Fast-Paced Day Sees John Monnette Finish as Leader in Stud Championship
The $10,000 Championship events, with their massive starting stacks and slow structures, often see fairly unremarkable Day 1s that feature half of the field or more bag up chips and come back for moving day on Day 2.
Not so in Event #72: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, where a field of 88 runners — one more than last year's 87 in the often trampled-upon game — was reduced to just 29.
Foremost among those in terms of chip count was John Monnette. He finished with 371,000. Monnette already pocketed a bracelet this year, winning $10,000 2-7 Single Draw Championship and is looking for No. 2, along with WSOP Player of the Year honors, where he currently sits in third place behind Ryan Hughes and John Racener.
Both of those players busted out on Day 1.
Another player pacing the field was Perry Friedman. Clad in a shirt that sported his mini-marquee that had "Stud" scrolling in green letters throughout the day, he turned his 50,000 starting stack into 363,500. Friedman already has one bracelet to his credit, won back in 2002 in $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo.
Other players pushing for the lead included Chris Tryba (285,500) and Shaun Deeb (343,000). Deeb won the $1,500 Stud bracelet in 2016.
Some of the players who were eliminated during the 10 levels of play included Max Pescatori, Mike Matusow, Stephen Chidwick, Mike Leah, Brian Hastings and defending champion Robert Mizrachi.
With just 29 left, the field is close to the money, as 14 places will be paid. They'll return Saturday for Day 2 at 2 p.m., with everyone looking to best position themselves for the $245,451 first-place prize.
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 17 | 1 | John Monnette | United States | 371,000 |
| Amazon | 17 | 2 | Christopher Vitch | United States | 257,000 |
| Amazon | 17 | 3 | Daniel Zack | United States | 163,000 |
| Amazon | 17 | 4 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 145,000 |
| Amazon | 17 | 5 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 165,500 |
| Amazon | 17 | 6 | Mike Wattel | United States | 81,500 |
| Amazon | 17 | 8 | Ben Yu | United States | 35,000 |
| Amazon | 18 | 1 | Randy Ohel | United States | 180,000 |
| Amazon | 18 | 2 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 343,000 |
| Amazon | 18 | 3 | Bertrand Grospellier | France | 91,500 |
| Amazon | 18 | 4 | Shirley Rosario | United States | 82,500 |
| Amazon | 18 | 5 | Cliff Josephy | United States | 60,000 |
| Amazon | 18 | 6 | Jean Gaspard | United States | 85,000 |
| Amazon | 18 | 7 | Eric Wasserson | United States | 201,000 |
| Amazon | 18 | 8 | Talal Shakerchi | United Kingdom | 23,000 |
| Amazon | 19 | 1 | Perry Friedman | United States | 363,000 |
| Amazon | 19 | 2 | Amir Mirrasouli | United States | 191,500 |
| Amazon | 19 | 3 | Alex Luneau | France | 57,000 |
| Amazon | 19 | 4 | Chris Tryba | United States | 285,500 |
| Amazon | 19 | 5 | Harry, Jr. Thomas | United States | 78,000 |
| Amazon | 19 | 6 | Todd Brunson | United States | 27,000 |
| Amazon | 19 | 7 | David Bach | United States | 169,500 |
| Amazon | 20 | 2 | Jason Mercier | United States | 156,000 |
| Amazon | 20 | 3 | Juha Helppi | Finland | 96,500 |
| Amazon | 20 | 4 | Ryan Miller | United States | 91,000 |
| Amazon | 20 | 5 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | 245,500 |
| Amazon | 20 | 6 | Chris Ferguson | United States | 189,000 |
| Amazon | 20 | 7 | Brandon Shack-Harris | United States | 52,000 |
| Amazon | 20 | 8 | David Benyamine | United States | 177,500 |