Sunday, July 9, 2017 12:01 AM Local Time
WSOP Main Event Kicks Off With Biggest Day 1a Since 2013
After a long, grueling summer featuring dozens of exciting events and millions of dollars in prize money awarded, the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event is under way at long last.
Day 1a began Saturday at 11 a.m. with players dispersed throughout the Amazon Room and Brasilia Room in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. By the time registration closed at the end of the dinner break, 795 players had entered the field. That made it the biggest Day 1a since 2013, when 943 entered the first starting flight.
A trio of former Main Event Champions had divergent paths throughout the day, with two of them surviving.
Defending champ Qui Nguyen sauntered in early in the day, clad in his trusty raccoon hat and sporting a wide smile. He said it was a totally different feel than 2016.
"It was very much different," he said. "Last year, I came here like just a guy. Not like nervous, but not comfortable, you know? This year, I come back and feel very comfortable."
Nguyen spent a good chunk of the early portion of the day on one of the featured tables, where he made some moves that were reminiscent of his fearless play at the WSOP final table last year.
Not all of them worked, such as when he tried a bet/three-bet line with six-five of diamonds against a player who flopped Broadway. He also got himself in a four-bet pot against the aces of Harald Sammer and had to fold post-flop. Ultimately, though, enough of them worked out to get him through to Day 2 with 96,700 chips.
"Actually, like, I have to slow down a bit because the players — they know how I play," he said of his strategy. "So, they try to call me with anything, you know? So, I had to slow down."
Martin Jacobson wowed poker fans everywhere in 2014 with his flawless demonstration of short-stack poker at the Main Event final table. However, Jacobson had a rough go of it on Day 1, finding himself short on chips early, even snapping a photo of his stack when it was barely over 2,000 to post to Twitter.
Grinding one of the shortest stacks in the Amazon Room for hours, he found himself all in and at risk for 7,050 during Level 5 (250/500/75), the last of the night. Jacobson had two outs with pocket nines against an opponent's aces, but it was a short sweat as he flopped quads to double up.
The Swede finished the day with 36,800.
The 2007 Main Event Champ, Jerry Yang, was not so fortunate. Yang got in a three-way all-in just a bit before play ended holding ace-queen against two players with pocket pairs, jacks and nines. Steven Warburton's jacks held up for a triple, and Yang got no help against the nines for the side pot.
Others joining Yang in having the most disappointing day of the year for tournament players included King's Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik, Matt Savage, Blake Bohn, Anthony Spinella, Sorel Mizzi, and Dan Shak.
On the other side of the spectrum, British player Sam Grafton finished among the leaders after a great start to the day that saw him win a huge pot early with a flush on the river against a set. Grafton parlayed that into plenty more pots, amassing 600 big blinds and nearly four starting stacks by dinner time.
"It's been a dream day," Grafton said after bagging. "Everything I tried has gone well for me. When I was bluffing with some outs, I made them on the river. Can't complain; I'm really happy with my stack."
Sam Grafton
However, even Grafton's 231,600 chips can't compare to the 276,000 that Morten Mortensen put in the bag. The Danish player with nearly $1.1 million in live cashes had a big stack for at least the last three levels, and he finished as strong as possible by busting another player to end the night and rocket into the top spot.
Mortensen flopped a combo draw with eight-nine of hearts and turned a gutshot straight against a player holding kings. Mortensen's opponent shoved over his turn bet drawing dead, and the Dane snap-called the jam and dragged a pot worth over 100,000.
"I was fortunate enough to be dealt a lot of playable hands and I was able to win most of them," Mortensen said after play concluded. "Other than the last hand of the night, most of the pots I played weren't very big.
"I have two days off, so I will be going to party tomorrow night, and then I can chill until Day 2. I only have five times the starting stack, and there should be around 7,000 runners, so there is still a long way to go."
The 576 players who made it through the day will convene for Day 2a on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
Grafton said he's really looking forward to a relaxing few days with the peace of mind of having piles in the bag while others fight to get to where he's sitting.
"It's going to be a really nice three days for me now by the pool, knowing this stack is in the bag," he said. "I can watch my friends try and fail, knowing that the equity of my stack is just rising as they tumble out of the tournament. So that's going to be a very nice feeling."
The next step for the WSOP Main Event is Day 1b, which begins Sunday at 11 a.m. Streaming coverage will be available on ESPN2 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and live coverage will be here on PokerNews throughout the duration of the day.
