This weekend, there is only one bracelet tournament playing at the Rio in Las Vegas, and it’s the WSOP Main Event.
Three other events wrapped on Friday night, and they did so in exciting fashion. Dan “Jungleman” Cates won the Poker Players Championship for his first-ever WSOP bracelet, Josh Arieh won the PLO-8 Championship for his fourth career bracelet and second one during this series. And Giorgios Sotiropoulos won his third WSOP gold and the first one for Greece this year.
The World Series of Poker Main Event had already started, but this weekend, it is the sole focus of the action. There are dailies and satellites – lots of Main Event satellites – but most people are focused on the Main. That $10K buy-in tournament dubbed the World Championship of No Limit Hold’em is the one that almost every poker player dreams of winning.
Event 67: $10K buy-in WSOP Main Event
Day 1C played out on Saturday, and when it wrapped, it brought a new chipleader into the spotlight. Poker pro Mustapha Kanit of Italy had claimed that spot on Day 1A and kept it as Day 1B played out on Friday, but Russian player Aleksandr Shevlyakov bagged almost 400K chips to become the one to beat.
Here are the numbers from Day 1C and totals from the three starting flights thus far:
Event 67: Day 1C
$10K buy-in
NLHE World Championship (Main Event)
Starting stack: 60K
Levels: 120 minutes
Total entries (so far):
1,968
(523 + 845 + 600)
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Overall chip leader:
Aleksandr Shevlyakov (Russia)
Total players remaining:
1,392
(348 + 611 + 433)
Day 1A&B restart:
11am Tues (Nov 9)
Top ten 1C chip counts:
Day 1C restart:
11am Wed (Nov 10)
Alexsandr Shevlyakov (Russia) 392,600
Day 1D start:
11am Sunday
Dylan Nguyen (USA) 252,400
Suk-Kyu Koh (USA) 237,900
Matt Glantz (USA) 236,000
Veselin Dimitrov (USA) 235,000
Itay Bin Mergy (Israel) 235,000
Travis Preng (USA) 232,800
Daniel Barry (USA) 230,600
Andrew Gilmore (USA) 224,600
Howard Arotsky (USA) 215,600
Day 1C Main Event Highlights
One of the most notable players in the 1C field was Hossein Ensan, the 2019 WSOP champion. It likely wasn’t easy for him to get to the US this year from Germany, so he hasn’t played much in Las Vegas before this Main Event. He played the third starting flight and did survive the day with 84K chips. And Qui Nguyen, the 2016 Main Event champ, played and bagged up 143,800 chips.
One of the greatest parts of the Main Event each year is finding out about first-time players. PokerNews interviewed some of the influencers who earned their way to Vegas through 888poker’s Road to Las Vegas promotion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCmM8NXBf-U
Those guys seem funny, but PokerNews also talked to Greg Goes All In and Courtney, who produce entertaining poker-related videos and comedy sketches on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWLk098APMw
Jeff Platt has been reporting for CBS Sports throughout the Main Event and posting some of his interview clips on his Twitter page. He’s been covering a range of players, from newbies to pros. His coverage gives a fantastic overview of the players in this tournament.
https://twitter.com/jeffplatt/status/1457198188490752000?s=20
