The hunt for one of the most sought-after bracelets in poker kicks off on Sunday afternoon at the 2018 World Series of Poker. Day 1 of Event #23: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship gets underway with cards in the air at 3 PM.
Branded the purest form of poker, the field that the 2-7 Single Draw Championship attracts is world class. Each table will be littered with the best and brightest poker minds in the game looking to join the likes of defending champion, John Monnette,Jason Mercier, Phil Galfond, Paul Volpe, Jesse Martin, and Nick Shulman as holders off the prestigious title.
Past results:
Year
Champion
Entries
Prize
2017
John Monnette
92
$256,610
2016
Jason Mercier
100
$273,335
2015
Phil Galfond
77
$224,383
2014
Paul Volpe
87
$253,524
2013
Jesse Martin
87
$253,524
2012
Nick Schulman
101
$294,321
This is the second No-Limit 2-7 event of the 2018 WSOP. Daniel Ospina tamed Timothy Mcdermott and Shaun Deeb on the final day of play in Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw to capture his first bracelet just three days ago. The $1,500 installment drew a total field of 260 entries that paid Ospina $87,678.
At the 2017 series, Monnette topped a field of 92 entries en route to his third bracelet and $256,610. Monnette's final table was stacked with the likes of Per Hildebrand, Darren Elias, Xavier Kyablue, James Chen, Mike Gorodinsky, Mike Leah, and Paul Volpe.
Players will start with 50,000 in tournament chips and Day 1 will consist of ten 60-minute levels. One re-entry is permitted with late registration open for until the start of Day 2. Stay tuned to the blog as PokerNews will be on the floor providing live coverage until the last card comes off the deck.
PokerNews has activated the MyStack App for this event, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting blog using your iPhone or Android phone.
You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.
Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.
Seated in the small blind, Timothy Mcdermott called an open from Eric Kurtzman on the cutoff, and drew one while Kurtzman stood pat. Mcdermott bet 2,700, Kurtzman raised to 7,000, Mcdermott three-bet jammed all in, and Kurtzman called it off.
Mcdermott tabled an and Kurtzman nodded in defeat, revealing a before he hit the rail.
After an open and a three-bet to 3,200 in front of him, Frank Kassela flatted only to see Mike Wattel four-bet to 15,000. That cleared the first two bettors out of the way but Kassela chose to five-bet shove for roughly 50,000. Wattel had slightly more and made the call.
Both players stood pat.
Wattel announced a "rough eight," tabling , and Kassela could only muster a .
Adam Owen raised to 2,000 and James Chen three-bet to 6,500 from the button. James Barlow was in the small blind and four-bet all in for 26,975. Owen folded and Chen called.
Barlow stood pat and after some thought, Chen stood pat and turned over . Barlow shook his head and showed and was eliminated.
After ten levels of play filled with jokes, sweats and some exciting poker, it is Galen Hall who has bagged the chip lead with 389,800 at the end of Day 1 in Event #23: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship.
Hall has one WSOP cash in this format, coming back in 2012 where he cashed the $1,500 event in 32nd place. Hall is also yet to cash a WSOP event this year, but once registration closes at the start of Day 2, he will be in a prime position to record his first one.
Hall was closely followed by three-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser (352,000). Glaser min-cashed the $1,500 8-Game earlier in the day before switching to the single-game format. Glaser already has three bracelets, with one of those coming in the 2015 $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw.
Behind the pair were Timothy McDermott (304,800), Stephen Chidwick (222,800) and Dario Sammartino (212,500).
Defending champion John Monnette also bagged (90,000) along with multiple bracelet-winners John Hennigan (135,100), Billy Baxter (94,000), Erik Seidel (91,8000), Chris Ferguson (85,500) and Eli Elezra (51,400).
Other notables through to Day 2 include Scott Seiver (142,600), Mike Wattel (135,500), Jean-Robert Bellande (100,800), German professional soccer player Max Kruse (72,800), Darren Elias (70,600), Illya Trincher (42,200) and Shaun Deeb (30,100).
