Erik Seidel bet all the way as of fourth street and Eric Wasserson came along. Once the cards were revealed, Seidel taböed an ace-high flush with a six low and there was very brief confusion. However, Wasserson had the slightly superior flush and secured the high portion.
"Do I look as if I get scooped by an ace-high flush and six-low?" he joked in table chat. Despite earning half the pot, Wasserson remains below half the starting stack.
Former PPC champion David Bach opted to enter very late on Day 1 and increased the overall field size to 91 entries. At least five players have been eliminated and the tournament is drawing to an end very soon for tonight.
In a battle cutoff versus button, the flop came and Lyle Berman check-called a bet by Joao Vieira. The very same action repeated on the on the turn. Last but not least, the fell on the river and Berman checked once more. Vieira emptied the clip with a third bet and that forced out Berman.
As of fifth street, Jen Harman was spotted betting versus Paul Volpe. The same action repeated on the final two streets and Volpe reluctantly called. Harman revealed a flush and that won the entire pot as Volpe had no qualifying low.
According to our French colleagues, Julien Martini lost the chip lead in one of the last hands of the night against Luke Schwartz.
Martini raised to 7,000 and Schwartz called. Josh Arieh was in the big blind and announced pot and was all in. Martini re-potted and Schwartz also raised pot. At this point the bet was 195,000. Martini called.
The flop came . Martini announced pot and Schwartz snap-called all in.
Julien Martini:
Luke Schwartz:
The turn and river bricked with Schwartz' aces holding and Arieh also sent to the rail (hand unknown).
Trying to guess how many entries the $50,000 Poker Players Championship will get is always a lottery. But amid the whisperings of which high-stakes cash game players would join the field in pursuit of WSOP glory, talk was that the number of entries could surpass 100 for the first time since 2014.
It didn't quite get that far, with 90 entries on Day 1, but all signs point to a healthy field with late registration open for another five levels on Day 2 Monday.
All the big names you would expect to see in a tournament of this magnitude were in attendance, including eight former champions, six Poker Hall of Famers, and five WSOP Players of the Year.
After six levels on Day 1 it is Luke Schwartz (893,000) who bags the overnight chip lead after winning a last-minute hand against Julien Martini to overtake the Frenchman. Bryn Kenney, Shaun Deeb and Bryce Yockey are the only other players above 700,000.
$50,000 Poker Players Championship End of Day 1 Chip Counts
Position
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Luke Schwartz
United Kingdom
893,000
2
Bryn Kenney
United States
802,000
3
Shaun Deeb
United States
718,500
4
Bryce Yockey
United States
715,000
5
Aaron Katz
United States
695,500
6
David Benyamine
France
651,000
7
Dan Cates
United States
617,000
8
Ben Yu
United States
601,000
9
Andrew Kelsall
United States
583,000
10
Benny Glaser
United Kingdom
547,000
Day 1 Recap
The action was typical for Day 1 of this prestigious tournament, with slow and deep-stacked mixed game play across all nine games in the format.
What was atypical was the arrival of defending champion Dan Cates. Why? Because he was dressed like Randy "Macho Man" Savage. And talking like him as well.
Dan Cates
The costume didn't seem to hinder "Jungleman" as he bagged a healthy stack ahead of Day 2.
Despite the 100-minute levels, there were some casualties on Day 1. Jens Lakemeierwas the first elimination after a hand of Pot-Limit Omaha against Shaun Deeb. He was joined on the rail by Eli Elezra, Felipe Ramos, David Prociak and Ben Diebold.
Fireworks were in short supply, but several players did manage to chip up considerably from the 300,000 starting stack. Julien Martini registered midway through the day and soon made his way up the chip counts. Naoya Kihara and Bryn Kenney were equally active as they looked to add second bracelets to their collection.
The tournament continues at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 27 with six more 100-minute levels scheduled. Late registration closes prior to the start of Level 11 at approximately 10:20 p.m. Stay tuned to PokerNews for full updates from the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.