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:58 PM Local Time
Official End-of-Day 1a Chip Counts
| Morten Mortensen | 276,000 | -3,000  |
| Sam Grafton | 231,600 | 0 |
| Griffin Abel | 226,000 | 0 |
| Jonathan Little | 211,300 | 1,000  |
| David Eldridge | 207,000 | 0 |
| Nachman Berlin | 205,000 | 205,000 |
| Frank Crivello | 192,000 | 0 |
| Michael Ravn | 188,800 | 188,800 |
| Rahul Byrraju | 186,100 | 186,100 |
| Ronnie Brown | 181,100 | 0 |
| Nick Schwarmann | 176,600 | 0 |
| Nikita Nikolaev | 174,600 | 74,600 |
| Abraham Faroni | 173,900 | 0 |
| Andrew Magbual | 169,500 | 0 |
| Tahsyn Mekani | 168,300 | 168,300 |
| Darren Grant | 167,000 | 0 |
| Jun Obara | 165,700 | 165,700 |
| Patrik Korsar | 165,100 | 70,100 |
| Paolo Cusinato | 164,500 | 164,500 |
| Ryan Hall | 163,400 | -16,600 |
| Tina Jones | 160,800 | 160,800 |
| Sergi Reixach | 159,700 | 0 |
| Jett Schencker | 158,600 | 0 |
| Celestino Guadalupe | 157,300 | 157,300 |
| Nicholas Bond | 157,000 | 157,000 |
| Christopher Leveroni | 157,000 | 157,000 |
| Michael Ross | 156,500 | 6,500 |
| Mitchell Greenblatt | 156,000 | 0 |
| David Vedral | 155,000 | 0 |
| Chris George (NY) | 154,000 | 154,000 |
| Clyde Gaskins | 153,900 | 4,700 |
| Rifat Palevic | 153,100 | -6,900 |
| Barny Boatman | 150,000 | 0 |
| Steven Marx | 149,700 | 149,700 |
| Edward Fritts | 148,800 | 148,800 |
| Dennis Sorensen | 148,100 | 148,100 |
| Thomas Heine | 148,100 | 148,100 |
| Bryan Piccioli | 145,100 | 0 |
| Sergio Castelluccio | 144,800 | 144,800 |
| Jameson Painter | 144,000 | 44,000 |
| John Hashem | 143,600 | 0 |
| Jason Leifer | 142,500 | 142,500 |
| Arthur Morris | 142,200 | -5,800 |
| Anatoly Filatov | 141,500 | 6,300 |
| Alex Foxen | 141,200 | 200 |
| Adam Hsu | 141,000 | 0 |
| Lloyd Mandel | 137,300 | 0 |
| Tanaka Shinobu | 137,300 | 137,300 |
| Steven Stout | 134,600 | 0 |
| Sean Lindsey | 133,200 | 133,200 |
| David Arkle | 133,100 | 133,100 |
| William Carruth | 133,000 | 133,000 |
| Mickey Craft | 130,900 | 130,900 |
| Gianluca Trebbi | 130,800 | 130,800 |
| Jesus Martinez | 130,500 | 130,500 |
| John Doe | 130,200 | 130,200 |
| Bradley Howard | 128,200 | 128,200 |
| Jesper Hoog | 127,700 | 127,700 |
| Tigran Avagyan | 127,000 | 127,000 |
| Sergei Kislinskii | 126,800 | 126,800 |
| Oleksii Khoroshenin | 125,000 | 0 |
| Zurab Beradze | 124,200 | -25,800 |
| Francisco Fragoso | 123,000 | 123,000 |
| Quang Tran | 122,700 | 122,700 |
| Napoleon Marquez | 121,000 | 121,000 |
| Steven van Zadelhoff | 120,000 | -2,000 |
| Faraz Jaka | 119,800 | 0 |
| Don Himpele | 119,500 | 0 |
| Harald Sammer | 118,800 | -68,500 |
| Austin Buchanan | 117,800 | 36,800 |
| Maxim Lykov | 117,100 | -42,900 |
| Bryce Daifuku | 116,400 | 116,400 |
| Edward Nassif | 115,800 | 115,800 |
| Fabio Colonese | 115,700 | 115,700 |
| Chad Lactaoen | 115,500 | 115,500 |
| Sebastian Saffari | 115,000 | 115,000 |
| Richard Seymour | 114,000 | 9,000 |
| Lawrence Curcio | 113,500 | 113,500 |
| Rob Tepper | 113,500 | 113,500 |
| Kenneth Rawlinson | 113,400 | 23,400 |
| Stephen Deutsch | 112,400 | 68,400 |
| Nicholas Howard | 112,300 | 112,300 |
| Johnathan Dahlberg | 111,800 | 14,800 |
| Richard Hu | 111,700 | 111,700 |
| Donnacha O'Dea | 111,000 | 0 |
| Mario Diliberto | 110,600 | 110,600 |
| Peter Smurfit | 110,500 | 110,500 |
| Sam Chartier | 109,700 | -34,500 |
| Troy Kiyabu | 109,100 | 109,100 |
| Vincent Liu | 108,900 | -4,100 |
| Robert Van Houghton Jr | 108,500 | 108,500 |
| Richard Dixon | 108,400 | 108,400 |
| Paul Vang | 108,400 | 17,400 |
| Richard Farrar | 107,700 | 107,700 |
| Gyeongbyeong Lee | 107,400 | 107,400 |
| Michael Hahn | 107,300 | 107,300 |
| Vasile Buboi | 106,800 | 106,800 |
| Barry Shulman | 106,700 | 0 |
| Robert Rini | 106,600 | 106,600 |
| Yaniv Peretz | 106,400 | 106,400 |
| Michael Liang | 105,300 | 0 |
| Jonathan Dwek | 104,600 | 7,600 |
| Jon Turner | 103,900 | 0 |
| Alan Wentz | 103,600 | 103,600 |
| Yung Hwang | 103,600 | 103,600 |
| Patrick Leonard | 103,500 | -41,500 |
| Jeff Flannery | 102,900 | 0 |
| Clinton Keown | 102,900 | 102,900 |
| Mark David | 102,700 | -27,300 |
| Jeffrey Rothstein | 102,700 | 102,700 |
