Bill Klein opened the hijack to 3,000 and Sam Greenwood on the button bumped it up to 9,000. Both blinds folded and action was back on Klein. He shoved all in for about 24,000, and Greenwood instantly called.
It was a race situation with Klein tabling and Greenwood showing . The flop (, turn () and river () were of no help to Klein. Klein, who made an appearance on High Stakes Poker in season 7, wished the players good luck, and made his exit.
A short-stacked Kyle Frey was all in and at risk with , and he was dominated by Alex Venovski's . The flop gave Frey a leading pair of aces, but the turn () and river () were both hearts, giving Venovski a flush.
"All in and a call" the dealer shouted on table 351. No camera's and no interest from railbirds, so it was just us running towards the table where Ashton Griffin was about to bust Harry Kaczka.
With in front of Griffin, and displayed in front of Kaczka, things weren't looking to good for the latter. The board already read and the completed the disaster for Kaczka. What could have perfectly been a post flop pot where the money had gone in on the turn, it was in fact a pre flop all in, according to David Williams who was the only other player on the table at the time.
By the time Kaczka had exited the tournament area, seat two (Galen Hall) and seat six (Lee Markholt) had been filled as well.
The first level of the day has just commenced. Not everyone is in their seats yet, but the clock is running. 600 and 1,200 for the blinds for an hour, the ante is 200 for everyone.
Never before had the world Series of Poker seen a $10,000 6-max Championship event. Yesterday's event was a first, and 264 players signed up for a shot at the bracelet. A total of 164 players wouldn't complete the first 10 levels on Day 1, and so just 97 players remain. Those players will return at 2 pm local time for some Day 2 action.
30 players will reach the money stage of the tournament, and take home a minimum of $17,793. The champion is to receive $670,041, but that bracelet will be rewarded tomorrow. The schedule for today is to play 10 levels.
As to be expected, a lot of big names are still in contention. Ashton Griffin (162,300), Scott Clements (150,300), Doug Polk (149,300), Joe Cada (138,700) Ryan Fee (134,200) and Philipp Gruissem (130,900) all gathered a lot of chips on the first day multiplying their 30,000 starting stack. Leading the way is Russian player Leonid Markin (206,800), while Simon Lam with just 9,600 in chips will start out as the shortest stacked player.
Play resumes at 2 pm local time (in 75 minutes) with blind level 11 (600/1,200 - 200 ante). Expect a lot of action today, and PokerNews will report from start to finish.
In the meantime, check out an interview Remko Rinkema had with Philipp Gruissem on Day 1: