Day 1B of the Main Event is complete. Michael Yale topped all the day’s competitors, bagging 510,000 at the end of the night. Andrew Rubinberg finished the day second in chips with 488,000. Of the 952 players who started the day, 126 survived through all 17 levels of play.
This was a record-setting event for the WSOP Circuit. Day 1A featured 765 entrants. The total of 1717 entries is the most in Circuit history, easily surpassing the previous record of 1615 set in Hammond in 2011. The huge field gave this event a massive prize pool of $2,575,500, which smashed the $2 million guarantee. The ring winner will walk away with $418,526, and the top five finishers will all receive six-figure payouts.
The 98 players who made it through Day 1A will join the Day 1B survivors for Day 2 on Sunday, for a remaining field of 224 players.
Rubinberg held the chip lead for a while near the end of the night. He catapulted to the top of the leaderboard when he knocked out two players in a massive 300,000-chip pot. A short stacked player pushed all in preflop for 25,000, Rubinberg and one other player called. Then the other player open-shoved for about 120,000 on the flop. Rubinberg called with and held up against and the short stack’s .
After both Day 1 flights, the overall chip leader is Kevin Davis, who finished Day 1A with 689,500. He is followed by Yale, Kevin Eyster (500,500 in chips), Steven Hensley (492,000), and Rubinberg.
Six-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Ari Engel will made it to Day 2 with 124,000 in chips. Engel is currently tied for second place on the career rings list. If he wins his seventh in this Main Event, he’ll tie Chris Reslock for first on the all-time list. Erik Roussakis also survived Day 1B. Roussakis made the final table of the Main Event at Hammond in both 2011 and 2012, and he is looking to make it three in a row. Other notable players surviving Day 1B include Owais Ahmed, Austin Buchanan, Gillian Epp, and Aaron Steury.
There will be no back-to-back champion at this event. Last year’s winner, Josh Williams, entered on both Day 1A and 1B, but was eliminated both times. The 2011 champion, Bob Chow, likewise fired two bullets but failed to make Day 2.
Several other players entered both Day 1 flights and failed to advance. Among them are Isaac Baron, Joe Kuether, Amanda Musumeci, Zo Karim, Aaron Massey, Ralph Massey, and six-time WSOP bracelet winner T.J. Cloutier.
Here are the top ten chip counts from the combined field. A complete list of chip counts can be found in the reports tab. - Kevin Davis - 689,500
- Michael Yale - 510,000
- Kevin Eyster - 500,500
- Steven Hensley - 492,000
- Andrew Rubinberg - 488,000
- Riely Joosten - 461,500
- Ruben Ybarra - 428,000
- Chris Wiemers - 423,000
- James Nettnin - 414,500
- Derek Damanes - 382,500