Medici Leads Them All in Event 9
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After a long day at the felt, the end of the first day one flight of Event 9: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry has come to an end!
It all started with a field of 1,696 players spread across three rooms in the Rio. The goal was to play down to 15% of the field and by the end of the night that’s exactly how many remained as 254 players will return for Day 2 action on Monday.
All in all it took just under 10 levels to finish the day and that sets precedent for tomorrow’s Day 1 flight as those who busted today and a new batch of players will take to the felt in just under 12 hours’ time.
One of the players who didn’t last long today was Phil Ivey as he busted during the first level of play. Joining Ivey on the rail in the early stages included Erik Cajelais, Jennifer Leigh, Jason Somerville, Vanessa Selbst, Betrand Grospellier and Martin Staszko.
Some of the other players who started the day, but will have to try their luck during tomorrow’s day one flight include Bryan Devonshire, Vitaly Lunkin, Kathy Leibert, Justin Bonomo and Dan Smith.
Another player who was looking like he would be finishing the day strong was Jason Mercier, but that didn’t end up being the case. Mercier was extremely active throughout the afternoon and managed to be sitting on a well above average stack late into the night. However, it would all be over in just a few hands as Mercier effectively saw his 50,000-chip stack plummet to zero in just a few hands.
Managing to do far better than the above players include Brian Rast, Ari Engel, Terrence Chan and 2010 WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel as they will all return on Day 2 with a fighting chance at making a run at a WSOP bracelet. Also surviving the day was PokerNews Hostess, Kristy Arnett.
The biggest stack at the end of the night was Giorgio Medici as he managed to accumulate an impressive 106,500 in chips. Medici has only one previous WSOP cash on his record and will be looking to improve with a big finish here in Event 9.
*Full end-of-day chip counts will be posted when made available
Today was an exciting day on the felt, with this event not disappointing and Andy Bloch managing to overcome Barry Greenstein to win his first WSOP bracelet. Tomorrow is sure to be just as exciting as PokerNews will again be on the floor from 12:00 p.m. local time bringing you all the continued action from Event 9 and from the WSOP.