| Philippe Dauteuil | 101,300 | 101,300 |
| Elia Ahmadian | 101,100 | 0 |
| Jeffrey Mahoney | 101,000 | 101,000 |
| George Mattia | 99,400 | 99,400 |
| Jose Ortiz | 99,300 | 99,300 |
| Satchit Kapur | 99,000 | 99,000 |
| Michael Mckuin | 98,400 | 98,400 |
| Rodney Hogan | 97,800 | 97,800 |
| Curtis Colicher | 97,600 | 97,600 |
| Zachary Mcnees | 97,400 | 97,400 |
| Albert Vorbe | 97,400 | 97,400 |
| Raffaello Locatelli | 96,900 | -68,000 |
| Qui Nguyen | 96,700 | 0 |
| David Rachel | 96,700 | 11,700 |
| Blaise Hom | 96,400 | 96,400 |
| Jacobo Fernandez | 96,400 | 96,400 |
| David Lofy | 96,400 | 96,400 |
| Houman Nikbakht | 95,500 | 95,500 |
| Justas Vaiciulionis | 95,400 | 95,400 |
| Paul Degiulio | 95,300 | 95,300 |
| Billy Baxter | 94,800 | 38,800 |
| Raul Martinez Requena | 94,800 | 0 |
| Tony Ruberto | 94,500 | -17,100 |
| Michael Ricklefs | 94,500 | 94,500 |
| Mike Matusow | 94,000 | -5,000 |
| Romain Lefebvre De Rieux | 94,000 | 94,000 |
| Aleksejs Ponakovs | 93,900 | 93,900 |
| Noah Bronstein | 93,900 | 93,900 |
| Ronald Minnis | 93,900 | 93,900 |
| Venkat Chivukula | 93,900 | 93,900 |
| Timothy Nuter | 93,900 | 93,900 |
| Matthew Ashton | 93,500 | 0 |
| DID NOT REPORT 2 | 93,300 | 93,300 |
| Kavin Shah | 92,900 | 92,900 |
| Corey Hochman | 92,900 | 92,900 |
| Yaping Wang | 92,900 | 92,900 |
| Rodrigo Portaleoni | 92,700 | 92,700 |
| Robert McLaughlin | 92,400 | 92,400 |
| Gregory Roberts | 92,100 | 92,100 |
| Wes Baerga | 91,800 | 91,800 |
| Simon Appleby | 91,800 | 91,800 |
| Johan Soner | 91,000 | 21,000 |
| Jason Pritchard | 90,000 | 90,000 |
| Todd Bareika | 89,500 | -2,500 |
| Kenneth Kavowras | 89,400 | 89,400 |
| Andrew Halseth | 88,700 | 88,700 |
| Shawn Daniels | 88,100 | 88,100 |
| Robin William | 87,700 | 87,700 |
| Ian O'Hara | 87,700 | 700 |
| Ziran Xiao | 87,500 | 87,500 |
| Tyng Low | 86,900 | 86,900 |
| John Shin | 86,700 | 86,700 |
| Ahmed Abdella | 85,800 | 85,800 |
| Mark Rifkin | 85,800 | 85,800 |
| John Sonkoly | 85,400 | 85,400 |
| Luke Spano | 85,400 | 85,400 |
| Richard Barabino | 85,400 | 85,400 |
| Christopher Delgrande | 85,300 | 85,300 |
| Keith Morrow | 84,900 | 84,900 |
| Paul Duval | 84,800 | 84,800 |
| Hoyt Corkins | 84,300 | 0 |
| Frank Ziede | 84,100 | 84,100 |
| Andrew Belmonti | 84,100 | 84,100 |
| Daniel Barriocanal | 83,900 | 83,900 |
| Daniel Shea | 83,800 | 83,800 |
| Hou Vang | 83,700 | 83,700 |
| Haowei Zheng | 83,200 | 83,200 |
| Tom Braband | 82,900 | -5,100 |
| Thomas Blizniak | 82,800 | 82,800 |
| William Mcgrotty | 82,800 | 82,800 |
| Jason Funke | 82,400 | 82,400 |
| Sean Marshall | 82,400 | 82,400 |
| Michael Rossitto | 82,400 | 0 |
| Gregory Geller | 82,000 | 27,000 |
| Gregor Waltermann | 82,000 | -17,500 |
| Maik Dehmlow | 81,900 | 81,900 |
| Drew Dumanski | 81,700 | 81,700 |
| Andrew Grombacher | 80,900 | 80,900 |
| Manuel Sadornil | 80,800 | 80,800 |
| Gregory Fishberg | 80,800 | 80,800 |
| Justin Pechie | 80,600 | 0 |
| Mel Elpusan | 80,400 | 80,400 |
| Josh Arieh | 80,400 | 0 |
| Douglas Adkins | 79,100 | 79,100 |
| Phil Laak | 78,900 | 0 |
| Benjamin Nicolas | 78,800 | 78,800 |
| Gjergj Sinishtaj | 78,000 | 78,000 |
| Anthony Pagan | 77,800 | 77,800 |
| Wei Yeh | 77,700 | 77,700 |
| Jean Raphael Boulos | 77,700 | 8,700 |
| Edward Boyce | 77,600 | 77,600 |
| Robert Fechser | 77,500 | 77,500 |
| Hunter Cichy | 77,200 | 1,200 |
| Seth Berger | 77,200 | -16,800 |
| Mats Karlsson | 76,600 | 11,600 |
| Clinton Hubble | 76,100 | 76,100 |
| Arne Kern | 76,000 | 76,000 |
| Shuai Chen | 75,800 | 75,800 |
| Aaron Clark | 75,500 | 75,500 |
| Michael Noori | 75,200 | 0 |
| Eric Kurtzman | 75,000 | 75,000 |
| Shyam Ravindran | 74,600 | 74,600 |
| Benjamin Barad | 74,500 | 74,500 |
| Andrea Vezzani | 74,400 | 74,400 |
| Bruce Rosen | 74,200 | 74,200 |
| John Strzemp | 74,100 | 100 |
| Nabil Mohamed | 73,900 | 73,900 |
| Maryjo Zogman | 73,900 | 73,900 |
| Joseph Barnard | 73,800 | 73,800 |
| Rohan Dhawan | 73,500 | 73,500 |
| Chaz Curtiss | 73,300 | 73,300 |
| Fadi Barakeh | 73,200 | 73,200 |
| Phuoc Nguyen | 72,500 | 72,500 |
| Brett Maistri | 72,500 | 72,500 |
| Edward Mallon | 72,500 | 72,500 |
| David Grey | 72,400 | 72,400 |