The first player to bust was last year's $10,000 Razz Championship runner-up Eric Kurtzman who lost out to McDermott when his pat-nine came up against his opponent's pat-eight.Frank Kassela and Mark Weitzman would also bust early on, with Kassela taking advantage of the single re-entry.
There was no runaway chip leader in the first four levels of play, with Mike Wattel, Kruse and James Chen all hovering around the double starting stack mark. It wasn't until after the second break that Alex Foxen moved clear and established himself as a real contender for chip leader after eliminating Calvin Anderson.
Glaser joined Foxen with a stack in excess of 200,000 and Hall would push the envelope further, chipping up to over 300,000 as the night drew to a close. Late entries from the likes of Shaun Deeb, Jean-Robert Bellande, Mike Leah and Chris Ferguson would make things interesting as they looked to chip up, but by the end of the night it was Hall who bagged the chip lead.
The remaining players will return tomorrow at 2 p.m. for Day 2. Registration and reentry are open until the start of the day tomorrow, so keep following PokerNews to see who else will be jumping into the action.
Room
Table
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
Amazon
430
1
Jyri Merivirta
Finland
92,100
31
Amazon
430
2
James Alexander
United States
15,500
5
Amazon
430
3
Adam Owen
United Kingdom
37,600
13
Amazon
430
4
Eli Elezra
United States
51,400
17
Amazon
430
5
Mike Wattel
United States
132,500
44
Amazon
430
6
Mike Leah
Canada
30,500
10
Amazon
431
1
Timothy Mcdermott
United States
304,800
102
Amazon
431
2
Scott Seiver
United States
142,600
48
Amazon
431
3
Jesse Martin
United States
75,800
25
Amazon
431
4
Galen Hall
United States
389,800
130
Amazon
431
6
Ray Dehkharghani
United States
203,900
68
Amazon
431
7
Philip Sternheimer
United States
104,600
35
Amazon
438
1
Darren Elias
United States
70,600
24
Amazon
438
2
Xavier Kyablue
United States
85,600
29
Amazon
438
4
Shawn Sheikhan
United States
73,600
25
Amazon
438
6
Chris Ferguson
United States
88,500
30
Amazon
438
7
John Monnette
United States
90,000
30
Amazon
439
1
Paul Volpe
United States
128,300
43
Amazon
439
2
Daniel Zack
United States
165,600
55
Amazon
439
3
Nick Schulman
United States
105,800
35
Amazon
439
4
Billy Baxter
United States
94,000
31
Amazon
439
6
Farzad Bonyadi
United States
87,300
29
Amazon
439
7
Cary Katz
United States
59,900
20
Amazon
445
1
Frank Kassela
United States
19,200
6
Amazon
445
3
Dario Sammartino
Italy
212,500
71
Amazon
445
4
James Chen
Taiwan
17,500
6
Amazon
445
5
Mikhail Zlotnik
United States
84,200
28
Amazon
445
6
Jean-Robert Bellande
United States
100,800
34
Amazon
446
1
Benny Glaser
United Kingdom
352,000
117
Amazon
446
2
Shaun Deeb
United States
30,100
10
Amazon
446
4
John Hennigan
United States
135,100
45
Amazon
446
5
Illya Trincher
United States
92,200
31
Amazon
446
6
Stephen Chidwick
United Kingdom
222,800
74
Amazon
447
1
Kane Kalas
United States
47,200
16
Amazon
447
3
Erik Seidel
United States
91,800
31
Amazon
447
5
Larry Wright (TX)
United States
74,500
25
Amazon
447
6
Max Kruse
Germany
72,800
24
Amazon
447
7
Mike Gorodinsky
United States
126,500
42
Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser sits in second place after Day 1
and Kurtzman nodded in defeat, revealing a 
as he headed to rebuy.
