Another 228 players found their way to the tables today at the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas, adding to the 896 from the previous three flights as they tried their hand at grabbing a piece of the $50,000,000 Guaranteed prize pool in the fourth and final flight of the first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise $25,000 Super Main Event.
After ten grueling hour-long levels, there were only 83 remaining and young gun Eric Yanovsky finished the night as the chip leader with an impressive 3,995,000 after rocketing to the top of the leaderboard in Level 7 when he called down with pocket jacks against [Removed:533] and never looking back.
Russia's Mikhail Iakovlev had an exceptional day as well, finishing hot on Yanovsky's heels with 3,800,000, followed by fan favorite Bryn Kenney who turned 150,000 into 3,615,000 in the final level of play.
Day 1d Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Yanovsky | United States | 3,995,000 | 160 |
| 2 | Mikhail Yakovlev | Russian Federation | 3,800,000 | 190 |
| 3 | Bryn Kenney | United States | 3,615,000 | 181 |
| 4 | Pascal Lefrancois | Canada | 3,520,000 | 176 |
| 5 | Felipe Boianovsky | Brazil | 3,435,000 | 172 |
| 6 | Pablo Melogno | Uruguay | 3,060,000 | 153 |
| 7 | Daniel Neilson | Austrailia | 2,690,000 | 135 |
| 8 | Manuel Fischer | Germany | 2,605,000 | 130 |
| 9 | Jim Collopy | United States | 2,475,000 | 124 |
| 10 | Young Sik Eum | United States | 2,330,000 | 117 |
Making a shocking return was Liv Boeree who spent the majority of the day on the feature table with one bullet and closed out the night with a healthy stack of 1,350,000.
Jesse Lonis grinded a short stack for much longer than he'd prefer but thanks to a late-night double with ace-king against the ace-queen of Dimitar Danchev, he managed to bag 1,750,000. Poker influencer's Alexandra Botez and Alexander "wolfgang" Seibt remained on the feature table for the bulk of the action, finishing the day with 1,225,000 and 1,115,000, respectively. Hall of Famer and WSOP Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen also advanced, bringing 700,000 into Day 2.
Not everyone was fortunate enough to advance, including Jean-Noel Thorel, who brings brightness to every table. Thorel had already secured a bag worth 1,500,000 but attempted to bag a higher stack, only to fall short in the final level of the night. Others who made their exits before the end of Day 1d included GG Ambassador Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Darren Elias, Vanessa Selbst, Jon Pardy, and Josh Arieh.
The 228 entries on Day 1d brought the total for the event to 1,124 through four starting flights, with 387 securing spots into Day 2. All surviving players from the four starting flights combine for Day 2 on December 16 at noon local time. Registration remains open through the first three levels of play.
Make sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as reporters will be on site to provide live updates throughout the day.
