A grueling 11 hours of play is over and today has had its fair share of ups and down for players and fans alike. The day began with 2,100 entrants each starting with 3,000 chips and by the end of the night there were only 168 contenders left, each of whom had locked up a min cash by the end of the day. The apparent leader at the end of Day 1 was Matt Matros who seemingly came out of nowhere to grab the chip lead at the beginning of the day. From there he never looked back and locked up the top chip stack with 145,000 chips going into day two. Just before one of the breaks, Matros was able to reclaim his chip lead when his pocket queens held up against pocket tens and .
Jake Balsiger looked to give Matros a run for his money, but at the end of the day he finished with 15,000 less than Matros. Balsiger was able to use the power of the bubble pressure to increase his stack from just about 80,000 to 130,000 in just about an hour. That was good enough for what looked like second place at the time. Balsiger will be looking to capture his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet tomorrow while Matros looks to grab his fourth in four years, which would be an incredible feat for any poker player.
There was plenty of players who came and went here on Day 1. Some of the notables who didn't quite make it to the money were Vanessa Selbst, J.J. Liu, Jesse Sylvia, John Eames, Amit Makhija, Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Little, Jan Heitmann and many more. Alongside them were plenty of notable players who made it through to the money and some even on to Day 2. Neil Channing and Will Failla each made it into the money, but busted at the end of the day, without moving on. Ari Engel, Victor Ramdin, David Chiu, Ryan Laplante, Ryan Tepen, Allen Kessler, James Mackey, Alex Queen and many more all made it through to tomorrow which will prove surely to be a very interesting day.
Action begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the Amazon room here at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino. PokerNews.com will be here with all the updates all day long so be sure to stay tuned as we follow on the road to crown the next World Series of Poker bracelet winner.
While at different tables Matt Matros and Jake Balsiger are fiercely battling for control of the chip lead here on Day 1 of Event #42.
We just caught Matros play a hand that vaulted him slighty past Balsiger for control of the biggest stack in the room, for the time being at least.
Preflop a player on the button raised to 2,000. Matros called from the big blind after the small blind folded. The flop came down and Matros check called a bet of 1,500 from his opponent. The turn was the and this time both players checked. The river came down the and Matros led out with a bet of 3,600. The player looked at his hand several times before releasing it into the muck.
With that, Matros collected the pot that put him back in control of the chip lead.
If there was any winner of money bubble it was not all the players who just cashed, but Jake Balsiger. Balsiger was able to take advantage of the pressure of the money bubble to greatly increase his stack size over the course of the last level.
Balsiger started after the last break with just about 80,000 chips but now he's up to a smooth 130,000 and looks to have taken over the chip lead here in the Brasilia room.
Hand-for-hand play has been going on for three hands now without losing a single player. On the first hand Shelly Fine managed to double up with pocket nines against pocket tens by turning a four flush.
Two players need to be lost to reach the money and the first to fall was Don Zewin who fell on the third hand of hand for hand play.
Zewin was in the big blind and called a shove from a player on the button. When the hands were turned up Zewin was ahead with against an opponent's . The board ran out and gave a straight to the player on the button and Zewin was eliminated in 218th place.
With one player left to bust the bubble, another player doubled up on the fourth hand with pocket fives against pocket aces after rivering a set to stay alive.
We're still waiting to catch that bubble boy which could be any second now.
AP Phahurat had one of the biggest stacks in the room which was just about 50,000 but now it's experienced quite a bit of shrinkage. We didn't catch the hand, but Phahurat took to twitter to explain what happened to his monster stack:
When we got to the table to count what was left of Phahurat's stack, he had shoved all in with a covering stack over another players all in. Everyone folded and the two were headed to a showdown.
All in:
Phahurat:
The board rolled out giving Phahurat trips and the knockout blow, and he was able to recover a few of his lost chips. He's nowhere near where he once was, but every little bit counts.
Jamie Rosen in an earlier tournament from the series.
We came to Jamie Rosen's table just as it was about to break. While we were moving to the table, a pot of over 40,000 chips had be piled into the middle of the table. We asked Rosen for the preflop action and he informed us what had happened.
