Friday, September 21, 2018 12:31 AM Local Time
Jeffrey Morzella Leads at the End of Day 1 in Coco High Roller
Jeffrey Morzella
At the end of 12 levels, the $2,200 High Roller with $50,000 guaranteed has bagged and tagged for Day 2. The day may have begun with 12 runners, but it ended with 65 for a prize pool of $130,000 so far. Registration remains open until cards are in the air at 2:00 p.m. on Friday for Day 2.
Leading the way is Tampa, Florida's Jeffrey Morzella with 242,600 chips. Behind him sits Leandro Faraminan with 196,500, followed by 2015 World Series of Poker November Niner Josh Beckley (172,800) to round out the top three. Just 16 players remain going into Day 2, but that number is sure to grow with registration still open until play begins. Familiar faces that made Day 2 include Jake Schwartz (172,500), Jonathan Hilton (166,500), Russ Head (107,700), Chris Conrad (77,800), 2016 WSOP November Niner Jerry Wong (61,400), Brett Bader (56,400) and Ben Zamani (40,000).
Morzella slowly chipped up throughout the day, but it was Beckley who made some big moves to come back from being short on chips to sitting in the top three. Faraminan also made a huge call with jacks on a board with three tens on it, catching his opponent bluffing with a rivered flush. He hung on to his chips and managed to bag big going into Day 2. Hassan Tahsildar moves on to Day 2 with 160,000 but had close to 300,000 nearing the last two levels of the day. He made some big hands but dwindled down to what is still a healthy stack for Day 2.
While many notable players filled the High Roller seats today, ones that were not fortunate enough to find a bag in this event include Scott Davies, Steve Nussrallah, Mark Stephen Edwards, Walid Maddah, Corey Bierria and Martin Ryan. All of these players still have a chance to jump back into the action for Day 2 with registration still open.
Day 2 will commence at 2:00 p.m. local time at Seminole Coconut Creek with at least 16 players remaining. Play will conclude once a winner is crowned, and payouts will be posted shortly after registration closes once cards are in the air.
Keep following along on WSOP.com for live updates throughout the day on the way to crowning a winner.