Sunday, March 10, 2024 12:43 AM Local Time (about 40 days and 24 hours ago)
Men Nguyen Bags the Day 1c Chip Lead
The third and final Day 1 flight of the Main Event has bagged for the night and when all was said and done, nobody could overcome the mountain of chips that Brian Altman Bagged on Day 1a.
Men Nguyen gave a valiant effort in his attempt to run Altman down, but ultimately the 826,000 that he put into the bag was only good for the Day 1c chip lead. That said, Nguyen has set himself up in a big way to come into Day 2 with the second largest stack in the field and will use that stack to try and derail the freight train that is currently Altman.
The final starting flight was by far the biggest, bringing in 494 hopefuls set on securing a seat to the Day 2 session but when the night came to an end, just 80 players remained in the hunt for a deep run in the penultimate event on the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond schedule.
With all three starting flights merging, tomorrow will see 159 players return and take their seats in an attempt to find another bag into the Day 3 session. Of those 159 players, 148 will secure a payday with a min-cash being worth $2,556 but with $257,790 waiting up top for the eventual champion, it's a safe bet that everyone in the room will be looking to climb the pay ladder all the way to the last rung.
The Day 1c flight saw a lot of action, including an insane hand that went Zal Irani's way when he got it all in with a set of fives on a flop reading only to see his opponent turn over the for set over set which is the kiss of death in hold'em. The turn brought the and with just one card to come, the dealer knocked the table, burned a card and placed the on it's back, giving Irani quad fives and a huge boost to his chip stack.
Irani took down almost a 300,000 chip pot that hand but would end the night on a stack worth 201,000. Another notable name to bag chips in Flight 1c is Chris Meyers who will bring 114,000 into the Day 2 session and while short-stacked, Meyers is certainly one who is capable of making that stack work and spinning it up into a serious shot at the title.
Players are scheduled to play down to the final table tomorrow to set up the finale headed into Day 3 which will begin at 12:00pm on Monday, March 11th.
Coverage will be live from Day 2 forward here and over at instant.poker.org, so stay tuned as the excited conclusion to this championship event plays down to it's ultimate conclusion over the next two action-filled days.