| Ryan Hazzard | 72,200 | 72,200 |
| Tyler Cornell | 72,100 | -19,900 |
| David Labchuk | 72,000 | 72,000 |
| Pim de Goede | 71,700 | 71,700 |
| Robert Minion | 71,300 | 71,300 |
| Michal Danka | 71,000 | 71,000 |
| Dario Delpiano | 70,800 | 70,800 |
| James Juvancic | 70,800 | 70,800 |
| Mitchell Johnson | 70,800 | 70,800 |
| Darin Feinstein | 70,800 | 70,800 |
| Tommy Hoard | 70,400 | 70,400 |
| Tai Nguyen | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| Owen Crowe | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| Jared Griener | 69,900 | 8,900 |
| Drieu Brucker | 69,100 | 69,100 |
| Benjamin Scholl | 68,700 | 68,700 |
| Jared Bluestein | 68,600 | 68,600 |
| Matthew Brooks | 68,500 | 68,500 |
| Wissam Abraham | 68,300 | 68,300 |
| Michael Katz | 68,000 | 68,000 |
| Peter Braglia | 67,700 | 67,700 |
| Glenn Miller | 67,200 | 0 |
| Paul Koskovich | 67,000 | 67,000 |
| Mark Radoja | 67,000 | -15,700 |
| Ryan Fee | 67,000 | 0 |
| Cameron Tullis | 66,900 | 66,900 |
| Christopher Mccoy | 66,800 | 66,800 |
| Kao Saevang | 66,600 | 66,600 |
| Gang Wang | 66,100 | 66,100 |
| Julien Ehrhardt | 64,300 | 64,300 |
| Michael Moore | 64,200 | 0 |
| John Courtney | 64,100 | 64,100 |
| Yu Chen | 63,800 | 63,800 |
| David Kalet | 63,800 | 63,800 |
| Antonio Lievano | 63,600 | 63,600 |
| Matt Baier | 63,600 | 63,600 |
| Felipe Davila | 63,400 | 63,400 |
| Simon Bellavance | 63,300 | 63,300 |
| Gerard Cassis | 63,200 | 63,200 |
| David Greenberg | 63,100 | 2,900 |
| Tara Snow | 63,100 | 100 |
| Paul Leckey | 63,000 | 63,000 |
| William Brown | 62,800 | 62,800 |
| Matthew Hopkins | 62,700 | 0 |
| John Hesp | 62,600 | 62,600 |
| Delmiro Toledo | 62,600 | 62,600 |
| Tomas Jozonis | 62,500 | 12,500 |
| Kenneth Paxinos | 62,500 | 62,500 |
| Grzegorz Witkowski | 62,200 | 62,200 |
| Jesse Simonelli | 62,100 | 62,100 |
| James Brown | 62,000 | 62,000 |
| Bradley Hinson | 61,900 | 61,900 |
| Chong Cheng | 61,900 | 61,900 |
| Philip Tom | 61,800 | 61,800 |
| Jason Lester | 61,300 | 61,300 |
| Mikhail Semin | 61,300 | 61,300 |
| Dwight Fruit | 60,800 | 60,800 |
| Jonathan Krela | 60,700 | 60,700 |
| Joseph Deforca | 60,300 | 60,300 |
| David Gutfreund | 60,200 | 60,200 |
| Jorn Walthaus | 60,000 | 28,000 |
| Masoud Mike Moshayedi | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| Lohrasb Jafari | 59,600 | 59,600 |
| Benjamin Laska | 59,600 | 59,600 |
| Sebastien Garrasi | 59,300 | 59,300 |
| Jason Nicks | 59,300 | 0 |
| Tim Hickling | 59,000 | 59,000 |
| Jorge Alberdi | 58,800 | 58,800 |
| Kyle Broom | 58,700 | 58,700 |
| Bas De Laat | 58,600 | 58,600 |
| DID NOT REPORT 1 | 58,600 | 58,600 |
| Jack Duong | 58,300 | 58,300 |
| Matthew Sides | 58,300 | 58,300 |
| Philip Long | 58,300 | 58,300 |
| Giovanni Di Donato | 57,900 | 57,900 |
| Mark Adkins | 57,800 | 57,800 |
| Kathryn Cappuccio | 57,700 | 57,700 |
| Yueqi Zhu | 57,500 | 57,500 |
| Ramin Hajiyev | 57,500 | 4,500 |
| Scott Neuman | 57,100 | 0 |
| Dylan Nguyen | 56,900 | 56,900 |
| Babak Badkoubei | 56,900 | 56,900 |
| Cody Garner | 56,700 | 56,700 |
| David Augustine | 56,700 | 56,700 |
| Ryan Mackinnon | 56,700 | 56,700 |
| Ognjen Sekularac | 56,200 | 8,200 |
| Simon Boss | 56,100 | 56,100 |
| Forouzan Sotoudeh | 56,000 | 56,000 |
| Joseph Comins | 56,000 | 56,000 |
| Adeeb Harb | 56,000 | 56,000 |
| Quang Vu | 55,900 | 55,900 |
| Silvio Crisari | 55,900 | 900 |
| Brian Siegel | 55,900 | 55,900 |
| Steven Rash | 55,800 | 55,800 |
| Steven Warburton | 55,700 | 5,700 |
| Tom Bedell | 55,600 | 55,600 |
| Joseph Jordan | 55,400 | 55,400 |
| Conor Beresford | 55,400 | 55,400 |
| Frank Williams | 55,000 | 55,000 |
| Alexander Morgovsky | 54,800 | 54,800 |
| Duane Graff | 54,700 | 54,700 |
| Adam McLaughlin | 54,700 | 0 |
| Ryan Jones | 54,500 | 54,500 |
| Alexander Schneider | 54,300 | 54,300 |
| Andrew Graham | 54,200 | -70,800 |
| Chris Cornell | 54,200 | 54,200 |
| Arnold Spee | 54,100 | 54,100 |
| Kevin Song | 53,900 | 53,900 |
| Kathy Chang | 53,700 | 53,700 |
| Ted Weinstock | 53,600 | 53,600 |
| Craig Vieregg | 53,400 | 53,400 |
| James Grogan | 53,100 | 53,100 |
| Assani Fisher | 53,100 | 53,100 |
| Austin Hermiz | 53,000 | 10,000 |
| Daniel Reijmer | 53,000 | 12,300 |
| Kenneth Christopher | 52,700 | 52,700 |
| Clayton Hamm | 52,500 | -11,000 |
| Brian Altman | 52,200 | -32,800 |
| Richard Harroch | 52,200 | 52,200 |
| Hoang Pham | 52,200 | 52,200 |
| Cline Young | 51,900 | 51,900 |
| Timothy Dail | 51,600 | 51,600 |
| Gleb Kovtunov | 51,400 | 51,400 |
| William Conway | 51,300 | 51,300 |
| Niklas Astedt | 50,900 | -20,700 |
| Chad Power | 50,900 | -49,100 |
| Jean Ledoux | 50,400 | 50,400 |
| Tony Phan | 50,400 | 50,400 |
| Zorlu Er | 50,200 | 50,200 |
| Jennifer Shahade | 50,100 | 50,100 |
| Anatoly Korochenskiy | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Gregory Blair | 49,900 | 49,900 |
| Mark Vanderloo | 49,800 | 49,800 |
| Arthur Peters | 49,600 | 49,600 |
| Glenn Cozen | 49,200 | 49,200 |
| Lauren Monosson | 48,500 | 8,500 |
| Nicholas Nicolaou | 48,200 | 48,200 |
| Patrick Nordgren | 48,200 | 48,200 |
| Pierre Merlin | 48,100 | 0 |
| Marc Davidson | 48,100 | 48,100 |
| Adam Mcdaniel | 47,800 | 47,800 |
| Shiv Bhandari | 47,700 | 47,700 |
| Brandon Hall | 47,200 | 47,200 |
| William Gottman | 47,000 | 47,000 |
| Randy Pfeifer | 46,900 | 46,900 |
| Sebastian Langrock | 46,900 | -3,100 |
| Montgomery Cole | 46,900 | 46,900 |
| Leonardo Mendoza | 46,800 | 46,800 |
| John Grue | 46,700 | 46,700 |
| Harold Lilie | 46,600 | 20,600 |
| Dobromir Nikov | 46,400 | 46,400 |
| Scott McKernan | 46,400 | 0 |
| Sergei Nikiforov | 46,300 | 46,300 |
| James Lempke | 46,300 | 46,300 |
| William Mcphillips | 46,300 | 46,300 |
| Harry Johnson | 46,100 | 46,100 |
| Tom Schneider | 45,900 | -10,100 |
| Dwayne Buth | 45,900 | 45,900 |
| Andy Bloch | 45,800 | 0 |
| Mark Zullo | 45,800 | -19,200 |
| Yotam Shmuelov | 45,500 | 45,500 |
| Joseph Beasy | 45,400 | 45,400 |
| Maxime Adam | 45,100 | 45,100 |
| Roy Thung | 45,000 | 45,000 |
| Mikhal Khabarov | 45,000 | 45,000 |
| David Lee | 45,000 | 45,000 |
| Kin Wong | 44,600 | 44,600 |
| Pascal Lefrancois | 44,400 | 9,400 |
| Robert Chow | 44,200 | 44,200 |
| Maxime Fortindemers | 44,200 | 44,200 |
| Chris Hunichen | 44,000 | 0 |
| Patrick Oakes | 43,800 | 43,800 |
| David Hipperson | 43,600 | 43,600 |
| Mark Owens | 43,600 | 43,600 |
| Allen Kennedy | 43,300 | 0 |
| Roberto Leosmaldonado | 43,200 | 43,200 |
| Dhani Suleman | 43,000 | 43,000 |
| Doug Polk | 42,700 | 0 |
| Stanley Tang | 42,600 | 42,600 |
| Kris Lozano | 42,600 | 42,600 |
| Karapetyan Arman | 42,400 | 42,400 |
| Paul Deng | 42,200 | 42,200 |
| Alexander Roumeliotis | 42,200 | 42,200 |
| Grayson Nichols | 42,000 | 42,000 |
| Dmitry Ponomarev | 42,000 | -8,000 |
| Zachary Mcdiarmid | 41,400 | 41,400 |
| Pratyush Buddiga | 40,700 | 0 |
| Ardit Kurshumi | 40,600 | 40,600 |
| Sermod Talia | 40,400 | 40,400 |
| Jeremy Peters | 40,300 | 0 |
| Francisco Neto | 40,200 | -800 |
| Brandon Newsome | 40,100 | -200 |
| Brent Roberts | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| Michael Andrews | 39,900 | 39,900 |
| Victor Cianelli | 39,400 | -600 |
| Michael Ferry | 39,100 | 39,100 |
| Jefferson Han | 38,700 | 38,700 |
| Ralph Wong | 38,400 | 38,400 |
| Sebastian Ruiz | 38,400 | 38,400 |
| Glenn Harter | 38,200 | 38,200 |
| Richard Lee | 38,100 | 38,100 |
| Tom Love | 38,100 | 38,100 |
| John Beauprez | 38,000 | -13,700 |
| Jonathan Cohen | 37,900 | 37,900 |
| Alistair Hill | 37,400 | 37,400 |
| David Gunas | 37,200 | 37,200 |
| Mike Schneider (MN) | 37,200 | 37,200 |
| Leonard Burris | 37,000 | 37,000 |
| Martin Jacobson | 36,800 | 0 |
| Jason Gray | 36,700 | 36,700 |
| James Akenhead | 36,700 | 4,700 |
| Charles Carragher | 36,600 | 36,600 |
| Emil Ekvardt | 36,500 | 0 |
| Xenos Schirmer | 36,400 | 36,400 |
| Hoflehner Helmut | 36,200 | 36,200 |
| Steve Gee | 36,000 | 36,000 |
| Ilkin Amirov | 36,000 | 36,000 |
| Charles Dolan | 35,700 | 35,700 |
| Zachary Resnick | 35,600 | 35,600 |
| Jérome arnould | 35,500 | 0 |
| Mark Johnson Jr | 35,100 | 35,100 |
| Kenny Tran | 35,000 | 35,000 |
| David Gerassi | 34,400 | 34,400 |
| Istvan Toro | 34,400 | 34,400 |
| Sean Spector | 34,300 | 34,300 |
| Eric Bischoff | 34,200 | 34,200 |
| Joshua Mountain | 34,100 | 34,100 |
| Hansam Kim | 33,900 | 33,900 |
