Laszlo Bujtas Leads After Day 1 of Event #84: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller; Arieh, Hellmuth Battle for POY
With just four events remaining on the World Series of Poker schedule, the race for Player of the Year might just be decided tomorrow on Day 2 of Event #84: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller.
Josh Arieh completed a miraculous comeback, falling down to 14,000 chips at one point on Day 1 before finishing the night with 1,355,000. Arieh, already with two bracelets in the 2021 WSOP, leads the POY race by nearly 600 points.
The man who’s his closest chaser, though, also bagged chips on Day 1. Phil Hellmuth was, as usual, a late entrant into the field and finished the day near the bottom of the chip counts with 365,000. A win in this event will not only earn the champion $1,188,918 and the WSOP bracelet, but it will also be worth more than 1,000 POY points, more than enough for Arieh either to clinch the title or Hellmuth to close the gap.
At the end of 15 levels, just 33 players out of a starting field of 85 survived to play Day 2 tomorrow at 2 p.m. PST. Play was supposed to last through Level 17, but the decision was made to shorten the day by two levels, one that didn’t sit well with some of the players.
It’s absolutely unacceptable that a player can text @JackEffel and get the structure of the 50k PLO changed. What i… https://t.co/0PxUjkEYEa
— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards)
Laszlo Bujtas of Hungary finished Day 1 as the chip leader, bagging 1,980,000. Bujtas has nine career WSOP cashes and two final tables. His largest cash was a big one; Bujtas finished runner-up in the 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event for $789,227.
Right behind Bujtas is Ben Lamb, who busted a player near the end of the night to finish with 1,750,000. Arieh, Jared Bleznick (1,270,000), and Daniel Negreanu round out the unofficial top-five. Negreanu's first entry into this tournament lasted him less than a level, but his second bullet went much better as he finished with 1,250,000. Scott Seiver (1,070,000) and Dan Cates (1,045,000) also bagged more than one million chips.
Further down the leaderboard, Chance Kornuth (625,000), Shaun Deeb (520,000), Dan Smith (505,000), and Anthony Zinno (420,000) will have some catching up to do on Day 2 if they want to contend for the bracelet.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | County | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | 1,980,000 |
| 2 | Ben Lamb | United States | 1,755,000 |
| 3 | Alexander Petersen | Denmark | 1,355,000 |
| 4 | Josh Arieh | United States | 1,355,000 |
| 5 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 1,270,000 |
| 6 | Alex Aleksandrovski | United States | 1,130,000 |
| 7 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 1,125,000 |
| 8 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 1,125,000 |
| 9 | Scott Seiver | United States | 1,070,000 |
| 10 | Dan Cates | United States | 1,045,000 |
Over the course of 10 hours of play, Brian Rast, Felipe Ramos, Jake Schindler, and Robert Mizrachi all saw their $50,000 buy-in disappear as they hit the rail.
Day 2 is scheduled to play down to a winner. There are still 33 players left chasing the top prize and the bracelet, and PokerNews will be along the entire way as they work their way to the final table and the crowning of a new WSOP champion.
Day Seat Draw
| ROOM | TABLE | SEAT | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 405 | 2 | Adam Hendrix | United States | 375,000 |
| Amazon | 405 | 3 | Daniel Cates | United States | 1,045,000 |
| Amazon | 405 | 4 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 1,125,000 |
| Amazon | 405 | 5 | Noah Schwartz | United States | 365,000 |
| Amazon | 405 | 6 | Gavin Cochrane | United Kingdom | 1,000,000 |
| Amazon | 405 | 7 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 1,270,000 |
| Amazon | 405 | 8 | Matthew Wantman | United States | 685,000 |
| Amazon | 406 | 1 | Dan Smith | United States | 505,000 |
| Amazon | 406 | 2 | Ole Schemion | Germany | 400,000 |
| Amazon | 406 | 3 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | 1,980,000 |
| Amazon | 406 | 4 | Scott Seiver | United States | 1,070,000 |
| Amazon | 406 | 5 | Chance Kornuth | United States | 625,000 |
| Amazon | 406 | 8 | Michael Song | United States | 180,000 |
| Amazon | 412 | 1 | Henrik Hecklen | Denmark | 425,000 |
| Amazon | 412 | 2 | Sterling Savill | United States | 370,000 |
| Amazon | 412 | 3 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 320,000 |
| Amazon | 412 | 4 | George Wolff | United States | 715,000 |
| Amazon | 412 | 5 | Cliff Josephy | United States | 405,000 |
| Amazon | 412 | 6 | Matt Vengrin | United States | 550,000 |
| Amazon | 412 | 7 | Alex Aleksandrovski | United States | 1,130,000 |
| Amazon | 413 | 2 | Charles Sinn | United States | 840,000 |
| Amazon | 413 | 4 | Anthony Zinno | United States | 420,000 |
| Amazon | 413 | 5 | Ben Lamb | United States | 1,755,000 |
| Amazon | 413 | 6 | Phil Hellmuth | United States | 365,000 |
| Amazon | 413 | 7 | Ap Garza | United States | 510,000 |
| Amazon | 413 | 8 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | 590,000 |
| Amazon | 414 | 1 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 1,125,000 |
| Amazon | 414 | 2 | Kyle Bowker | United States | 320,000 |
| Amazon | 414 | 3 | Alexander Petersen | Denmark | 1,355,000 |
| Amazon | 414 | 4 | Frank Crivello | United States | 650,000 |
| Amazon | 414 | 5 | Jonas Kronwitter | Germany | 640,000 |
| Amazon | 414 | 7 | John Beauprez | United States | 275,000 |
| Amazon | 414 | 8 | Josh Arieh | United States | 1,355,000 |
with around 500,000 in the middle. 
and Shak checked out of turn. 
brought the only king left in the deck to give Kronwitter the lead with a set, and Shak hit the rail when he did not improve on the 
runout.
to complete a straight. The river came the 
and the Finnish pro took his lucky golf ball and left the table.
.
turn and left Arieh needing the board to pair to stay alive in the tournament. He got that wish when the 
and Garza called. The action folded around to Laszlo Bujtas on the button, who raised to 50,000. 
and Schwartz bet the pot again to put himself all-in. Bujtas quickly called. 
peeled off on the river. 
