Today marked the start of the $3,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or Better tournament at the 2013 Word Series of Poker and what a day of poker it was. Pot Limit Omaha creates some crazy action, but through in the split-pot format and the action goes off the chart!
Matt Woodward is the tournament's overnight chip lead, having bagged up an impressive 98,700 chips when play ended for the night. Woodward is something if a Limit Hold'em expert if his past tournament results are anything to go by, but he has some fantastic results in other formats too, including a runner-up finish in the 2009 EPT Grand Final and a 217th place finish in the 2012 WSOP Main Event. Now Woodward has given himself the best chance of reaching the money places and beyond in this tournament.
Hot on Woodward's heels are Zhen Cai (95,300), Michael Sanders (79,500) and Paul Tedeschi (70,800), the latter peaking at almost 90,000 chips before losing some ground as the day ground to a halt. Most of Tedeschi's stack used to belong to Owais Ahmed, but the two created a huge pot that resulted in Ahmed's exit. Ahmed will not be too upset, though because he won a seat to the One Drop tournament in the WSOP.com draw worth a cool $111,111.
Other notables to progress to Wednesday's Day 2 include Gavin Smith (60,500), Ireland's John O'Shea (50,500), Leif Force (43,300), Stephen Chidwick (29,900), Eric Baldwin (28,900), Antoine Saout (27,300), Joe Hachem (25,600), Mike Matusow (22,000) and Jeff Madsen (17,200). Full chip counts will appear on the event's dedicated chip count page, where you will also find an extensive list of big names who busted during Day 1.
Play resumes at 2pm local time on Wednesday and will see another 10 levels played here at the Rio. Make sure you join us then so you do not miss any of the action as Event #46 plays down to the money and beyond.