Event #45: Big Blind Antes $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels)
Day 1 Completed
2018 World Series of Poker
Event #45: Big Blind Antes $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels)
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
2018 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$1,540,800
Entries
1,712
Level
32
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
120,000
Steven Wolansky Leads Whirlwind $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels) After Day 1
Level 20
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
A starting field of 1,712 in Event #45: Big Blind Antes $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels) was whittled down to just 41 players after 20 levels of play. Leading the way is two-time WSOP bracelet winner Steven Wolansky.
Wolansky was boosted by eliminating 2015 November Niner Pierre Neuville late in the day. Getting it in with ace-eight of hearts against the ace-queen of his Belgian opponent, Wolansky went runner-runner to river a flush and send his opponent to the rail in a hand that saw him take over the chip lead.
Other big stacks include DJ MacKinnon (532,000), Michael Wang (355,000), King Lun Alan Lau (350,000), Mike Hauptman (338,000), Lander Lijo (290,000), Joseph Cheong (280,000) and Robin Hegele (245,000). There are plenty of big names still in the hunt including another two-time bracelet winner, Athanasios Polychronopoulos (156,000), as well as Women in Poker Hall of Famer and WSOP bracelet winner Kathy Liebert (245,000), 2017 $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha third-place finisher Esther Taylor (126,000), as well as Kelly Minkin (136,000).
There were several familiar faces from WSOP No-Limit Hold'em tournaments, including former Main Event champions Joe McKeehen, Martin Jacobson, Greg Raymer and Ryan Riess, 2014 WSOP APAC champion Scott Davies, bracelet winners Loni Harwood, Heidi May, Nipun Java, Michael Gathy, Niall Farrell, Ben Keeline, David "ODB" Baker and Chris Moorman, but they all bowed out during the quickly-paced day.
The early chip leaders were Maria Konnikova and Stephen Song but as the eliminations mounted and the bubble approached, Bart Lybaert and Pierre Neuville both started to chip up. The tournament went on dinner one elimination away from the money, and it didn't take long afterwards for the bubble to burst, guaranteeing the top 257 players at least $1,502.
Notable eliminations in the money included Kenny Hallaert (251st - $1,501), Aditya Agarwal (246th - $1,501), Steven van Zadelhoff (230th - $1,549), Maria Konnikova (227th - $1,549), Tristan Wade (221st - $1,549), Barry Greenstein (209th - $1,549), 888Poker Team Pro Chris Moorman (181st - $1,621), Jesse Capps (177th - $1,720), Kristen Bicknell (175th - $1,720), 2018 WSOP bracelet winner Benjamin Dobson (156th - $1,720), Nipun Java (150th - $1,851), Bart Lybaert (110th - $2,019), Brian Yoon (85th - $2,503), Loni Harwood (74th - $2,843),
The tournament resumes tomorrow at 12 p.m. as they play down to a winner. First prize is $258,255 and a WSOP gold bracelet, and there are still plenty of top names in contention, so stay tuned to PokerNews for all the coverage.
Day 2 Seating and Chip Counts
Level 20
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 400 | 2 | Elliott Peterman | United Kingdom | 272,000 | 27 |
| Amazon | 400 | 3 | Sebastian Dornbracht | Germany | 187,000 | 19 |
| Amazon | 400 | 4 | Gregory Worner | United States | 248,000 | 25 |
| Amazon | 400 | 5 | Rod Cawood | United States | 163,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | 400 | 6 | Andrew Zazofsky | United States | 64,000 | 6 |
| Amazon | 400 | 7 | Matthew Hunt | United Kingdom | 159,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | 400 | 8 | Esther Taylor | United States | 126,000 | 13 |
| Amazon | 400 | 9 | Tom Braband | United States | 113,000 | 11 |
| Amazon | 408 | 1 | Lander Lijo | Spain | 290,000 | 29 |
| Amazon | 408 | 2 | Pinchas Dibask | United States | 44,000 | 4 |
| Amazon | 408 | 4 | King Lun Alan Lau | China | 350,000 | 35 |
| Amazon | 408 | 5 | Chi Chan | Canada | 137,000 | 14 |
| Amazon | 408 | 6 | Russell Crane | United States | 148,000 | 15 |
| Amazon | 408 | 7 | Michael Wang | United States | 355,000 | 36 |
| Amazon | 408 | 8 | Kelly Minkin | United States | 136,000 | 14 |
| Amazon | 408 | 9 | Martin Staszko | Czech Republic | 247,000 | 25 |
| Amazon | 409 | 1 | Grzegorz Wyraz | Poland | 96,000 | 10 |
| Amazon | 409 | 2 | Rick Offley | United States | 320,000 | 32 |
