$3,500 Championship Day 1a | 2024 Wynn Millions

$3,500 Championship

Day 1a Completed

03-08-2024 02:19 UTC-7

Fikret Kovac Bags Nearly 10x Starting Stack on Day 1a of Wynn Millions Championship

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The $3,500 buy-in Wynn Millions Championship kicked off today with Day 1a as part of the 2024 Wynn Millions Poker Series in Las Vegas, drawing no shortage of poker notables. After ten hours of play, Georgia's Fikret Kovac bagged the chip lead over the 64 remaining players with a stack of 394,000.

The first of three starting flights in the Wynn Millions Championship, one of the most popular tournaments of the year, drew 236 runners who contributed to the $3 million guaranteed prize pool. Plenty of notables bagged on Day 1a, including Alex Foxen, Kristen Foxen, Landon Tice, John Riordan, James Romero and David "ODB" Baker.

Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

RANK	NAME	COUNTRY	CHIP COUNT	BIG BLINDS
1	Fikret Kovac	United States	394,000	158
2	Steven Jones	United States	340,000	136
3	John Betancourt	United States	329,500	132
4	Jack Hardcastle	United Kingdom	308,000	123
5	Dong Min Suh	United States	285,000	114
6	Ardit Kurshumi	United States	282,500	113
7	Mike Chiappetta	United States	278,000	111
8	Chris Hak	Canada	273,000	109
9	Rick Mechammil	United States	264,000	106
10	Chad Lipton	United States	259,500	104

Day 1a Action

There were big names in the Day 1a field from the beginning, with inaugural champion Andrew Moreno, Poker Hall of Famer Billy Baxter, soap opera star Farah Galfond and acclaimed author and Maria Konnikova all among the first players to take their seats. Konnikova took an early beat when her flopped nut flush was outdrawn by the runner-runner boat of Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, but both players managed to stick around to bag.

The big names kept on coming as the hours rolled on, including those who busted Day 2 of the $2,200 NLH 6-Max like poker coach Jonathan Little, 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen and 2023 GPI Player of the Year Bin Weng.

There were also moments of serendipity, like when 2023 WSOP Main Event runners-up Adam Walton and Steven Jones were seated side-by-side eight months after they both became millionaires. But the summer reunion ended in a cooler that saw Walton's set of aces crushed by the rivered straight of his WSOP companion.

Walton took the beat with a smile and even stuck around for several hours to sweat the 6-Max final table taking place across the room.

Some of the other players who didn't survive to bag include Ryan Laplante, Clemen Deng, Brock Wilson, Bill Klein, Justin Young and Jared Jaffee.

There are still two more starting flights to play out, including Day 1b that will kick off on Friday, March 8 at noon local time.

Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on-site at Wynn Las Vegas tomorrow for continued coverage of the Wynn Millions Championship.

Tags: Adam Hendrix Adam Walton Alex Foxen Andrew Moreno Bill Klein Billy Baxter Bin Weng Brock Wilson Calvin Anderson Clemen Deng Farah Galfond Fikret Kovac James Romero Jared Jaffee Joe McKeehen John Riordan Jonathan Little Justin Young Kristen Foxen Landon Tice Maria Konnikova Ryan Laplante Samuel Laskowitz Steven Jones

03-08-2024 02:00 UTC-7

End of Day 1a Chip Counts (full)

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Fikret Kovac	394,000

Steven Jones	340,000 40,000	40,000
John Betancourt	329,500 329,500	329,500
Jack Hardcastle	308,000 308,000	308,000
Dong Min Suh	285,000 285,000	285,000
Ardit Kurshumi	282,500 282,500	282,500
Mike Chiappetta	278,000 278,000	278,000
Chris Hak	273,000 273,000	273,000
Rick Mechammil	264,000 264,000	264,000
Chad Lipton	259,500 259,500	259,500
Edward Compton	252,500 252,500	252,500
Bin Weng	212,000 17,000	17,000

Joe Kuether	206,500 206,500	206,500
Upeshka De Silva	198,000 198,000	198,000

Zachary Donovan	197,500 197,500	197,500
Joseph Casseus	191,500 191,500	191,500
Anthony Spinella	189,500 189,500	189,500

Tony Ruberto	189,000 189,000	189,000
Andrew Hedley	183,000 183,000	183,000
Ivan Ruban	173,500 173,500	173,500
Justin Liberto	173,000 173,000	173,000

Matt Hunt	171,500 66,500	66,500
Louis Le Boisselier	171,000 171,000	171,000
Michael Berk	170,000 170,000	170,000
Mike Zulker	168,000 168,000	168,000

Read full

03-08-2024 00:53 UTC-7

Day 1a Has Ended

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Day 1a of the Wynn Millions Championship has wrapped up with 66 players remaining.

Stay tuned for a full recap of the day's action.

03-08-2024 00:45 UTC-7

No Longer In the Tournament

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Farah Galfond	Busted
Nissar Quraishi	Busted
Joe McKeehen	Busted

Bill Klein	Busted
Billy Baxter	Busted

Justin Young	Busted

03-08-2024 00:43 UTC-7

Four More Hands

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The tournament director has instructed dealers to deal four more hands before players will bag for the evening.

03-08-2024 00:10 UTC-7

Updated Counts

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Fikret Kovac	394,000

John Riordan	200,000 140,000	140,000

Bin Weng	195,000 -5,000	-5,000

Alex Foxen	170,000 -10,000	-10,000

Calvin Anderson	135,000 10,000	10,000

Kristen Foxen	125,000 -25,000	-25,000

James Romero	110,000 20,000	20,000

Matt Hunt	105,000 60,000	60,000
David "ODB" Baker	90,000 -10,000	-10,000

Landon Tice	65,000 10,000	10,000
Cliff Josephy	65,000 -100,000	-100,000

Samuel Laskowitz	60,000 -40,000	-40,000
Adam Hendrix	50,000 20,000	20,000
Maria Konnikova	42,000 2,000	2,000

Jake Ripnick	40,000 -10,500	-10,500
Victoria Livschitz	35,000 -5,000	-5,000
Peter Mugar	20,000 -30,000	-30,000