button in SafariAndrew Kelsall Third In Chips In The Closer
On the first day of action in Event #93: $1,500 The Closer No Limit Hold'em at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, Dragos-Florin Anton of Romania held the chip lead with 1,185,000 in his stack.
Just a single 5k chip stands between him and the second-place stack of Daewoong Song (1,180,000) while Andrew Kelsall, a 25k Fantasy player, took up a place on the third podium with 1,100,000 in his stack.
They are the top three players from the 129 survivors after Day 1a of the Closer.
However, everything could change with tomorrow's Day 1b flight. The current field of 1,078 entries and prize pool of $1,431,045 are expected to more than double.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dragos-Florin Anton | Romania | 1,185,000 | 79 |
| 2 | Daewoong Song | Korea | 1,180,000 | 79 |
| 3 | Andrew Kelsall | United States | 1,100,000 | 73 |
| 4 | Preston McEwen | United States | 1,035,000 | 69 |
| 5 | Diogo Doliveira | Portugal | 1,020,000 | 68 |
| 6 | Emanuel Goldshide | United States | 950,000 | 63 |
| 7 | Josh Norvock | Australia | 830,000 | 55 |
| 8 | Florian Duta | Romania | 810,000 | 54 |
| 9 | Jakub Sterba | Czechia | 810,000 | 54 |
| 10 | Ray Milare | United States | 805,000 | 54 |
Other notable players who made it through to Day 2 are Simeon Spasov (685,000), Arthur Morris (585,000), Eugene Katchalov (515,000), Caitlin Comeskey (475,000), Lara Eisenberg (435,000), Kevin Song (390,000), Mike Leah (350,000), Daniel Smiljkovic (270,000), Jonas Lauck (150,000), and Joshua Reichard (125,000).
These players will be back for Day 2 on Monday, July 13.
However, before that, there will be a second Day 1 flight starting at midday on July 12. The day will consist of 20 levels.
You can follow the action here on PokerNews, where our usual live reporting will begin on Day 2 of this tournament at the 2026 World Series of Poker.