Dan Shak Among the Survivors on Day 1a of the $1,000 Seniors Championship
Event #46: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship got off to a flying start at the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with 4,993 over-50s buying in before late registration closed. That bumper crowd means $4,393,840 has already been collected before Day 1b commences on June 19.
Of those 3,537 starters, only 647 had chips requiring bagging and tagging after the end of 11 levels. Brent Nelms, who finished 72nd in this event in 2022, is the overnight chip leader with 525,000 chips, followed by Carlos Bermudez (468,000), and Rafael Benami (438,500).
End of Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brent Nelms | United States | 525,000 | 210 |
| 2 | Carlos Bermudez | United States | 468,000 | 187 |
| 3 | Rafael Benami | Israel | 438,500 | 175 |
| 4 | Brett Reichard | United States | 414,500 | 166 |
| 5 | Steven Cohen | Canada | 400,500 | 160 |
| 6 | Lawrence Lazar | United States | 377,000 | 151 |
| 7 | Derek Ichilcik | Australia | 373,000 | 149 |
| 8 | Kirk Stowell | United States | 372,000 | 149 |
| 9 | Bryan Montgomery | United States | 368,500 | 147 |
| 10 | Mark Rubin | United States | 343,000 | 137 |
$25K Fantasy Draft pick Dan Shak made it through to Day 2 with 110,000 chips in his stack, which places him in or around the top one-third of surviving players. We are more used to watching Shak compete in high-stakes events than $1,000 buy-in affairs, but the lure of a WSOP bracelet remains strong regardless of what events you usually play.
Dozens of familiar faces and bracelet owners are among the Day 1a survivors. Julio Belluscio (256,500), Matt Salsberg (210,000), James Calderaro (175,000), Andy Black (153,000), Allyn Shulman (92,000), Andres Korn (82,000), Mark Seif (77,000), and Robert Campbell (49,000), are just some of the players to look out for when PokerNews traditional coverage begins on Day 2.
Day 1b of this event shuffles up and deals at 10 a.m. on June 19, with the entrants scheduled to grind out 11 levels. The second and final flight should be even busier than today's antics, which should mean a final attendance of more than 10,000. Stay tuned to PokerNews to discover if that is the case.