Kempton Bags Exactly Half a Million to Lead 88 Surviving Players After Day 1 of Main Event
Day 1a of the WSOP Circuit Seminole Hard Rock Main Event is in the books. After close to 11 hours of play, the field was whittled from a starting amount of 450 down to 88.
Leading the way as the punctuation mark was put at the end of the day was Isaac Kempton who finished with 500,000 in chips on the dot. Kempton was spotted after dinner break with a large stack and gained more through several eliminations to catapult himself to the precipice of the counts.
Second in chips to end the day was Tyler Phillips who bagged 385,000. He had a sizable stack toward the end of the day but it really exploded in one of the last hands of the night when his shove was called as he held the nut flush draw that got there on the river to send him above 400,000 at the time.
Tom Nguyen finished in 3rd with 382,500, well known circuit grinder Marshall White was 4th with 365,000 and rounding out the top five was Kevin Davis with 335,000.
Some other notables advancing to Day 2 include: Aaron Massey who bagged 310,500. Ryan Yu with 303,500, Blake Whittington 212,500, Mike Shin 124,500 and Robert Mizrachi 107,500.
The 88 surviving players will now return on Sunday February 16th at 12 p.m. and join the survivors from Day 1b for a rip-roaring Day 2 of action
Tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow at 11 a.m. local timeto find out who is able to wade their way through the Day 1b muck.
. The pot had about 35,000 in the middle. Tyler Phillips jammed his stack of about 200,000 over the bet of 15,000 from his opponent. 
while his opponent led with the 
. The turn was a harmless 
but the river was huge for Phillips as the 
binked off to give him the huge pot worth over 300,000 and soar him towards the chip lead as play nears an end for the night.
against the 
to send Kempton into the lead. The turn was the 
and Kempton busted Force to give his huge stack even more ammunition.
. Bradley Mercer was already all in for about 12,000, the third player in the hand called the all in. Sailor raised it up to 29,000.
. 
while Ajayi showed the 
for the flush and collected thenew winnings into his stack.
