Gladiators Of Poker Hits Record Turnout After Day 1d!
All four of the day one flights for Event #67: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold'em are done and dusted and the numbers are in.
This is the third incarnation of the Gladiators of Poker event, and the biggest with 24,629 entries. Last year's edition reached 20,647, and the first edition in 2023 reached 23,102.
Today's flight, Day 1d, contributed 8,485 entries to that total turnout.
When play began Oscar Peleg, the Day 1c chip leader, had the overall chip lead with 7,285,000 in chips. Day 1d's cohort couldn't dethrone Peleg, who goes into Day 2 as the overall chip leader.
Karl Cooper (5,900,000) finished Day 1d with the biggest stack of the day. He slots in at second place overall, followed by Day 1b chip leader Jonathan Kirch (5,100,000) in third.
Joshua Palmer (3,120,200), Sanjeev Kapoor (2,960,000), and Alfred Lopez (2,960,000) also finished Day 1d with stacks that earned them a slot in the top ten for Day 2.
Combined Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oscar Peleg | Sweden | 7,285,000 | 146 |
| 2 | Karl Cooper | United Kingdom | 5,900,000 | 118 |
| 3 | Jonathan Kirch | United States | 5,100,000 | 102 |
| 4 | Felix Barriga | Chile | 4,720,000 | 94 |
| 5 | Joshua Palmer | United States | 3,120,200 | 62 |
| 6 | Peter Bigelow | United States | 3,310,000 | 66 |
| 7 | Joseph Butler | United States | 3,275,000 | 66 |
| 8 | Yang Zhang | China | 3,175,000 | 64 |
| =9 | Sanjeev Kapoor | United States | 59 | 2,960,000 |
| =9 | Alfred Lopez | United States | 2,960,000 | 59 |
A total of 342 players survived Day 1d, bringing the total field for Day 2 up to 812 players.
Among those who had already bagged for Day 2 were Terrance Reid (1,750,000), bracelet winner Ernest Bennett (1,005,000), Dan Charlton (555,000), Poker Hall of Famer Barry Greenstein (545,000), Henrieto Acain (440,000), Satoshi Tanaka (365,000), and Andrey Zaichenko (100,000).
Some notable players who joined them from the Day 1d field are Hall of Famer David Oppenheim (1,330,000), Jacob Hamed (2,200,000), Roland Israelashvili (1,030,000), Andrew Brown (925,000), and Max Kruse (835,000), plus previous bracelet winners Jeremy Pekarek (355,000) and Alexandros Kolonias (345,000).
All 812 players will return later today, Sunday, June 29, to play a combined Day 2. The traditional PokerNews live coverage of this event begins with the start of Day 2 at 11:00 a.m.