The opening day of Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em provided many of the high rollers with the opportunity to get their feet wet in the 2019 World Series of Poker. For the remaining 52 players along with any other late additions, Day 2 will be 'Moving Day' as players jockey for position on the leaderboard.
One constant that has been for much of this year is the high level of play from Ali Imsirovic. Over the past 18 months, Imsirovic has been a force to be reckoned with on the high roller circuit and has already got himself off to a great start this summer. A second place finish in Event #2 followed by the Day 1 chip lead in this event makes him the early favorite once again. Imsirovic dominated Day 1 and accumulated a stack of 1,549,000 chips, more than a starting stack ahead of anyone else.
The field is cluttered with familiar names and recognizable faces for the second largest buy-in of the WSOP. Some other players to keep an eye out for heading into the second day of competition include Ben Heath (1,180,000) who has also recently emerged onto the high roller circuit. Chance Kornuth (999,000), Justin Bonomo (947,000), Manig Loeser (912,000), and Erik Seidel (876,000) are all sitting in the top ten chip counts.
Only eight levels were played on the opening day, but the players will need to gear up for a longer grind on Day 2. There are ten one-hour levels on the schedule with a 15-minute break after every two levels. There will also be a 60-minute break after the sixth level with play expected to wrap up just before 2 a.m. Late registration will still remain open for another four levels and each player still has the option of a single re-entry if they haven't already done so.
Day 2 Schedule
| Level | Length | Small Blind | Big Blind | BB Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 60 mins | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 10 | 60 mins | 6,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| Break | 15 mins | |||
| 11 | 60 mins | 8,000 | 16,000 | 16,000 |
| 12 | 60 mins | 10,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| Break | 15 mins | |||
| 13 | 60 mins | 12,000 | 24,000 | 24,000 |
| 14 | 60 mins | 15,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 |
| Dinner Break | 60 mins | |||
| 15 | 60 mins | 20,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| 16 | 60 mins | 25,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Break | 15 mins | |||
| 17 | 60 mins | 30,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| 18 | 60 mins | 40,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 |
The action is slated to get underway at 2 p.m. PST with the blinds resuming on level 9 at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. Each player will be refreshed with six time extensions as there is a 30-second shot clock in play to keep the action flowing. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the action throughout the entire event.
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and Kurganov was drawing slim with 
.
paired the board on the turn which gave Kurganov some outs but the 
on the river was not meant to be as Kornuth collected a chip-leading pot.
, Katz check-called a bet from Petrangelo and the 
only to see Katz's 
and Katz found a double up to leave Petrangelo on the short stack.
and Hellmuth check-called a bet of 22,000 from Kornuth.
on the river. Hellmuth checked once more and Kornuth counted out a bet of 200,000. Hellmuth snapped him off and Kornuth tabled 
for a flush. Hellmuth stood up from his seat and flashed the 
before mucking his cards.
and the Englishman was eliminated.
flop Justin Bonomo bet 35,000 and Elias Talvitie raised in position to 115,000. Bonomo then check-raised all in for a shade over 200,000 and Talvitie called.
and Clark was still out front with his pocket queens. However, the 
on the turn gave Heath a set of nines. The 
runout.
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landed on the turn. Imsirovic check-called another bet of 215,000 from Kornuth and the