Joshua Turner is looking to win his fifth career gold ring and second of the series.
Council Bluffs, Iowa (April 10, 2016) --
Day 1 of the Main Event has officially come to a close as players in
Flight B bag their chips. Bagging as the Flight B chip leader was Joshua
Turner (pictured). He managed to accumulate 282,500 chips over the
course of the day. Turner will be the overall chip leader heading into
Day 2. Flight A's chip leader was Maurice Hawkins (bagged 245,000).
Turner and Hawkins are the hottest players at the series right now.
Turner won his fourth career WSOP Circuit gold ring Friday by defeating a
field of 124 entries in Event #10 - $580 No-Limit Hold'em. On Thursday
Hawkins won his fifth career WSOP gold ring by defeating 265 players in
the $365 Monster Stack event. The only other gold ring winner from this
series to bag was Jason Seitz (37,500) Seitz was the winner of Event #6 -
$365 No-Limit Hold'em.
Other notables advancing to Day 2 with
above average chip stacks include Ting Ho (163,000), Janet Fitzgerald
(162,500), Rex Clinkscales (152,000), Ray Henson (135,500), Neil Scott
(132,000), and Ryan Tepen (101,000). One other featured player advancing
is Blair Hinkle (154,900). Hinkle has won this event three times in the
past and heads to Day 2 with 154,900 chips and shot at winning this
tournament for a record extending fourth time.
Not everyone
was as lucky as the names above. The Circuit's all-time gold ring
leaders did not fair well in Flight B. All-time gold ring winner, Alex
Masek (nine rings) busted twice in Flight B as well as eight-time gold
ring winners, Ari Engel and Valentin Vornicu. Last year's champion in
this event, Michelle Chin, busted out and will not be defending her
title.
There tournament drew 321 entries generating a $481,500
prizepool. The participation was up 36% over last year and the prizepool
increased by over $100,000. The eventual champion will earn $113,152, a WSOP
Circuit gold ring and an automatic berth into the 2016 Global Casino Championship. Day 1 saw a total of 63 survivors between the two starting
flights. The top 33 spots will be paid Sunday with a min cash valued at
$2,875.
The complete payout structure can be found here.
Live updates from the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event will be available at WSOP.com for the remainder of the event.
Here's a look at the top five chip counts heading into Day 2:
1. Joshua Turner - 282,500
2. Maurice Hawkins - 245,000
3. Daniel Shea - 237,000
4. Daniel Jensen - 227,000
5. David Huebner - 122,000
Full chip counts are available here.