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Shortly before 11 a.m. local time, the doors to the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas ballrooms swung open, the throng of hopefuls poured in, and the moment they had all been waiting for over the past year was suddenly upon them: the World Series of Poker Main Event .
Day 1d, the fourth and final starting flight, has traditionally been the largest opening day, and that was true today as a massive field of 4,694 players took their shot at poker immortality. A total of 3,638 managed to survive five levels, and Taylor von Kriegenbergh ended up as the unofficial chip leader with 312,800. The full list of chip counts should be released shortly.
Unoffical Day 1d Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taylor von Kriegenbergh | United States | 312,800 | 391 |
| 2 | Michael Comisso | United States | 293,000 | 366 |
| 3 | Sean Costa | United States | 292,600 | 366 |
| 4 | Michael Rossitto | Italy | 289,300 | 362 |
| 5 | Terrence Burke | Ireland | 287,000 | 359 |
| 6 | David Wells | United States | 283,000 | 354 |
| 7 | Juan Becerra | United States | 277,000 | 346 |
| 8 | Jameson Kauch | United States | 263,500 | 329 |
| 9 | Gonzalo Almada | Argentina | 256,100 | 320 |
| 10 | Alexander Dovzhenko | Ukraine | 255,000 | 319 |
For all the home game heroes and amateurs trying to make it on poker’s biggest stage, the field today also included some of the top names in the game. Among them were Viktor Blom (217,100), Stephen Song (201,600), Chris Hunichen (194,900), and Alex Foxen (156,300). Further down the leaderboard were Darren Elias (145,400), Chance Kornuth (103,400), Kristen Foxen (99,800), Shaun Deeb (86,900), Eelis Parssinen (82,200), and Daniel Negreanu (54,100). UFC fighter "Suga" Sean O'Malley had the honor of delivering the "Shuffle Up and Deal" to begin the day, and he ended up with 43,700.
A more subdued Will Kassouf made an appearance today after his controversial ending to last year’s Main Event, and he bagged up 73,000. The equally loquacious and controversial Martin Kabrhel ended up among the top stacks with 202,200. There were seven past Main Event champions in the field today, and Ryan Riess (113,100), Joe Hachem (110,500), Scott Blumstein (105,600), Joe McKeehen (46,500), Chris Moneymaker (39,500), and Robert Varkonyi (33,100) managed to make it to Day 2. Scotty Nguyen, however, saw his Main Event come to an early end, as did Doug Polk and hundreds of others.
Garett Maybery’s Main Event got off to a dream start when he got most of his stack in on Level 1 against Tetsuma Ishizu. Maybery showed a set of threes, but Ishizu had flopped a set of tens and was poised for the early double up until another three came on the river to give Maybery quads. Mayberry later spiked a full house on the river to bust another opponent on his way to 236,100. “You’re going to win the tournament,” a tablemate told him, and Maybery got off to a great start at fulfilling that prediction.
Jimmy D'Ambrosio Continues His Non-Stop Party at the Feature Table
Of the thousands of players spread out across multiple rooms today, it is unlikely that anyone had as much fun as Jimmy D’Ambrosio. There were plenty of beers, a lot of laughs, and some new friends made as D’Ambrosio sat at a side feature table for much of the day, bagging up 175,200.
Back in March, the Chicago club owner appeared on High Stakes Poker and ended up with a profit of more than $170,000. It’s been a non-stop party for him since then, and that continued today.
“It was the same as going to church on Sunday. We were a bunch of church mice, didn’t talk much,” D’Ambrosio said, his remarks dripping with sarcasm. “We had fun, right. Look, I haven’t even been playing. I’ve just been partying for the last 100 days since I did the High Stakes. I just took the money. I’ve been partying for the last 100 days. This is what it should be. This is what they want it to be, right? We don’t want a bunch of robots. There’s a place for that, but we had fun.”
Despite his big stack, D’Ambrosio admits much of the day is a total blur. He can chalk that up to the endless table banter, the drinks, or the fact that he hasn’t slept in two days. “The people who aren’t here, they were trying to play back at me, and I busted them. That’s how I got chips. But I don’t even think I got a lot of hands. I never had aces, I never had kings. I don’t even remember any of the hands; maybe they have enough cameras here. I really don’t remember any hands,” he said.
“You ready for this? I wasn’t even going to play. I’ve been having fun, and then I was watching Schulman and Ali. They’re so fun. I haven’t slept since Friday, my hand to God. And I was like, f**k dude, I’m going down there for Day 1. I wasn’t even going to play. I’m glad I did.”
D’Ambrosio shared a table with McKeehen and British bracelet winner Carl Shaw for the later stages of the day. They shared some beers and exchanged numbers after bagging up their chips, the affable atmosphere of the table establishing a few new friendships.
“It’s just the best. It’s not just a hoodie. This is all people having fun. There’s no animosity, but we’re all breaking balls. These guys, there were a couple of business guys who are gamblers, a couple trying to grind the poker tour. It seemed pretty fun, didn’t it?” he said.
With a day off before returning for Day 2d, D’Ambrosio knows exactly what he’s going to do after leaving today, and it doesn’t involve sleep. “I’m going to rip some shots with some friends at Aria,” he said.
The 4,694 entries on Day 1d brought the total field up to 8,077 through the four starting flights. Late registration is still open for the first two levels of both Day 2 flights. Day 2abc is Monday at 11 a.m., when the 2,468 remaining players from the first three flights combine into one. The players from today’s flight return on Tuesday, July 7, at 11 a.m, with blinds beginning at 400/800 and an 800 big blind ante.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow at 11 a.m. and will be providing live updates for a busy Day 2abc as the Main Event field continues to grow.
