James Opie Leads The Way In Event #17 $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball
Day 1 of Event #17: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball at the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas is in the books with James Opie leading the way with 196,500 chips. Opie will hope to convert his lead to win the prestigious WSOP gold bracelet and $164,243 first-place prize money.
Opie has two previous WSOP cashes finishing 72nd in $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo ($2,399) and 20th in $1,500 H.O.R.S.E ($5,845). The player from Pinehurst, Texas, stealthily crept up the leaderboard to take the overnight chip lead.
Event #17: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Opie | United States | 196,500 |
| 2 | Robert Campbell | Australia | 177,000 |
| 3 | Kenny Hsiung | United States | 173,000 |
| 4 | Kimberly Stone | United States | 167,500 |
| 5 | Jonas Mackoff | Canada | 166,500 |
| 6 | Alex Epstein | United States | 165,000 |
| 7 | Sumir Mathur | United States | 160,000 |
| 8 | Paul Martino | United States | 150,500 |
| 9 | David Funkhouser | United States | 146,500 |
| 10 | Hasan Kural | United States | 145,000 |
The 2019 GPI Breakout Player of the Year Robert Campbell is in second place. The Australian, who has two WSOP gold bracelets to his name, bagged 177,000 and will be eyeing a third bracelet. Another bracelet winner makes up the top three with Cincinnati's Kenny Hsiung on 173,000 chips.
Of the 309 entries that generated a prize pool of $687,525, more than half were eliminated with only 147 making it to Day 2. They will return to the felt at Bally's Event Center at 2 p.m. local time on Thursday, June 9th.
The ladies were in charge of this tournament from start to finish with Christina Hill and Lynda Tran vying for the chip lead in the early stages, but Kimberly Stone was ever-present at the top of the leaderboard and is in fourth place with 167,500 chips. The former poker room manager and owner of the Lone Star Poker Series dominated her table and was the first player to surpass 100,000 chips.
Last year's winner Vladimir Peck did not return to defend his title, but last year's runner-up Venkata Tayi made it to Day 2. He will have a lot of work to do to make it to the final table for a second year after bagging only 17,500 chips at the end of Day 1.
There were plenty of notable names entering the fray to earn some valuable POY points.Daniel Negreanu, Shaun Deeb, and Galen Hall will have comfortable stacks on Day 2, however, Allen Kessler, Barry Greenstein, and David "Bakes" Baker all had early exits.
Join the PokerNews live reporting team at 2:00 p.m. on June 9th as we bring you all the action from Bally's and Paris Las Vegas from this star-studded event.