First Ever Dealer's Choice Championship Draws 108
After the popularity of the first ever Dealer's Choice event at the WSOP last year, a $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship was added to the schedule for 2015. Day 1 of the event kicked off at 4 p.m. Friday, and it drew 108 runners for a total prize pool of $1,015,200. Whoever ships the tournament will bank $319,792.
More than half of the field advanced to Day 2 as 61 survived. Matthew Ashton has the chip lead with 152,700. Ashton is most noted for winning the Poker Players' Championship in 2013 for over $1.7 million.
Other players surviving the first five levels with above average stacks included 2014 WSOP Player of the Year George Danzer (106,825), Stephen Chidwick (101,875), Jeff Madsen (88,525), and Robert Mizrachi (74,575). Mizrachi was the WSOP's first ever Dealer's Choice champion.
Players get back in action at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Top Five Chip Counts
| Player | Stack |
|---|---|
| Matthew Ashton | 152,700 |
| Yehuda Buchalter | 138,150 |
| George Danzer | 106,825 |
| Stephen Chidwick | 101,875 |
| Ray Dehkharghani | 97,150 |