Darren Elias Leads Again After Day 1 of the partypoker MILLIONS North America $25,500 Super High Roller
It might be a new tournament, but it still has the same Day 1 chip leader. Darren Elias cruised through another opening day at the partypoker MILLIONS North America, this time in the $25,500 Super High Roller. Elias wound up throwing 8,815,000 in his bag, good enough to sit a the top of the leaderboard with just 15 players remaining.
Elias also ended Day 1 of the $10,300 High Roller with the chip lead, however, was unable to work his way into the money after a couple of unfortunate hands. This time around, the New Jersey native will be looking to make good on his Day 1 performance. The day started off slow for Elias, as he was forced to use up his second bullet early in the day. After the last break of the day, Elias caught fire, eliminating multiple opponents and working his way to the front.
It won't be smooth sailing for him though with Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom not far off in the distance. Blom spent most of his day on the feature table but just like Elias, had to use two to spin up a stack. Blom finished the day with 6,755,000 which left him in second place. Kevin Hobbs, a businessman playing poker for the love of the game, also had another successful day as well. Hobbs is coming off a third-place finish yesterday in the High Roller and continued to ride the momentum by bagging 4,450,000 to round out the top three.
Some other notables moving on to Day 2 include partypoker Ambassador Joao Simao (2,385,000), Sean Winter (3,800,000), Chance Kornuth (3,675,000), and Niall Farrell (2,735,000). It was a field full of big names and not all of them were fortunate enough to make it through the day. The likes of partypoker Sponsored Pros Kristen Bicknell and Roberto Romanello, Alex Foxen, David Eldridge, and Parker Talbot all hit the rail earlier than they were hoping for.
When the action resumes on Monday at 12:00 PM local time, it will be a race to get to the final seven spots in the money. A min-cash will be worth $60,000 while the winner will be taking home $325,000 for their efforts. The blinds will resume on level 13 at 35,000/70,000 and a 70,000 button ante. The blind levels will continue to be 40-minutes in length with a 15-minute break after every three levels. The unofficial final table will assemble at nine players with one table being live-streamed throughout the day.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on site to bring you all of the action until a winner is crowned.
, Lucas Greenwood was all in for 600,000 with 
, and Victor Ramdin had both players covered holding 
.
and Greenwood was still in a great position to score a triple up. The turn was the 
and Ramdin could be heard throughout the room cheering for an ace. Indeed, the 
landed on the river and Ramdin clapped his hands as the pot was shipped his way and both Blom and Greenwood were eliminated.
. Watson continued for 100,000 and Lewis made a relatively quick call.
and both players checked to the 
on the river. Watson led out for another 225,000 only to have Lewis raise to 600,000. Watson went into the tank for a couple of minutes and eventually the clock was called. Watson finally made the call and Lewis turned over 
for straight and scooped the pot.
. 
and Bicknell tabled her 
to chop the pot.
