2018 World Series of Poker

Every spare table in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino was filled with poker enthusiasts as an astonishing 5,919 players aged 50 and up sat down for Event #33: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship. At the end of Day 1, 934 of them are still in contention for the gargantuan first place prize of $662,983 that awaits the winner. With 5,919 players, the previous best record of 5,389 from last year was absolutely shattered, creating a massive $5,327,100 prize pool and making the event the largest single Day 1 in WSOP history.

Chipleader after the first day is Kevin O’Donnell, bagging up a stellar 171,100 from the starting stack of 5,000. O’Donnell already has $1,849,507 in total live earnings and made his second WSOP cash.

"When I had a hand, they called, and when I didn’t have a hand, they just folded!", O'Donnell told PokerNews with a big smile on his face.

Famous names, amateurs, WSOP winners or first-timers, all different types of players joined the event to contend for the prestigious gold bracelet, including defending champion Frank Maggio, who made his way to day 2 with a stack of 29,300.

He is joined by the likes of Neil Blumenfield, amongst the biggest stacks with 134,000, followed by Dave Peterson (123,000) and Andrei Konopilko (120,000). Mitchell Garshofsky (73,300), Carol Fuchs (36,800), and Jan-Peter Jachtmann (57,200) also bagged.

5,000 players bowed out on the first day, and amongst those that remained empty-handed are 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer, as well as Gregg Markow, Victor Ramdin, Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, Ivo Donev and Marcel Luske.

The bubble has not been reached yet as 888 players will receive at least $1,500 for their efforts, but all will be setting their sights on the much-coveted WSOP title that awaits the winner on Sunday, June 17. Event #32: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em will kick off on Sunday as well, with those of 60 years and up (down from 65) eligible for entry this year.

It will be a fight to reach the money when the action resumes on Saturday, June 16, for Day 2 at 11 a.m with blinds at 500/1,000 and a running ante of 100. Ten more levels will be played, with a 15-minutes break every two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after the sixth level (≈ 5:30 p.m.). A full seating for Day 2 is listed on the Day 2 page.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be on site to bring you all of the live updates.

The remaining 943 players have bagged and will return tomorrow for day 2. An end-of-day recap is to follow shortly.

Frank Maggio has been able to increase his stack right at the last moment after turning the nuts.

He called a raise from the big blind and the flop came down . He called once again, this time for 4,000. On the turn he check-raised all in for 11,300 after his opponent had bet 4,000 again.

Maggio got the fold and revealed he turned the nuts with and his opponent revealed he folded pocket aces.

Frank Maggio opened to 2,200 and Charlie Sewell made the call from the blinds. The flop fell and Sewell fired 3,200. Maggio folded and the previous Seniors Event Champion slipped down to 11,500 chips left.

Carl Oman just faced a very tough decision as the money places loomed, but eventually made the correct call to double.

Oman, in middle position, saw his opponent move all in from the small blind for 14,900 on a flop. Oman had his opponent covered by the slightest margin and needed time to think through his decision.

After a couple of minutes, he made his decision and placed a small pile of chips into the middle.

Carl Oman:
Opponent:

Turn:
River:

Oman fist-pumped the air in celebration after making the correct call with pocket tens when the board completed. His opponent was sent to the rail as Oman chipped up to 46,000.

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The remaining 1,110 players have entered their final 60-minute level of the day before the bagging and tagging of chips process begins.