2021 World Series of Poker

After a lengthy 14 hours on the felt, Day 1a of Event #52: $1,000 Seniors Championship has concluded.

A total of 2,432 players entered or re-entered before late registration closed for the day. After a solid eleven 60-minute levels of play, 486 seniors bagged and tagged at the end of the day and will return and join their Day 1b counterparts when they combine for Day 2 on October 29, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local (PST) time.

The day’s action played fast and friendly. Many notables were in attendance, with quite a few of them bagging up for Day 2. The Day 1a chip leader is George Bronstein (585,000) followed by Tim Killday (433,000). Hot on his heels is fan-favorite “Miami” John Cernuto (355,500) who will be looking to add a fourth WSOP gold bracelet to his collection. Eli Elezra (112,500) will continue chasing bracelet number five with an above-average stack. Also, still in the hunt and headed into Day 2 near the top of the chip counts is Poker Hall of Famer JJ Lui (170,000).

End of Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

Other top pros were not as fortunate and exited on Day 1a before the bagging and tagging stage. Dan Heimiller, Tom McCormick, Matt Glantz, Tom McEvoy, and reigning champion Howard Mash all had their day ended early but may opt to return as every player that did not bag a single chip is eligible to give it another try on Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local (PST) time for Day 1b.

Please stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of Event #52: $1,000 Seniors Championship with Day 1b on Thursday, October 28, 2021, when the cards will be in the air at 10:00 a.m. local (PST) time.

Tournament officials have just announced that four more hands will be played to end the night.

The crazy hands continue to end the night.

Trevor Brooks got the last of his chips in against Max Gabriel preflop and while the hand started as a simple flip, the ending was anything but.

Trevor Brooks:
Max Gabriel:

The flop and turn came giving Gabriel the nut flush, but the river brought the one card in the deck that could save Brooks, the for the straight flush.

While Brooks may only have 30 big blinds, that's a lot more than if the one-outer had not come in for him.

The action was picked up on the flop of and JJ Liu made a bet of 6,000.

The button made the call and the turn was , which both players checked.

The river came Liu, bet 9,000 and was called by her opponent.

Liu showed the for the straight and her opponent mucked.

A random table erupted in the bronze section. This is the action as described by the table that witnessed it first-hand.

Keith Oakley held and his opponent, who held , went heads-up to a flop of and all of the chips ended up in the middle.

It was Oakley that was behind with his set of fours versus the set of seven.

The turn card was a blank , but the river card was the one remaining , and Oakley spiked the one-outer for quad fours to eliminate his opponent, while chipping up to 144,000.

Players are now on a 20-minute break.