Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 1 Completed
2019 World Series of Poker
Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2019 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$50,000
Prize Pool
$5,280,000
Entries
110
Level
23
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000
Imsirovic Bags Another Chip Lead in Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
It was a relatively quick day for the 2019 World Series of Poker high rollers today in Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Only eight one-hour levels were played on the first of four days and that's all it took for the red-hot Ali Imsirovic to build a healthy chip lead.
Imsirovic, who already finished in second place in Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo Bounty, picked things up where they left off yesterday. In just the second level of the day, Imsirovic already claimed three victims, two of which were Ryan Laplante and Chance Kornuth, to accumulate a 4x starting stack of 1.2 million. At the end of the day, Imsirovic was able to amass a stack of 1,549,000 chips, good for over 150 big blinds when Day 2 resumes.
While still in the early stages of his poker career, Imsirovic is starting to make a big name for himself and will not be hiding under the radar anymore. The American resident has earned himself over $5 million in career tournament earnings, most of which have come in the past 18 months and specifically in high roller tournaments.
While Imsirovic appeared to be the star of the show once again, each table was filled with notable faces that attracted plenty of railbirds to the ropes surrounding the tables. This event is the second largest buy-in scheduled for the 2019 WSOP and with it comes the task of battling some of the greats in the game. The crowd also had their sights set on the face of poker Daniel Negreanu who also enjoyed a successful day on the felt.
Negreanu bagged up an impressive 861,000 chips in which he nabbed most of them from tablemate Andrew Robl. Negreanu picked off a bluff from Robl and then finished him off in a coin flip just before the last break of the night. Some of the other big stacks heading into Day 2 include Elio Fox (1,185,000), Ben Heath (1,180,000), Barry Hutter (1,081,000), Dmitry Yurasov (1,000,000), and Chance Kornuth (999,000) who rallied back on his second bullet.
This event allows players the option of a single re-entry but unfortunately for Alex Foxen that wasn't enough. The #1 ranked player burned through both of his bullets and has been officially eliminated from the tournament. Others like Jeremy Ausmus, Dan Shak, Andre Akkari, Laplante, and Robl will have the opportunity to re-enter on Day 2 if they choose. Late registration will remain open for another four levels and each player will be given a fresh stack of 300,000 chips.
The 52 remaining players will return at 2 p.m. PST inside the Amazon Room at the Rio Convention Center for Day 2 action. There will be 10 levels on the schedule for tomorrow with the blinds resuming at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. Each player will be given six new time extensions as there is a 30-second shot clock in play to keep the pace of play flowing.
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team for all of the live updates throughout this event and more from the 2019 World Series of Poker.
End-of-Day 1 Counts (full)
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,549,000 | 399,000 |
|
1,180,000 | 10,000 |
|
1,081,000 | 456,000 |
|
1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
|
999,000 | 399,000 |
|
947,000 | 117,000 |
|
936,000 | 336,000 |
|
912,000 | 32,000 |
|
876,000 | 106,000 |
|
869,000 | 167,000 |
|
867,000 | 252,000 |
|
834,000 | -66,000 |
|
747,000 | 17,000 |
|
694,000 | -491,000 |
|
684,000 | 44,000 |
|
672,000 | 72,000 |
|
670,000 | 332,000 |
|
642,000 | 392,000 |
|
640,000 | -31,000 |
|
640,000 | 345,000 |
|
609,000 | -16,000 |
|
578,000 | 53,000 |
|
576,000 | -24,000 |
|
570,000 | 270,000 |
|
542,000 | 242,000 |
Heath's Bullets Pay Off
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Ben Heath three-bet out of the small blind preflop and Joao Vieira came along for a 
flop. Heath bet 74,000 and Vieira called. On the 
turn, Heath checked and called a small bet of 65,000. The river was a 
and Vieira quickly checked back.
Heath showed 
and took it down.
Each table plays three more hands before chips go into bags.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,170,000 | 540,000 |
|
305,000 | -295,000 |
Pollak Spikes an Ace to Stay Alive
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Zachary Clark opened to 20,000 in early position and Benjamin Pollak three-bet shoved all in for 155,000 on the button. The blinds folded and Clark made a quick call to put Pollak's tournament life on the line.
Benjamin Pollak: 
Zachary Clark: 
Pollak was in trouble with just one overcard to Clark's pocket pair. However, the 
flop gave Pollak the lead with a pair of aces. The 
and 
runout put four diamonds on the board but with neither player holding a diamond, Pollak earned himself a double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
330,000 | 170,000 |
|
|
222,000 | -78,000 |
Schindler Doubles Through Lamb
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
There was a double being pushed to Jake Schindler on a board of 
. He had 
in front of him and Ben Lamb was paying it off from the small blind. His cards were only briefly exposed but we thought it was 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
345,000 | 20,000 |
|
231,000 | -239,000 |
Loeser Flops Trips
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Manig Loeser opened to 16,000 in middle position and picked up calls from Ali Imsirovic in the hijack along with both of the blinds. The flop came 
and the action checked to Loeser who continued for 26,000. The big blind was the only player to call and the 
hit the turn.
The big blind checked again and Loeser tossed in another bet of 65,000. His opponent still called and the 
completed the board. Another check to Loeser and he barrelled a third bullet for 92,000. His opponent used a time extension before flicking in a single chip to call. Loeser flipped over for trip eights and his opponent couldn't beat it.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
880,000 | 80,000 |
Becker Rips on Bonomo
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Johannes Becker opened for 18,000 in early position and got one caller in the cutoff before Justin Bonomo made it 75,000 on the button. Becker shoved all in for about 500,000 and earned the pot in short order.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
830,000 | -60,000 |
|
|
600,000 | -70,000 |
Petrangelo Holds Versus Burford
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
It took a couple of preflop raises, but Mark Burford and Nick Petrangelo got all of their chips in the middle preflop. Burford was the player at risk for around 150,000 and it was a coin flip.
Nick Petrangelo: 
Mark Burford:
The flop of 
left Petrangelo in the lead with his pair of fives. The on the turn and the on the river were no help to Burford as he was forced to the rail in the last level of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
671,000 | 207,000 |
|
Busted |
Winter Claims a Big Fold
Level 8
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Joao Vieira was in the cutoff and bet 75,000 into about 90,000 on and Sean Winter was in there with a quick call on the button. The river was a 
and Vieira bet 180,000 just before his time ran out. Winter said something we didn't catch, thought long enough to use two extensions, and folded.
Someone asked him if he folded ace-five and he said "better."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
600,000 | 197,000 |
|
500,000 | -200,000 |