From middle position a player raised, he was called by Andrew Watson, before Gregory Benjamins reraised to 4,550. With action back on the first player he moved all in for roughly 18,000. Watson then moved all in over the top for roughly 26,000. With action back to Benjamins, he went into the tank for several minutes. He had a covering stack on both players.
Benjamins stood up from his chair and rustled with is hat while talking himself through his decision out loud, speculating what hands the players could have and more. Eventually, the tank had gone on long enough and Rosen called for a clock while Benjamins was thinking.
"If you had aces here, you'd be my official favorite person," Watson said to Benjamins before Rosen called the clock.
About 15 seconds into his clock, Benjamins flashed his hand , whether accidental or not this is unknown, then he announced a call, creating an almost 70,000 chip pot.
First All In Player:
Watson:
Benjamins:
The board came out giving the chop pot to Benjamins and Watson. The all in player was eliminated. As the floor was already at the table, he gave Benjamins a one round penalty for exposing his hand before making a decision. Benjamins accepted what happened, and all the players began moving to their new table.
"I can see the headline now," Rosen said, putting his hand above his head. "All about the Benjamins."
If Matt Matros hadn't established himself as the chip leader yet he's definitely done so now.
Just before break Matros raised to 900 from early position. The player directly to his left moved all in. Action folded to the player in the cutoff who moved all in over the top. Action folded all the way back around to Matros who snap called.
Matros:
Early Position All In:
Cutoff:
Matros was in a great position to notch two more knock outs when no one improved on the flop. The turn was the leaving Matros out front. The river was safe for Matros too when it fell the . After that hand, Matros stacked his chips into the break. He has breached the 70,000 chip mark and looks to have more than anyone else in the room.
While Everett Carlton may not be one of the widest regarded names in the poker community, he is a player who has over $800,000 in lifetime cashes. He's also a player who returned from break with chips to play with here on Day 1 over Event #42: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Carlton's name may be familiar as he recently finished third place in Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, the event which Athanasios Polychronopoulos won his second bracelet in. Carlton looks to add to his already impressive number of cashes with another good run here today.
While not equipped with the biggest stack in the room, Carlton has a decent amount of chips and even more after we caught him in a recent hand.
On a flop of Carlton moved all in over a bet of 1,500 from his opponent. The player spent a while in the tank before finally releasing his hand and his chips over to Carlton who collected the pot.
Matt Matros has just been found amongst room and it looks like we've found a chip leader in him as well. From what we counted he has nearly 50,000 chips already which would represent just about 250 big blind. We'll be sure to keep tabs on him now that we know exactly where he's sitting.
After a raise of 400 preflop, Neil Channing raised to 1,150 from the cutoff. Only the original raiser called.
On the flop of both players checked to see the on the turn. On the turn, the first to act player put out a bet of 1,500. From there Channing moved all in for 2,800 more. The player looked pained about it but eventually made the call.
Channing:
Original Raiser:
The river was the and that was good enough for Channing to double through here on day one.
.
and Matros check called a bet of 1,500 from his opponent. The turn was the 
and this time both players checked. The river came down the 
and Matros led out with a bet of 3,600. The player looked at his hand several times before releasing it into the muck.
against an opponent's 
. The board ran out and gave a straight to the player on the button and Zewin was eliminated in 218th place.
giving Phahurat trips and the knockout blow, and he was able to recover a few of his lost chips. He's nowhere near where he once was, but every little bit counts.
, whether accidental or not this is unknown, then he announced a call, creating an almost 70,000 chip pot.
giving the chop pot to Benjamins and Watson. The all in player was eliminated. As the floor was already at the table, he gave Benjamins a one round penalty for exposing his hand before making a decision. Benjamins accepted what happened, and all the players began moving to their new table.
flop. The turn was the 
leaving Matros out front. The river was safe for Matros too when it fell the 
on the turn. On the turn, the first to act player put out a bet of 1,500. From there Channing moved all in for 2,800 more. The player looked pained about it but eventually made the call.
