Chang Bags the Lead; Ivey in the Hunt Following Day 1 of $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em
A field of 2,229 has been reduced to just 335 on Day 1 of Event #68: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Leading the way is Andrew Chang, who bagged up an impressive 1,022,000. Chang appears to be a newcomer with only one recorded cash in the WSOP from an online event earlier this year. However, Chang is currently best positioned to make a deep run in the event and give his live-tournament resume an early highlight.
Also bagging big was none other than Phil Ivey, who was able to run a starting stack up to 719,000 in short order after hopping in just before late registration closed. Ivey finally distanced himself from the other ten-time bracelet winners by winning his eleventh in the $10,000 Triple Draw Championship a couple of weeks ago. Ivey is currently second all-time in bracelets behind Phil Hellmuth and has already made several deep runs this summer outside of his win.
The event turnout generated a $4,963,975 prize pool, which means the eventual winner will take home a cool $667,963 in addition to the gold bracelet. All the remaining players have already guaranteed themselves a min-cash of $5,004.
End of Day Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Chang | United States | 1,022,000 | 85 |
| 2 | Alisson Piekazewicz | Brazil | 832,000 | 69 |
| 3 | Mike Holtz | United States | 755,000 | 63 |
| 4 | Kai Cohen | United States | 749,000 | 62 |
| 5 | Damien Luis | France | 748,000 | 62 |
| 6 | Bart Lybaert | Belgium | 739,000 | 62 |
| 7 | Dongwoo Ko | Canada | 728,000 | 61 |
| 8 | Phil Ivey | United States | 719,000 | 60 |
| 9 | Miguel Lopes | Portugal | 701,000 | 58 |
| 10 | Alexandre Arnold | Australia | 680,000 | 57 |
Day 1 Highlights
Brazilian soccer sensation Neymar took his seat shortly after the event began and quickly went to work by more than tripling his starting stack by the dinner break. Neymar made waves in the poker community after making a heroic call against Alan Keating in a high-stakes cash game last week. Unfortunately for Neymar, his stack dwindled late in the evening after doubling up a couple of opponents, and he eventually busted out short of the money.
Super high roller Santhosh Suvarna also made an appearance, highlighting the Indian casino mogul's love of the game regardless of buy-in amount. Survana, who took down the $250k event just a few days ago, wasn't able to gain much momentum and busted late in the evening after shoving queen-jack preflop and running into Jakub Michalak's ace-jack.
Many notables took the route of max-late-regging, hoping to run up a stack quickly or bust out without much time invested. While this strategy didn't work out this time for Scott Seiver, Christopher Vitch, Yuri Dzivielevski, and Chris Hunichen (to name a few), one player who thrived after joining late was none other than Ivey. The poker legend won a race shortly after he sat down and never looked back. After building his stack to over 700,000, Ivey left the tournament early during hand-for-hand play and will return tomorrow to attempt to claim bracelet number 12.
Other players who entered but fell short of the money include Landon Tice, David "ODB" Baker, Kitty Kuo, Ren Lin, Espen Jorstad, and Jared Jaffee.
The money bubble burst after Julien Martini and one other player busted simultaneously during hand-for-hand play. Both players shoved preflop and were called. Martini found himself dominated and could not improve, while the other "bubble boy" lost a race to guarantee every other player a payday of at least $5,002.
Some other notables who will return tomorrow include Martin Jacobson (140,000), Niall Farrell (260,000), Alex Foxen (278,000), Andre Akkari (553,000), David Dongwoo Ko (728,000), and Michael Holtz (755,000).
Day 2 is set to begin on Friday, June 28, at 12 p.m. local time. Play will resume on Level 19, which features 6,000/12,000 blinds with a 12,000 big blind ante. Levels will increase to one hour from Day 2 onwards, and players will be sent on 15-minute breaks after every two levels. Day 2 will conclude after ten additional levels have been played.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the no-limit action leading to the final table and eventual next bracelet winner!