Matt Salsberg Bags Big on Day 1d of the $888 Crazy Eights
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The fourth and final flight of Event #62: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed kicked off at 5pm Sunday evening and by the time registration closed, 2,495 entries had been received, all chasing an $888,888 guaranteed top prize.
All those entries generated a prize pool worth $1,994,004. The top 374 spots got paid with anyone reaching that mark walking away with at least $1,331. The surviving players will move on to Day 2 where the remaining prize pool will be combined with what was left over from the previous three flights.
Just 138 were left with chips to bag after 18 levels. A well-known face sits atop the counts after an "absurd" run during the latter stages of Day 1d. Matt Salsberg had just 45,000 when the bubble popped in Level 15. Less than two hours later his stacked exploded to 428,000 before ending the night with 483,000.
Funnily enough, Salsberg busted his first bullet and was about to leave before his friend, Dylan Wilkerson, made him fire one more time. Wilkerson also found a bag with a healthy stack ending with 249,000. Han WoolJang (356,000), Au Ngo (318,000), and Ami Barer (254,000) were also among the top stacks in the room.
James Alexander (183,000), Ashton Griffin (170,000), Andy Spears (164,000) and two former Main Event Champions also found a bag with Ryan Riess having 150,000 and Martin Jacobson bagging 149,000.
Some talented individuals will be on to the next event as the likes of Shannon Shorr, Greg Raymer, Jon Turner, Daniel Weinman, Ari Engel, Erwann Pecheux, William Kassouf, Chris Ferguson, Kevin Macphee, and Shaun Deeb all saw their final bullets in the event squandered before the money.
There was no need for hand-for-hand play on the bubble as it popped with four different people busting on the hand before the dealers were told to halt. Some of the first notables to depart with some consolation included Alexander Lakhov, Martin Staszko, Mikhail Semin, and Ian Steinman who all received a min-cash.
Benoit Jean, Mike Dentale, Chanracy Khun, and Haixa Zhang all climbed the second rung on the ladder earning $1,471. The next payout bump paid $1,642, which Asi Moshe, Eddy Sabat, and Alex Foxen collected.
The survivors from all four flights will converge on Monday, 2 July, for Day 2 with cards hitting the air at 2pm. The action will kick off in Level 19 with blinds at 3,000/6,000. The blind levels will increase from 30 minutes to 60 minutes on Day 2 with ten levels on the agenda.
Stay tuned to the blog as PokerNews will be on the floor providing live coverage until the last card comes off the deck and the latest WSOP champion is crowned.