Alex Kulev Bags Day 1b Chip Lead in Event #83: $1,500 The Closer
Day 1b in Event #83: $1,500 The Closer has come to an end with the second of the two opening flights attracting 1,101 entrants with 166 players making the money with a minimum payout being $2,400. After a long fourteen hours of play, only 38 players remained in Day 1b.
Day 1a had a total of 802 players to bring the total field up to 1,903 for a $2,540,505 prize pool. Day 2 will witness 63 players return with 25 players surviving on Day 1a.
Alex Kulev had an impressive run on Day 1b to not only end on top of the second flight's leaderboard with 2,685,000 in chips but will also enter Day 2 as the overall chip leader.
Meanwhile, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (2,425,000), Marc Lange (1,320,000), Leo Margets (1,300,000) and Steven Steinmetz (1,300,000) all bagged top five chip stacks on Day 1b.
The Closer Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | CHIP COUNT | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Kulev | Ireland | 2,685,000 | 90 |
| 2 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Georgia | 2,425,000 | 81 |
| 3 | Marc Lange | United States | 1,320,000 | 44 |
| 4 | Steven Steinmetz | United States | 1,300,000 | 43 |
| 5 | Leo Margets | Spain | 1,300,000 | 43 |
| 6 | Ryan Riess | United States | 1,070,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Yuval Bronshtein | Israel | 1,010,000 | 34 |
| 8 | Michael Wang | United States | 1,010,000 | 34 |
| 9 | Jonathan Borenstein | United States | 960,000 | 32 |
| 10 | Mitchell Halverson | United States | 930,000 | 31 |
Five-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb, recent three-time WSOP bracelet winner Chance Kornuth, two-time bracelet winner Bertrand Grospellier, and bracelet winner David Jackson all battled on Day 1b only to come up empty-handed.
All remaining players who bagged will return for Day 2 on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 12 p.m. noon local time in the Amazon room with the dinner break to be determined Sunday starting at Level 23 with blinds at 15,000/30,000 and a big blind ante of 30,000. There will be 15-minute breaks every four levels and the tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
Stay tuned for more coverage of this event and the entire 2021 World Series of Poker from the PokerNews Live Reporting Team