button in SafariRen Lin Tops Five-Star Field After Day 1 of the $100,000 High Roller
After the High Roller tournament series began last week with $10,000 and $25,000 events leading up to the $50,000 event which ended this Wednesday, the strongest players of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) converged on Day 1 of Event #36: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
What began as a small field across just two tables grew to 67 entries after ten levels of play, building a prize pool of $6,432,000. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 12 on Day 2, but 31 players already bagged their chips on Day 1.
Among them, Ren Lin arrived after the dinner break and still managed to finish the day as chip leader. He first won a flip to eliminate Matthias Eibinger and nearly double up, before later making trips to crack Jesse Lonis’ kings and surge to the top of the counts.
End of Day 1 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ren Lin | China | 3,175,000 | 159 |
| 2 | Galen Hall | United States | 2,525,000 | 126 |
| 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 2,255,000 | 113 |
| 4 | Vinny Lingham | United States | 2,200,000 | 110 |
| 5 | Sean Winter | United States | 1,920,000 | 96 |
| 6 | Jason Koon | United States | 1,715,000 | 86 |
| 7 | Brandon Wilson | United States | 1,660,000 | 83 |
| 8 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | 1,650,000 | 83 |
| 9 | Artur Martirosian | Russian Federation | 1,590,000 | 80 |
| 10 | Nick Petrangelo | United States | 1,560,000 | 78 |
Galen Hall sits second in chips with 2,525,000. He notably sent Thomas Muehloecker to the rail during the final levels, but also spent a few hours seated next to Kristen Foxen (590,000), who denied him the $25K bracelet heads-up a few days ago.
She later moved to her husband Alex Foxen’s table, who had to reenter to finish with 1,440,000. His first bullet ended brutally, with a flopped set beaten by a runner-runner full house. Just like him, Eelis Parssinen, Alex Kulev, Christopher Nguyen, and Aleksejs Ponakovs all lost their chips at some point, and none of them qualified for Day 2.
Another chip leader is Mikita Badziakouski with 2,255,000. A hot streak helped him cross the two-million-chip mark before the last break, well helped by a flip won against Stephen Chidwick, who reentered and qualified with 1,210,000. Vinny Lingham also passed the same mark with 2,200,000, while Sean Winter (1,920,000), Jason Koon (1,715,000), Brandon Wilson (1,660,000), and Daniel Rezaei (1,650,000) all bagged significant stacks.
Artur Martirosian (1,590,000), Nick Petrangelo (1,560,000), and Teun Mulder (1,535,000) also made it through to Day 2, as well as Martin Kabrhel (1,470,000), who found kings to eliminate Michael Macchia with queens in the last hand of the day. A few minutes earlier, Bryn Kenney (1,295,000) ended Chris Hunichen’s tournament, while Daniel Negreanu jumped in late but hit a set to take Christoph Vogelsang’s stack and finished with 1,190,000.
Biao Ding (1,100,000), Adrian Mateos (1,015,000), and Cary Katz (930,000) will also be back at the restart, alongside Santhosh Suvarna, who won his third WSOP bracelet in today’s $50,000 High Roller but is currently last in chips in the $100,000 event with 260,000.
Day 2 is set to kick off this Thursday, June 11 at 1 p.m. local time featuring blinds at 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante. As previously mentioned, late registration remains open on Day 2 until the end of Level 12, around 3:15 p.m.
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