button in SafariChew Claims WPTWOC Mini Main Event Day 1b Chip Lead
Day 1b of the $1,050 buy-in WPT World Online Championships Mini Main Event took place online at partypoker on September 5. Some 402 players bought in before late registration slammed shut, and only 59 of those punched their Day 2 tickets at the first attempt.
Canada-based Australian grinder, Stevan Chew, finished on top of the pile with a 3,599,632 stack. Chew's stack was large enough pole position on Day 1b and third overall with Day 1c and the well-structured Day 1 scheduled for next week.
Chew found himself in good company at the top of the Day 1b chips counts. British pro Jamie O'Connor, known as "Boz" to his friends, bagged up 3,424,521 chips at the close of play. Christoph Vogelsang (3,310,863) and David Yan (3,149,682) were the only other players to end Day 1b with more than three million chips.
Mike Watson (2,949,599), WSOP bracelet winner Mitchell Halverson (2,729,264), and Robert Heidorn (2,592,229) each finished with enough betting tokens for a top ten Day 1b finish.
WPT #07 Mini Main Event Day 1B Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stevan Chew | Canada | 3,599,632 |
| 2 | Jamie O'Connor | United Kingdom | 3,424,521 |
| 3 | Christoph Vogelsang | United Kingdom | 3,310,863 |
| 4 | David Yan | New Zealand | 3,149,682 |
| 5 | Leonid Orman | Russia | 2,991,444 |
| 6 | Mike Watson | Canada | 2,949,599 |
| 7 | Mitchell Halverson | Canada | 2,729,264 |
| 8 | Robert Heidorn | United Kingdom | 2,592,229 |
| 9 | Rafael Eltz | Brazil | 2,170,728 |
| 10 | Pavlo Kolinkovskyi | Ukraine | 2,138,420 |
Plenty of other notables navigated their way through the shark-infested Day 1b waters. Team partypoker's Jeff Gross bagged up 2,055,069 chips, while such luminaries as 2021 MILLIONS Online champion Endrit Geci (1,438,302), Connor Drinan (1,349,656), Kevin Rabichow (1,049,830), Sosia Jiang (1,043,583), Daniel Smiljkovic (946,056), and Elio Fox (563,140) also progressed.
WPT World Online Championships Mini Main Event Schedule
Two more $1,050 Mini Main Event flights remain on the schedule. September 12 sees Day 1C take place at 7:05 p.m. BST with the turbo Day 1 shuffling up and dealing at 4:05 p.m. on September 13.
September 13 is when Day 2 commences. The plan is to continue playing until the nine-handed final table is set. Those nine stars return to the partypoker tables one last time on September 14 where the tournament plays down to a champion. On this form, that champion could be Chew.
| Date | Time | Event | Buy-in | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, September 12 | 19:05 | WPT #07 Mini Main Event Day 1C | $1,050 | $1,000,000 |
| Monday, September 13 | 16:05 | WPT #07 Mini Main Event Day 1 Turbo | $1,050 | $1,000,000 |
| Monday, September 13 | 19:05 | WPT #07 Mini Main Event Day 2 | - | $1,000,000 |
| Tuesday, September 14 | 19:05 | WPT #07 Mini Main Event Day 3 | - | $1,000,000 |