Brazilians Dominate Day 1 of Event #87: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em
While the remaining players of the $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship are getting closer and closer to the money after Day 3, those who've been eliminated found another chance to chase the dream of winning a WSOP bracelet in Day 1 of Event #87: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em.
A total of 1,041 entrants were recorded in the tournament, generating a total prize pool of $4,788,600. Of these players, only 157 reached the money. John Ripnick was eliminated on the bubble along with another player and split the 157th-place prize. Almost 70 more players were eliminated in the next few minutes, leaving only 88 remaining at the end of the day.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Felipe Boianovsky | United States | 1,795,000 | 72 |
| 2 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | 1,380,000 | 55 |
| 3 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 1,375,000 | 55 |
| 4 | Patrick Leonard | United Kingdom | 1,370,000 | 55 |
| 5 | Xue Song | China | 1,350,000 | 54 |
| 6 | Arie Kliper | Israel | 1,325,000 | 53 |
| 7 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | 1,300,000 | 52 |
| 8 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | 1,230,000 | 49 |
| 9 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 1,190,000 | 48 |
| 10 | Robert Capote | United States | 1,190,000 | 48 |
Although Ramin Hajiyev was first in chips until the very end of the day with almost 2,000,000, his stack decreased, and he bagged 1,230,000. He was replaced at the top of the chip counts by Brazilians Felipe Boianovsky (1,795,000), Felipe Ketzer (1,380,000) and Yuri Dzivielevski (1,375,000), who qualified for Day 2 with the three biggest stacks.
Patrick Leonard (1,370,000) also bagged more than a million chips, as did Fahredin Mustafov (1,300,000), Artur Martirosian (1,190,000), and Galen Hall (1,170,000).
After winning his first WSOP bracelet in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship at the beginning of the summer, Darius Samual (1,100,000) is still in the race to win a second. On his way to Day 2, he faced Faraz Jaka, whom he beat in a heads-up pot. Jaka built a big stack during Day 1 but only filled his bag with 600,000.
Jaka's stack is still bigger than those of a few notable players such as Nick Maimone (525,000), Alex Foxen (430,000), Rainer Kempe (310,000), and David Peters (230,000), who'll have a less than ten big blinds at the restart.
The remaining players will return at 1 p.m. local time Wednesday, June 10, and play until a winner is crowned. The tournament will resume in Level 21 with blinds of 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante. Levels will still be 30 minutes long, with a 15-minute break every four levels.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of Event #87: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em and all other events at the 2024 World Series of Poker!