2023 World Series of Poker

Event #10: $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship
Day: 1
Event Info

2023 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k9843
Prize
$311,428
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$1,209,000
Entries
130
Level Info
Level
23
Blinds
0 / 0
Ante
0
Players Info - Day 1
Entries
114
Players Left
58

John Hennigan Bags Day 1 Chip Lead of $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship

Level 10
John Hennigan
John Hennigan

In a fast-paced day featuring a brand new Day 1 structure for 2023 World Series of Poker Championship Events, it was a WSOP veteran that took home the chip lead in Event #10: $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

Six-time WSOP bracelet winner John Hennigan led the field of 114 entries, bagging 309,500 chips, just slightly more than Marco Johnson’s runner-up tally of 297,500, and David Bach’s 273,000.

End of Day Top 10 Chip Counts

RankPlayerCountryChip Count
1John HenniganUnited States309,500
2Marco JohnsonUnited States297,500
3David BachUnited States273,000
4Anatolii ZyrinRussia255,000
5Larry TullUnited States208,500
6Ray HensonUnited States203,000
7Patrick LeonardUnited Kingdom202,500
8Zack FreemanUnited States202,000
9Brian RastUnited States190,000
10David "Bakes" BakerUnited States190,000

Defending champion Ben Diebold entered with about two hours left in play but only managed to bag 42,500. Other notables to make it on to Day 2 include 2017 champion John Racener (111,000), 2022 runner-up Mike Gorodinsky (158,500), and recent $1,500 Dealer’s Choice champion Chad Eveslage (103,500) and runner-up Andrew Kelsall (142,500).

A trio of Poker Hall of Famers will have some work to do Sunday, as Daniel Negreanu (49,500), Erik Seidel (33,000), and Phil Hellmuth (9,000) all finished below a starting stack.

As mentioned, this event provides the first look at the new accelerated Day 1 structure in Championship events, with the first six levels only being 40 minutes in length and levels seven through ten 60 minutes long. Levels on Days 2 and 3 will be 90 minutes in length.

The new structure led to play being completed by 10:50 p.m. local time. It also led to plenty of eliminations, including three-time champion in this event Adam Friedman, defending WSOP Player of the Year Dan Zack, 2016 Champion Jean Gaspard, and 2021 $1,500 Dealer’s Choice Champion Jaswinder Lally to name a few.

Adam Friedman
Adam Friedman

The returning 58 players will come back June 4 at 1 p.m. local time to play seven 90-minute levels. They’ll be joined by the final batch of late entries, as registration does not close until the start of Day 2, which will add to the $1,060,200 prize pool thus far.

Stay close to PokerNews for continuing coverage of this and every WSOP bracelet event from here at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

Tags: Adam FriedmanAndrew KelsallBen DieboldChad EveslageDaniel NegreanuDavid BachErik SeidelJaswinder LallyJean GaspardJohn HenniganJohn RacenerMarco JohnsonMike GorodinskyParis Las VegasPhil Hellmuth