A grueling 11 hours of play is over and today has had its fair share of ups and down for players and fans alike. The day began with 2,100 entrants each starting with 3,000 chips and by the end of the night there were only 168 contenders left, each of whom had locked up a min cash by the end of the day. The apparent leader at the end of Day 1 was Matt Matros who seemingly came out of nowhere to grab the chip lead at the beginning of the day. From there he never looked back and locked up the top chip stack with 145,000 chips going into day two. Just before one of the breaks, Matros was able to reclaim his chip lead when his pocket queens held up against pocket tens and .
Jake Balsiger looked to give Matros a run for his money, but at the end of the day he finished with 15,000 less than Matros. Balsiger was able to use the power of the bubble pressure to increase his stack from just about 80,000 to 130,000 in just about an hour. That was good enough for what looked like second place at the time. Balsiger will be looking to capture his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet tomorrow while Matros looks to grab his fourth in four years, which would be an incredible feat for any poker player.
There was plenty of players who came and went here on Day 1. Some of the notables who didn't quite make it to the money were Vanessa Selbst, J.J. Liu, Jesse Sylvia, John Eames, Amit Makhija, Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Little, Jan Heitmann and many more. Alongside them were plenty of notable players who made it through to the money and some even on to Day 2. Neil Channing and Will Failla each made it into the money, but busted at the end of the day, without moving on. Ari Engel, Victor Ramdin, David Chiu, Ryan Laplante, Ryan Tepen, Allen Kessler, James Mackey, Alex Queen and many more all made it through to tomorrow which will prove surely to be a very interesting day.
Action begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the Amazon room here at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino. PokerNews.com will be here with all the updates all day long so be sure to stay tuned as we follow on the road to crown the next World Series of Poker bracelet winner.
While at different tables Matt Matros and Jake Balsiger are fiercely battling for control of the chip lead here on Day 1 of Event #42.
We just caught Matros play a hand that vaulted him slighty past Balsiger for control of the biggest stack in the room, for the time being at least.
Preflop a player on the button raised to 2,000. Matros called from the big blind after the small blind folded. The flop came down and Matros check called a bet of 1,500 from his opponent. The turn was the and this time both players checked. The river came down the and Matros led out with a bet of 3,600. The player looked at his hand several times before releasing it into the muck.
With that, Matros collected the pot that put him back in control of the chip lead.
On the last hand of the night before the bag and tag James Mackey got involved in a huge pot with another player at his table by the name of Dana Buck. The money got all in preflop and Mackey was behind with to Buck's
The board rolled out and that was good for Buck to double through Mackey on the last hand of the night.
Zenni Petros and Will Failla began dueling when Failla arrived at the table. At the end of the battle it was Petros who came out as the winner. When we came by the table Failla had already been eliminated and Petros looked to be stacking all of the chips into his stack. Petros looks to be one of the chip leaders in the room now after taking out one of the biggest threats.
If there was any winner of money bubble it was not all the players who just cashed, but Jake Balsiger. Balsiger was able to take advantage of the pressure of the money bubble to greatly increase his stack size over the course of the last level.
Balsiger started after the last break with just about 80,000 chips but now he's up to a smooth 130,000 and looks to have taken over the chip lead here in the Brasilia room.
Hand-for-hand play has been going on for three hands now without losing a single player. On the first hand Shelly Fine managed to double up with pocket nines against pocket tens by turning a four flush.
Two players need to be lost to reach the money and the first to fall was Don Zewin who fell on the third hand of hand for hand play.
Zewin was in the big blind and called a shove from a player on the button. When the hands were turned up Zewin was ahead with against an opponent's . The board ran out and gave a straight to the player on the button and Zewin was eliminated in 218th place.
With one player left to bust the bubble, another player doubled up on the fourth hand with pocket fives against pocket aces after rivering a set to stay alive.
We're still waiting to catch that bubble boy which could be any second now.
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and Matros check called a bet of 1,500 from his opponent. The turn was the 
and this time both players checked. The river came down the 
and Matros led out with a bet of 3,600. The player looked at his hand several times before releasing it into the muck.
to Buck's 
and that was good for Buck to double through Mackey on the last hand of the night.
. The board ran out and gave a straight to the player on the button and Zewin was eliminated in 218th place.