Hartree Takes Chip Lead on Day 1a of Event #21: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MILLIONAIRE MAKER
A total of 3,046 entries filled the Brasilia and Pavillion Rooms at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for Day 1a of Event #21: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MILLIONAIRE MAKER. Out of all those entries, 458 players have made it through to Day 2, playing out on Monday, 11 June. Taking the chip lead honors for Day 1a is Kyle Hartree from Canada who bagged and tagged 208,500 in chips at the end of the day.
Hartree will be looking to win his first WSOP gold bracelet but there is still a long way, and Day 1b to go. The UK's James Dempsey is second in the chip counts with a stack of 167,400 but is closely followed by Nick Schwarmann who rounds out the top three with 165,800 in chips.
Several multiple bracelet winners anted up for Day 1a and four WSOP Main Event champions are moving to Day 2; Ryan Riess (70,600), 888poker ambassador Martin Jacobson (70,100), Joe Cada (42,400), and Joe McKeehen. The recent winner of the $ 1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (Event #4), Julien Martini, also made his way to Day 2 with a comfortable stack of more than 80,000.
Another 888poker ambassador, Chris Moorman, also made it through with 71,400 in chips. Other notable players that managed to bag six-figure stacks include JC Tran (140,200), Blair Hinkle (124,400), Jack Sinclair (109,400), Faraz Jaka (105,00), and Vinny Pahuja (100,000).
Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it through to the next day of play. Players like Bryan Piccioli, Dario Sammartino, Mark Radoja, Barry Greenstein, Ana Marquez, Gaelle Baumann, Maurice Hawkins, Chris Ferguson, Sorel Mizzi, Cary Katz, Scotty Nguyen, Ari Engel, Kyle Julius, and Cate Hall fell short today.
But they will all be able to try again on Sunday, 10 June for Day 1b, which starts at 10am local time. The players that manage to survive either of these starting flights will be returning for Day 2 on Monday, 11 June, at 11am local time. The bubble is expected to burst quite soon into the Day 2 action with the field having played down to close to 15% of both starting flights.
Keep following PokerNews for all the live updates to see who is going to become the WSOP's latest millionaire!