The opening day of Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed at the 2024 World Series of Poker has come to an end, and Richard Ashby is the chip leader with 465,000 in chips after 12 levels of play. In close second place is Australia’s Antonio Seremet with 433,500.
The tournament drew 379 entries for a prize pool of $1,011,930, and the winner will take home the top prize of $215,982. The top 57 of the 139 returning players will earn a min-cash of $6,080.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Ashby | United Kingdom | 465,000 |
| 2 | Antonio Seremet | Australia | 433,500 |
| 3 | Kuenwai Lo | China | 278,500 |
| 4 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 251,000 |
| 5 | Bryan Micon | Antigua & Barbuda | 230,000 |
| 6 | Travis Erdman | United States | 210,000 |
| 7 | Koray Aldemir | Austria | 200,000 |
| 8 | Ashish Gupta | Australia | 196,000 |
| 9 | Patrick Moulder | United States | 195,500 |
| 10 | Brian Rast | United States | 195,000 |
Many notable players found large bags for Day 2, including Brian Rast (195,000), Adam Friedman (188,000), and Robert Mizrachi (184,000).
Some who were less fortunate and did not bag include Scotty Nguyen, Josh Arieh, Brad Ruben, Mori Eskandani, and Kevin Gerhart.
Defending champion Ryutaro Suzuki survived the day and bagged 34,500. The 2021 champion of the inaugural edition of this event, Nicholas Julia, bagged 78,500.
The Day’s Action
The event began small, with less than 100 players at the first shuffle. However, this number grew rapidly as many notable players and mixed-game enthusiasts joined in the action. A total of 379 players entered the event, narrowly eclipsing the 361 from last year.
The combination of big bet and limit games in this format created the possibility of massive pots from the first hand of the day. This was seen as early as Level 2 when David Arganian made a higher full house than Mark Gregorich in a hand of Pot-Limit Omaha and left the latter on fumes early in the day. Gregorich rebounded from this cooler but did not find a bag at day’s end.
As the blinds and limits increased, so did the action. In no game can the chips go into the middle faster than Pot-Limit Omaha. Warwick Mirzikinian was the beneficiary of a gigantic pot of over 165,000 chips all-in preflop. Mirzikinian’s Q♥J♣10♦6♣ made a straight on the river as he raked in the largest pot of the day.
As the day progressed, some chip leaders began to emerge. Richard Ashby steadily built his stack throughout the day and kept his foot on the gas. Ashby hit a gutshot Broadway draw on seventh street in a massive hand of Seven-Card Stud to propel him into the chip lead. Ashby won his second bracelet last week in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event. He'll fancy his chances of completing a hat-trick in a couple of days' time.
Play will resume in Level 13 with limits at 4,000/8,000 at 1 p.m. on June 21 in the Horseshoe Event Center. The returning 139 players will play another ten 60-minute levels with a 15-minute break every two hours, as well as a 60-minute dinner break after Level 18.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed and all other live bracelet-awarding events at the 2024 World Series of Poker.