| Michael Vik | 33,600 | 33,600 |
| Paul Evans | 33,500 | 33,500 |
| Anthony Richard | 33,200 | 33,200 |
| Don Carrillo | 32,900 | 32,900 |
| Frank Stepuchin | 32,900 | 32,900 |
| Mariano Cafagna | 32,800 | 32,800 |
| Tom McEvoy | 32,800 | 32,800 |
| Fred Goff III | 32,800 | -7,200 |
| Angelo Cusinato | 32,700 | 32,700 |
| Paul W Lee | 32,700 | 32,700 |
| Jesper Hougaard | 32,700 | -54,100 |
| Simon Berg | 32,500 | 32,500 |
| Hamza Firdawcy | 32,300 | 32,300 |
| David Mills | 32,100 | 32,100 |
| Hoan Nguyen | 32,100 | -10,900 |
| Kyung Cha | 32,100 | 32,100 |
| Richard Sperberg | 31,800 | 31,800 |
| Said Abuqartoumy | 31,800 | 31,800 |
| Oysein Kristoffersen | 31,700 | 31,700 |
| Nick Jivkov | 31,500 | -25,500 |
| Anthony Forsyth-Forrest | 31,300 | 31,300 |
| Thomas Roupe | 30,500 | 30,500 |
| Kenneth Stacy | 30,400 | 30,400 |
| Brooks Floyd | 30,300 | 30,300 |
| Divakaran Marella | 30,000 | 30,000 |
| Anthony Hope | 29,800 | 29,800 |
| Kevin Laird | 29,600 | 29,600 |
| Hakim Zoufi | 29,600 | -40,400 |
| Manuel Mutke | 29,500 | 29,500 |
| Jane Hitchcock | 29,400 | 29,400 |
| David Farber | 29,100 | 29,100 |
| Andy Park | 28,900 | 28,900 |
| David Reijmer | 28,900 | 28,900 |
| Igor Merda | 28,800 | 28,800 |
| Mitang Soni | 28,500 | 28,500 |
| Kenneth Stead | 28,500 | 28,500 |
| Andrew Rubinberg | 28,400 | 28,400 |
| David Malka | 28,400 | 28,400 |
| Scott Deladurantaye | 28,400 | 28,400 |
| Mimi Luu | 28,300 | 28,300 |
| Michael Partipilo | 28,200 | 28,200 |
| Dwight Derringer | 28,000 | 28,000 |
| Jack Yohe | 28,000 | 28,000 |
| James Hundt | 28,000 | 28,000 |
| Chad Eveslage | 27,900 | 14,650 |
| John Bonora | 27,900 | 27,900 |
| Greg Feirman | 27,800 | 27,800 |
| James Barron | 27,500 | 27,500 |
| Ankush Mandavia | 27,000 | 14,000 |
| Gennady Kalin | 26,900 | 26,900 |
| David Cabrera Polop | 26,800 | 26,800 |
| Benoit Lam | 26,600 | -6,400 |
| Peter Kotsiopoulos | 26,300 | 26,300 |
| Peter Treglia | 25,900 | 25,900 |
| Boo Jonsson | 25,900 | 25,900 |
| Adam Singer | 25,500 | 25,500 |
| Babak Razi | 25,500 | 25,500 |
| Greg Jennings | 25,500 | 25,500 |
| Alan Percal | 25,500 | 25,500 |
| Thomas Winters | 25,200 | 25,200 |
| Raymond Ezzie | 24,700 | 0 |
| Tobias Hariefeld | 24,600 | 24,600 |
| Marcelo Drumm | 24,500 | 24,500 |
| Ronald Cook | 24,500 | 24,500 |
| Sergon Toma | 23,500 | 23,500 |
| Michael Maresca | 22,900 | 22,900 |
| Scott Tuchman | 22,600 | 0 |
| David Jenson | 22,600 | 22,600 |
| Abrahim Aboukhalil | 22,300 | 22,300 |
| Oscar Kemps | 22,300 | 22,300 |
| Terry Grimes | 22,200 | 22,200 |
| Albert Ng | 22,200 | -7,300 |
| Christopher Miltenberger | 22,200 | 22,200 |
| Jamie Brown | 22,200 | 22,200 |
| Phia Xiong | 22,100 | 22,100 |
| Rajasekhara Munnangi | 21,200 | 21,200 |
| Joe Tehan | 21,100 | -50,900 |
| Dapeng Mu | 21,000 | 21,000 |
| Joseph Brown | 20,900 | 20,900 |
| Thiago Grigoletti | 20,900 | 20,900 |
| Todd Hansen | 20,400 | -94,600 |
| Joseph Casale | 20,300 | 20,300 |
| David Weinstein | 20,200 | 20,200 |
| Javier Montano | 19,100 | -19,100 |
| Matthew Reed | 18,800 | 18,800 |
| John Hemme | 18,600 | 18,600 |
| Dennis Berglin | 18,600 | 18,600 |
| John Kammer | 18,400 | 18,400 |
| Marcos Rogerio | 18,000 | 18,000 |
| Matt O'Donnell | 17,700 | 17,700 |
| Vince Saiki | 17,600 | 17,600 |
| Dixon Ruecker | 16,400 | 16,400 |
| Joshua Field | 16,400 | 1,375 |
| Garrett Beckman | 16,000 | 16,000 |
| William Kraybill | 15,700 | 15,700 |
| Scott Hanna | 15,700 | -2,800 |
| Stefan Jedlicka | 15,200 | 0 |
| Chris George | 14,800 | -139,200 |
| Andreas Olympios | 14,700 | 14,700 |
| George Wedemeyer | 14,600 | 14,600 |
| Sam Soverel | 14,500 | 14,500 |
| Timothy Vukson | 13,300 | 13,300 |
| Luigi Knoppers | 13,200 | 13,200 |
| Lander Lijo | 11,600 | 11,600 |
| Andrew Phillips | 11,400 | -100 |
| Paul Balzano | 11,400 | 11,400 |
| Michael Wolf | 11,400 | -35,100 |
| Jessica Dawley | 10,000 | 0 |
| Andrew Gerl | 9,000 | 9,000 |
| Neil Talento | 8,500 | 8,500 |
| Paul Lackey | 8,500 | 8,500 |
| Klas Lofberg | 7,600 | 7,600 |
| Jeffrey Pollard | 7,500 | 7,500 |
| Kevin Rabichow | 6,400 | 6,400 |
| Thomas McTeer | 5,900 | -149,100 |
| Osman Ihlamur | 5,800 | 5,800 |
