post earthquake at the 2019 WSOP. Can see empty chairs from people leaving and some of the table lights shaking. pic.twitter.com/aOLKNGKaz4

— Donnie Peters (@Donnie_Peters) July 6, 2019

Final numbers for day 1C survivors (in chip terms of course – everyone survived the earthquake as far as we know) have as yet, not been made public.

Stay tuned toSomuchpokerfor daily reports on the biggest event of the year.

Article by Craig Bradshaw