Saturday, December 9, 2017 10:10 PM Local Time
Kelly Minkin Leads the 60 Survivors of the Bicycle Main Event Day 1a
Day 1a Chip Leader Kelly Minkin
The first 15 levels of the Bicycle Casino Main Event completed Saturday night and leading the surviving 60 players is Kelly Minkin who fired two bullets, but managed to bag up a stack of 448,000 heading into Day 2.
Day 1a brought out a total of 294 entrants. Of those, only 60 will be returning for Day 2 on Monday. Many notable players entered on Day 1a, but did not make it through to Day 2 yet. Some of those include bracelet winners Bryce Yockey, Mike Leah, Nipun Java, Mohsin Charania, Ben Keeline, David “ODB” Baker, and Erick Lindgren among others. Lindgren was eliminated by John Hulette when he moved in with and was called by Hulett’s . Hulett turned a deuce and that was it for Lindgren who decided to only fire one bullet for Day 1a.
Kelly Minkin didn’t have the best start to Day 1a. She busted within the first few levels when she moved all in with against an opponent’s pocket kings. But her second bullet went much better for her, in multiple spots she was on the right side of cold decks getting aces against kings on more than one occasion. Towards the end of the night, she eliminated her neighbor Derek Gregory who flopped top pair against Minkin’s overpair. Minkin will bring 448,000 chips into Day 2, which is over 50,000 more than he closest follower. Minkin is best know for her 29th place finish in the Main Event two years ago, and is looking to add another circuit cash to her resume.
Top Five Stacks From Day 1a:
Kelly Minkin - 428,000
Anil Jivani - 363,000
Jeff Banghart - 274,500
Tom Pham - 243,000
Chuanhao Zhang - 204,000
Some other notable players who survived Day 1 include Jeffrey Trudeau, Michael Katz, Nick Grippo, Jeremy Joseph, Anthony Marquez, Nichole Jurgens, and Aaron Frei. They will return on Monday at 12 p.m. for Day 2 where they will join the survivors of Day 1b. Sunday, Day 1b kicks off starting at 12 p.m. where players have two more chances to enter or re-enter the tournament.
All of the action can be found on WSOP.com with chipcounts, live updates, and pictures from throughout the day.