| Amazon | 409 | 3 | Daniel Cai | United States | 105,000 | 11 |
| Amazon | 409 | 4 | Conor Beresford | United Kingdom | 153,000 | 15 |
| Amazon | 409 | 5 | Albert Yu | United States | 54,000 | 5 |
| Amazon | 409 | 7 | Michael Hauptman | United States | 338,000 | 34 |
| Amazon | 409 | 8 | Joey Spanne | United States | 240,000 | 24 |
| Amazon | 409 | 9 | Kathy Liebert | United States | 245,000 | 25 |
| Amazon | 416 | 1 | Spencer Champlin | United States | 181,000 | 18 |
| Amazon | 416 | 3 | Johnny Pack | United States | 180,000 | 18 |
| Amazon | 416 | 4 | Steven Wolansky | United States | 620,000 | 62 |
| Amazon | 416 | 5 | Jonathan Tamayo | United States | 86,000 | 9 |
| Amazon | 416 | 6 | Mario Prats Garcia | Spain | 280,000 | 28 |
| Amazon | 416 | 7 | Abdul Al Magableh | United States | 199,000 | 20 |
| Amazon | 416 | 8 | DJ MacKinnon | United States | 532,000 | 53 |
| Amazon | 416 | 9 | Ivan Uzunov | Belarus | 142,000 | 14 |
| Amazon | 417 | 1 | Athanasios Polychronopoulos | United States | 156,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | 417 | 2 | Justin Oliver | Canada | 101,000 | 10 |
| Amazon | 417 | 3 | Manig Loeser | Germany | 182,000 | 18 |
| Amazon | 417 | 4 | Andrew Teng | United Kingdom | 152,000 | 15 |
| Amazon | 417 | 5 | Mark Schluter | United States | 255,000 | 26 |
| Amazon | 417 | 6 | Tony Gargano | United States | 138,000 | 14 |
| Amazon | 417 | 7 | Yordan Petrov | Bulgaria | 159,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | 417 | 8 | Joseph Cheong | United States | 280,000 | 28 |
| Amazon | 417 | 9 | Robin Hegele | Germany | 245,000 | 25 |
End of Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 20
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
620,000 | 280,000 |
|
532,000 | 532,000 |
|
355,000 | 355,000 |
|
350,000 | 350,000 |
|
338,000 | 338,000 |
|
320,000 | 320,000 |
|
290,000 | 290,000 |
|
280,000 | -40,000 |
|
280,000 | 280,000 |
|
272,000 | 272,000 |
|
255,000 | 135,000 |
|
248,000 | 248,000 |
|
247,000 | 17,000 |
|
245,000 | -285,000 |
|
245,000 | 30,000 |
|
240,000 | -135,000 |
|
199,000 | 44,000 |
|
187,000 | -49,000 |
|
182,000 | 62,000 |
|
181,000 | -6,000 |
|
|
180,000 | 180,000 |
|
|
163,000 | 18,000 |
|
159,000 | 159,000 |
|
159,000 | -16,000 |
|
156,000 | -34,000 |
Three More Hands
Level 20
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Three more hands will be dealt at each table before players bag and tag for the night.
Liebert Keeps Chipping Up
Level 20
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Kathy Liebert opened to 16,000 under the gun and the player in the big blind called.
The dealer spread a flop of 
. The big blind checked. Liebert bet 16,000 and the big blind called.
The turn came the 
and the big blind checked again. Liebert continued for 24,000 and the big blind called another street. The 
river filled up the board and the big blind checked a third time. Liebert threw in a bet of 60,000 and her opponent gave up his hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
215,000 | 85,000 |
Spanne Quietly Building
Level 20
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Joey Spanne, in middle position, opened to 13,000 and Pierre Neuville called from the hijack.
The flop came 
. Spanne checked, Neuville bet 20,000 and Spanne called. The turn brought the 
and was checked through to the 
river. Spanne threw in a bet of 85,000. Neuville took a few seconds of reflection, then proceeded to give up his hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
375,000 | 275,000 |
|
70,000 | -50,000 |
Updated Chip Counts
Level 20
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
530,000 | 80,000 |
|
|
340,000 | 340,000 |
|
|
320,000 | 40,000 |
|
|
230,000 | 190,000 |
|
195,000 | 134,000 |
|
|
190,000 | 30,000 |
|
|
175,000 | -65,000 |
|
135,000 | 91,000 |
|
|
130,000 | -60,000 |
|
125,000 | -35,000 |
|
|
120,000 | -20,000 |
|
115,000 | 85,000 |
|
105,000 | -10,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 20
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 8,000
Justice Eliminated by Gargano
Level 19
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Tony Gargano raised to 14,000 and Daris Justice three-bet all in for 66,000. Gargano made the call.
Tony Gargano: 
Daris Justice:
The flop came 
giving Gargano a full house and meaning Justice was drawing to running jacks or aces. The turn and river 
were dealt, and Justice left to collect her payout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
185,000 | 64,000 |
|
|
Busted |