On the second hand of hand-for-hand play, Ardit Kurshumi opened with a raise from middle position and Grantland Hillman three-bet all in from the small blind. Kurshumi made the call, putting Hillman's tournament life on the line.
Kurshumi:
Hillman:
Hillman was in excellent shape to double up and would get it after the dealer laid out a board of .
Max Silver raised and there was a call in middle position before Sean Prendiville moved all in for 28,000 in chips. Silver had an easy call with the and Prendiville was looking for some magic with the . The other player had folded.
The board ran out and that was it for the Irishman.
Owen Crowe opened from the cutoff, Robert Flowers called, putting himself all in, on the button and Justin Conley called in the big blind. The flop was dealt and Conley check-called a bet of 2,600 from Crowe.
The turn brought the and both players checked to the on the river. Conley lead out for 6,200 and Crowe raised to 15,700. Conley folded and Crowe tabled , for a rivered full house and Flowers tossed into the muck.
Cards are in the air for Day 2 here on Sunday afternoon. The tournament is only 14 away from the money and hand-for-hand play is expected to begin shortly.
On the first day, a total of 1,914 players entered Event #44: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em of the 2014 World Series of Poker. Despite many big names taking a shot and hitting the rail early, plenty of familiar faces on the international poker circuit will return to the tables of the Rio's Amazon Room at 1 p.m. Las Vegas time to continue the quest.
Play will resume in Level 12 with the blinds 600/1,200 and an ante of 200 with 212 participants remaining, and the full redraw can be found here. The top 198 spots will get paid at least $2,919 and the coveted gold bracelet will go to the winner along with a top prize of $478,102.
Topping the field thus far is Jason Johnson, who already finished eighth in the record-breaking Millionaire Maker Event #8 this year for $ 211,394.
Only five other players accumulated a six-digit stack after 11 levels of play on Day 1: Louis Laxineta (111,600), Kennii Nguyen (108,000), Ray Foley (105,600), Robert Georato (103,600) and Theo Tran (103,300). Other notables with above average stacks included Randal Flowers (94,400), Jesse Cohen (81,200), Sebastian Saffari (78,700), Thomas Muehloecker (77,600), Nicolas Yunis (72,800), Artem Metalidi (63,900), Victor Ramdin (60,400), Jake Balsiger (60,200), and Barry Greenstein (59,100).
The field is only 14 spots away from the money and bubble play is expected to be reached within the first half an hour of play. Tune into the exclusive PokerNews Live Reporting to find out who makes the cut and who advances one day further on the way to becoming the next WSOP champion.