| Louis Dragas | 5,400 | 5,400 |
| Samuel Ganzfried | 5,300 | 5,300 |
| Wesley Clark | 5,200 | 5,200 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:54 PM Local Time
Morten Mortensen Claims Chip Lead in Final Hand
In the final hand of the day, Morten Mortensen dragged a monster pot which gave him the end-of-day chip lead. The pot was already up over 35,000 as the board showed . Mortensen bet 20,000, and his opponent went in the tank. Eventually, he moved all in for 52,000, and Mortensen called with lightning speed.
Morten Mortensen:
Opponent:
Mortensen had his opponent drawing dead with the nut straight, making the river meaningless. With the pot of more than 100,000 chips, Mortensen ended the day as the chip leader with 276,000.
| Morten Mortensen | 276,000 | 46,000 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:46 PM Local Time
Er Busts to Khoroshenin
In one of the last hands of the night, three players limped and Oleksii Khoroshenin raised to 3,000 on the button. Ronnie Brown called and Zorlu Er then shoved for his last 20,200 from the hijack. Khoroshenin called and Brown folded to set up the following showdown.
Zorlu Er:
Oleksii Khoroshenin:
The board came and Er failed to get there, falling short of making Day 2.
| Ronnie Brown | 180,000 | -10,000 |
| Oleksii Khoroshenin | 125,000 | -10,000 |
| Zorlu Er | 0 | -28,000 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:40 PM Local Time
Donnacha O'Dea Bets and Wins
With about 16,000 already in the middle and the board reading , Donnacha O'Dea bet 6,500 from the cutoff into his lone opponent on the button. After a few moments of thought, the button folded, and O'Dea took the pot to bolster his stack at the very end of play on Day 1a.
| Donnacha O'Dea | 81,000 | -2,000 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:31 PM Local Time
Updated Counts from Brasilia
| Chris George | 151,000 | -30,000 |
| Jon Turner | 90,300 | -27,700 |
| Mike Matusow | 89,500 | 2,500 |
| Hunter Cichy | 76,000 | -1,000 |
| Tara Snow | 63,000 | -12,500 |
| Tom Schneider | 56,000 | 11,000 |
| Pierre Merlin | 48,100 | -22,200 |
| Pratyush Buddiga | 41,500 | -300 |
| Chris Hunichen | 36,000 | 11,550 |
| Doug Polk | 35,100 | -3,900 |
| Joshua Field | 15,025 | -10,975 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:31 PM Local Time
Doug Polk's Nines Are Good
Doug Polk, in the cutoff, opened to 1,200. Mike Matusow three-bet to 2,600 on the button. Polk called. The flop came and was checked through to the turn and river. Polk checked.
''I have to look to see if I can bet,'' commented Matusow.
''It's 50/50'' answered Polk.
Matusow peeked at his cards and threw in a bet of 1,600. After a few seconds of reflection and of talking to Matusow without getting an answer, Polk continued, ''I'm such a nice guy, I am gonna pay you off''. He proceeded to call.
''I have ace-high'' said Matusow, tabling . Polk showed , laughed, and commented, ''This was a beautiful bet!'' raking in the pot.
| Mike Matusow | 87,000 | 35,000 |
| Doug Polk | 39,000 | 16,900 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:27 PM Local Time
Yang No More
After previously escaping from elimination, Jerry Yang failed to hold up in his next all-in showdown. The camera crews were just finished filming, and the board was already rushed away with Steven Warburton stacking chips in the nine seat.
Apparently, it was a three-way all in with Warburton as shortest stack and pocket jacks. Yang had the second-biggest stack and , while a third player in the hand had pocket nines. Warburton scored a triple-up, while Yang found no help for the smaller side pot to join the rail in the last level of the night.
| Steven Warburton | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Jerry Yang | 0 | -21,000 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:25 PM Local Time
Filatov Wins Another Before the End of the Day
With about 7,500 in the pot, the flop was . There were three players in the hand, and the first player to act led out for 3,100. Anatoly Filatov was to his left and raised to 8,000. The third player in the pot folded, and the initial bettor made the call.
The turn brought the , and the action was checked to Filatov. He bet 12,000, and that was enough to get his opponent to lay his hand down.
| Anatoly Filatov | 168,500 | 22,000 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:10 PM Local Time
Yang Bluffs Away Stack, Doubles After
At the tail end of a big hand with Jon Turner, Jerry Yang bet 11,000 on the river of a board, and Jon Turner called. Yang was caught bluffing with , and Turner had that beat with for two pair.
Two hands later, Yang open-shoved his last 9,875, and the player one seat over called. The rest of the table folded, and the cards were tabled:
Jerry Yang:
Opponent:
The flop gave Yang the lead, and he stayed in thanks to the turn and river.
| Jon Turner | 118,000 | 32,000 |
| Jerry Yang | 21,000 | -7,675 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:59 PM Local Time
Patrick Korsar Drops One
With around 6,000 in the pot, the flop came . Patrick Korsar was on the button and was heads-up with the player in the cutoff. The action was checked to Korsar, who bet 2,500, and his opponent called. The turn was the , and the cutoff checked again. Korsar made a large bet of 16,800, and his opponent didn't waste much time making the call. The river landed the , and both players checked.
The cutoff tabled for a full house on the flop, and Korsar chuckled a bit as he tossed his cards into the muck.
| Patrick Korsar | 137,700 | 137,700 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:58 PM Local Time
Bloch's Eights are Enough this Time
Andy Bloch bet an unknown amount with a T5,000 chip into a pot of about 10,000 after one check on a flop. The player on the button made it 12,000, and Bloch called after the third player folded. Both remaining players checked the turn, with Bloch's opponent asking to see his stack. Two more checks followed on the river.
Bloch turned over the . When his opponent didn't move, Bloch showed the behind it and took the pot.
| Andy Bloch | 64,000 | 20,750 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:57 PM Local Time
Updated Counts from Brasilia
| Chris George | 181,000 | 23,000 |
| Darren Grant | 162,600 | -12,400 |
| Hunter Cichy | 77,000 | |
| Tara Snow | 75,500 | 4,500 |
| Pierre Merlin | 70,300 | 4,800 |
| Tom Schneider | 45,000 | -3,000 |
| Pratyush Buddiga | 41,800 | -200 |
| Jerry Yang | 28,675 | -10,325 |
| Joshua Field | 26,000 | -19,700 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:53 PM Local Time
Some Counts
| Arthur Morris | 148,000 | |
| Jon Turner | 86,000 | -4,000 |
| Silvio Crisari | 55,000 | -6,300 |
| Mike Matusow | 52,000 | 6,000 |
| Doug Polk | 22,100 | -3,900 |
| Stefan Jedlicka | 17,000 | -17,000 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:51 PM Local Time
Ross Busts One
Mike Ross, who finished as the runner-up in Event #21: $1,500 8-Game Mix 6-Handed, sat down in Level 4 and has since steadily increased the stack.
With already more than two times the starting stack, Ross just tangled with a short stack, and the latter was all in with after a flop of . Ross looked him up with , and the turn and river gave him the better hand, as the two pair of his opponent were counterfeited.
"Did you actually lose a hand all day?" someone at the table asked, and Ross just grinned.
| Michael Ross [Mike Ross] | 162,000 | 12,000 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:48 PM Local Time
Grafton Pulls Away
Sam Grafton appears to be the current chip leader on Day 1a with less than one hour remaining on the clock, however, several players in the Brasilia Room may become contenders for the top spot tonight. Furthermore, nine tables remain in the Amazon Room, including big stacks Rifat Palevic and Morten Mortensen.
| Sam Grafton | 240,000 | 62,000 |
| Darren Grant | 175,000 | 44,000 |
| Lloyd Mandel | 160,000 | -3,375 |
| Richard Seymour | 105,000 | 37,000 |
| Qui Nguyen | 90,000 | 24,400 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:45 PM Local Time
Bloch Hands Out a Double
After an open from the hijack to 1,200, Andy Bloch made it 3,350 to go in the small blind. The hijack shoved all in for 11,800, and Bloch called in short order.
Bloch:
Opponent:
Bloch flopped an , but it was accompanied by the and the . The turn and river did nothing to help him further.
| Andy Bloch | 43,250 | -12,350 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:44 PM Local Time
Smurfit Takes a Big Chunk from Hunichen
With about 5,000 chips already in the pot on a flop, action checked to Chris Hunichen in the hijack, and he bet 2,200. Alan Smurfit raised to 7,000 from the cutoff, a player in middle position folded, and Hunichen called after a few moments of contemplation.
The turn brought the , and both players checked.
The fell on the river, and Hunichen bet 8,000. Smurfit raised to 25,000, and after sighing and re-checking his hole cards, Hunichen folded.
Smurfit took the pot to put his stack over the 100,000-chip mark.
| Alan Smurfit | 105,000 | 19,000 |
| Chris Hunichen | 24,450 | -19,550 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:43 PM Local Time
Eldridge Shows the Brunson
David Eldridge bet 1,500 from an early position with the board reading . An opponent who checked in the big blind raised to 4,000, and Eldridge called. Both players checked the river, and Eldridge's bested his opponent's .
| David Eldridge | 156,000 | -5,400 |
Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:34 PM Local Time
Honeyman and Kelly No More
Dylan Honeyman started well into Day 1a and quickly almost doubled his stack, but the seat that formerly belonged to the Australian is now empty while Ryan Hall dominates the action with a massive tower of chips.
One table over, a limped pot ended up with Matthew Kelly running out of chips. On a flop, Kelly shoved his last 9,000 with , and Vincent Liu called in the big blind with the dominating . Kelly picked up more outs on the turn with a gutshot straight draw, but the river was a blank to eliminate Kelly.
| Ryan Hall | 180,000 | 0 |
| Vincent Liu | 113,000 | 113,000 |
| Dylan Honeyman | 0 | -31,000 |
| Matthew Kelly | 0 | -9,000 |