Engel Among The Leaders Of Event #41: $1,500 Big O
For the first time in WSOP history, a Big O tournament was created in the form of Event #41: $1,500 Big O. Big O is a hi-lo version of Omaha played in a pot-limit format, with five hole cards instead of four.
Any turnout expectations were blown out of the water as a total of 1,458 came out to play this inaugural event, creating a prizepool of $1,946,430 and seeing a total of 219 players paid, all of whom bagged. Every player tomorrow will be guaranteed $2,407, with all eyes on the first-place prize of $315,203.
Leading the way is China’s Xu Zhu who bagged a whopping 570,000. Zhu’s first WSOP cash is shaping up to be a big one, as Zhu spent most of the day under the radar before emerging as one of the tournament’s leaders before night’s end.
One who is never too far away from split-pot Omaha variants is Ari Engel who also bagged a sizable stack of 432,000. The two-time bracelet winner holds one of his bracelets in Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better, and a Big O bracelet would be a welcome addition to his already extensive poker resume. Engel spent the day duking it out among high-level competition with players like Brandon Bergin and Dan Zack at his table, who both failed to bag.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xu Zhu | United States | 570,000 | 57 |
| 2 | David Havlicek | United States | 516,000 | 52 |
| 3 | William Haffner | United States | 510,000 | 51 |
| 4 | Charles Coultas | United States | 478,000 | 48 |
| 5 | Owais Ahmed | United States | 437,000 | 44 |
| 6 | Ari Engel | United States | 432,000 | 43 |
| 7 | Danny Chang | United States | 425,000 | 43 |
| 8 | Ryan Hoenig | United States | 419,000 | 42 |
| 9 | Grzegorz Derkowski | Germany | 411,000 | 41 |
| 10 | Yuebin Guo | United States | 409,000 | 41 |
Old School Players Turn Out For New School Games
Today was also a day for fans of old-school poker players as legends from the 2000s era of poker like Bruno Fitoussi (380,000), Robert Williamson III (212,000), Andrew Brown (166,000), Jeff Lisandro (161,000), Jon Shoreman (125,000) and 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan (147,000) all found their way to a cash and a bag for the following day.
Many other notable players made it through the day, with players such as Charles Coultas (478,000), Nathan Gamble (324,000), Yuval Bronshtein (271,000), Kao “Flexx” Saechao (254,000), Shirin Oskooi (131,000), Dylan Weisman (99,000), Allen Kessler (68,000), and Ian Steinman (47,000) all still in the running to become the first ever WSOP Big O champion.
Not all were in fortune’s good graces today. Players like Craig Chait, Chino Rheem, Erik Seidel, Kate Hoang, Alex Foxen, Barny Boatman, Chip Jett, and Brandon Shack-Harris all were eliminated throughout the course of the day.
The final player eliminated was Vinnie McCambridge whose tournament life came to an end when his gutshot could not get there against the set of Zhargal Tsydypov (370,000). With his elimination, the entire field was in the money and bagged for the night.
Players will return on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Horseshoe at Level 18 with blinds at 5,000-10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante. Levels will be upped to 60 minutes and a 15-minute break will occur at the conclusion of every two levels. Players will play 10 levels before finishing the day with a 60-minute dinner break occurring at the conclusion of Level 21.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all coverage of the 2023 WSOP.