Daniel "Jungleman" Cates Among Day 1b Leaders of 2013 WSOP Main Event; Brunson Advances
The second Day 1 flight of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event is in the books. Day 1b attracted 1,942 players, and after 10 hours of play, 1,296 of them survived the day. Clement Tripodi finished at the head of the pack with 207,500 in chips, but online poker superstar Dan "Jungleman" Cates (pictured) wasn't far behind when the chips were bagged and tagged.
END-OF-DAY 1B CHIP COUNTS
| Place | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Clement Tripodi | 207,500 |
| 2 | Jevon Lam | 189,250 |
| 3 | Daniel Cates | 188,425 |
| 4 | Robert Russ | 176,650 |
| 5 | Age Ravn | 162,325 |
| 6 | Dan Owen | 158,900 |
| 7 | Kenneth Silberstein | 152,075 |
| 8 | Miguel Proulx | 150,500 |
| 9 | Gianluca Rullo | 147,800 |
| 10 | Robert Nehorayan | 146,100 |
Tripodi finished ahead of Day 1a chip leader Evan Panesis (190,975), and he is the overall leader with one more starting flight to go. Cates is fourth overall in chips, thanks to a big hand against Danny Illingworth in which both players had trip fives but Cates had the better kicker. That hand vaulted Cates to the top of the leader board, but Tripodi took the pole position late in the evening.
Several former Main Event champions took their seats on Sunday. Among them was Chris Moneymaker, whose seemingly improbably victory 10 years ago is often credited with sparking the poker boom. One of the men Moneymaker beat at that final table, 1995 Champion Dan Harrington, was in the field as well. They were joined by Greg Raymer (2004), Scotty Nguyen (1998), and the legendary Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977). Before the start of play, WSOP executive director Ty Stewart unveiled a bronze bust of Brunson “as the first step in a more tangible Poker Hall of Fame.” Brunson will return on Day 2 with a healthy 90,000 chip stack. Moneymaker and Harrington made it through the day as well, but Nguyen and Raymer were eliminated and will have to wait until next year to try to win a second Main Event bracelet.
Celebrities from beyond the world of poker have become a mainstay at the Main Event. On Saturday’s Day 1A, actors Jason Alexander and Kevin Pollak were seated near each other. On Day 1B, comedians Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, who costarred on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, took their seats at the felt, as did MMA champion Georges St-Pierre, who was eliminated just before the end of play for the night.
As with virtually every day of the main event, the day had more than its fair share of excitement. Annette Obrestad, winner of the 2007 Main Event at WSOP Europe, took a hit thanks to a nasty river card. Steve Zolotow bested an amateur trash-talker at his own game. And Scotty Nguyen was eliminated in a set-over-set cooler.
Other notables eliminated on Day 1B include Kevin Saul, Mickey Petersen, David Bach, Lex Velhuis, Marco Johnson, Yuval Bronshtein, Bernard Lee and Jesse Sylvia.
Many others survived, however. Among those returning for Day 2 are Obrestad, Zolotow, Sorel Mizzi, Cliff Josephy, Scott Seiver, Juha Helppi, Maxim Lykov, Melanie Weisner, Minh Ly, Amnon Filippi, Tony Gregg, Lauren Kling, Eugene Katchalov, Paul Wasicka, and David Williams, just to name a few.
Those players who made it through Day 1b will return on Tuesday, July 9 to play another five levels. Day 1c, the final starting flight of the Main Event, will begin on Monday at noon, so stay tuned to PokerNews.com for live updates of all the action.
Video of the Day
Before the start of the World Series, Doyle Brunson announced he was virtually retiring from tournament poker. He changed his mind and played last week’s Poker Players’ Championship, and also played in Day 1b of the Main Event. Kristy Arnett spoke with Doyle about his decision to play in those tournaments.
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