George Alexander Leads Star-Studded Field as Lindgren, Negreanu, and Ivey Advance on Day 1 of $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship

George Alexander waited nearly until the last hand of the night before seizing control of the chip lead on Day 1 of Event #13: $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship.

Alexander’s set of threes held up in a massive Pot-Limit Omaha pot against David Benyamine as he finished with 277,000 and atop the leaderboard among 68 remaining players. The Florida pro has made three World Series of Poker final tables in a career that dates back to 2010, including finishing in third place in the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice in 2018, but is still looking for his first bracelet.

A star-studded group of players will attempt to chase him down when Day 2 begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time. They include Phil Ivey, who late registered and quickly doubled up off Jeff Madsen with two pair against aces to finish with 171,500. Daniel Negreanu dropped down to 12,000 at one point today but came back to bag up 159,500.

Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	George Alexander	United States	277,000
2	Brian Brunner	United States	246,000
3	Michael Martinelli	United States	234,500
4	Erick Lindgren	United States	217,000
5	Nick Schulman	United States	184,000
6	Yingui Li	China	180,000
7	Maxx Coleman	United States	179,000
8	Daniel Zack	United States	177,000
9	Robert Mizrachi	United States	173,000
10	Phil Ivey	United States	171,500

Other top stacks include Brian Brunner (246,000), Erick Lindgren (217,000), Nick Schulman (184,000), Maxx Coleman (179,000), Dan Zack (177,000), and Robert Mizrachi (173,000). German soccer star Max Kruse survived with 145,000, as did Jerry Wong (148,000), Bryce Yockey (144,500), and Patrick Leonard (144,000). Defending champion Chad Eveslage bagged up a short stack of 50,000.

A total of 124 players entered over the course of nine levels. Notables to bust include three-time champion Adam Friedman, Shaun Deeb, Brian Rast, $1,500 Dealer's Choice winner John Hennigan, and Brad Ruben.

The event is close to matching last year’s total of 130 entries. Late registration remains open for the first level of Day 2, so there remains an opportunity for more players to jump into the field. Levels remain 60 minutes until Level 14 when they are extended to 90 minutes for the rest of the tournament.

PokerNews will be back tomorrow inside the Horseshoe Event Center as some of the biggest names in poker chase the prestigious title.