Soichiro Hayashi Bags Lead, Three Bounties Remain in Poker Hall of Fame Bounty Event
Day 1 of Event #92: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), hosted at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, concluded with notable action and personalities taking the spotlight.
Leading the pack is Soichiro Hayashi with 630,000 in chips, and running deep in this tournament would be a career-high for this player from Japan.
Wen Lyu from China bagged 599,000 to sit second, while third is American Kevin Ruscitti with 596,000.
End of Day 1 Top Top Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soichiro Hayashi | Japan | 630,000 | 79 |
| 2 | Wen Lyu | China | 599,000 | 75 |
| 3 | Kevin Ruscitti | United States | 596,000 | 75 |
| 4 | Isiah Ditoto | United States | 552,000 | 69 |
| 5 | Homan Mohammadi | Canada | 543,000 | 68 |
| 6 | David Covey | United States | 519,000 | 65 |
| 7 | Yake Wu | China | 498,000 | 62 |
| 8 | Thomas Tran | United States | 486,000 | 61 |
| 9 | James Morgan | Canada | 486,000 | 61 |
| 10 | Artur Martirosian | Russian Federation | 482,000 | 60 |
The remaining Hall of Fame bounties returning Saturday are Tom McEvoy (160,000)-bounty $2,013, Barry Greenstein (121,000)-bounty $2,011, and John Juanda (47,000)-bounty $2,005.
Notables returning tomorrow are too many to list, but 19 bracelet winners will be on the quest to receive their next bracelet. Phil Hellmuth is also in the hunt for his 18th bracelet, and returning with 66,000.
Some of the 25K Fantasy draft picks remaining are Joao Simao (264,000), Ren Lin (208,000), plus ODB Bonis pick Ankush Mandavia (196,000).
The Hall of Famers who dropped out throughout the day were Eli Elezra, Barbara Enright, Berry Johnston, Jack McClelland, Todd Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Erik Seidel, and Billy Baxter.
Out of the 1,115 initial players, only 167 will return Saturday at noon to vie for the prestigious bracelet and the top prize of $311,349, and, of course, the remaining bounties. Each player is guaranteed at least $3,896, as the bubble burst at the end of Day 1.
Action resumes in the Horseshoe Silver section at noon local time, Saturday, July 12, with 27:39 remaining in Level 17, and blinds of 4,000/8,000 and a big blind ante of 8,000. They will play until a champion emerges, with scheduled breaks after every three levels and a dinner break at approximately 6:30 p.m.
For live updates and detailed coverage of the WSOP, stay tuned to PokerNews and catch every thrilling moment from this event.