Matsioukkou Takes Out One Near End to Bag Chip Lead on Day 1D
The final starting flight in the WSOP International Circuit $500 Opening Event drew a whopping 518 entries, but just 102 bagged chips when play ended after 12 40-minute levels. Michael Matsioukkou leads the way among the Day 1D survivors with 280,000. Matsioukkou filled us in that towards the end of play he battled against one particular player who kept shoving on him. Eventually, he would call his opponent off holding pocket three’s and hold against queen-ten to capture the lead over Quong Truong (245,600) and Manuel Hansimikali (217,300) who round out the top three.
Alongside the chip leaders, some other big stacks that emerged include Alex Falon (200,300), Jaime King (178,100), Fernando Lay (174,400), Akshay Kapoor (174,000), Samuel Kennedy (168,900) and Ming Hsin Chen (163,400). Some notable names that advanced to Day 2, include Jason Pritchard (181,500), Todor Kondevski (72,100) and Shivan Abdine (46,400).
Not all were fortunate enough to survive to the day’s end. Among the fallen were Andrew Scarf, Victor Darchinyan, Robert Damelian, Michael and Travis O’Grady, Michel Bouskila, Craig Blight and Gary Benson.
When play resumes on Saturday, December 1, at 12:30pm local time, levels will continue to be 40 minutes long. The day will end when the final table of nine is reached. The prize pool information will be published when it becomes available in its entirety. A combined total of 277 players advanced to Day 2.
Keep it here for continuing coverage of the Opening Event and throughout the WSOP International Circuit series here in Sydney, presented by the PokerNews Live Reporting Team.