Leo Margets Among Big Stacks At End of Day 1a in $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty
Day 1a of Event #68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty No-Limit Hold'em at the 2022 World Series of Poker Bally's and Paris Las Vegas has wrapped up after 22 levels of play with 182 players remaining. Sitting among the big stacks is Spain's Leo Margets, who bagged a stack of 1,275,000 as she looks to earn her second bracelet and potentially become an overnight millionaire.
Margets, who won her first bracelet last fall as the WSOP closed out in Event #83: $1,500 The Closer, will be joined on Day 2 by Vincent Meli, who bagged the overwhelming chip lead with a stack of 2,725,000, as well as other big stacks including Artem Sloitsev (1,935,000), Jason Brin (1,810,000), Steven McCartney (1,615,000) and Raminder Singh (1,435,000).
Event #68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty No-Limit Hold'em Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | CHIP COUNT | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vincent Meli | United Kingdom | 2,705,000 | 68 |
| 2 | Christopher Doan | United States | 2,000,015 | 50 |
| 3 | Jason Brin | United States | 1,810,000 | 45 |
| 4 | Joshua Moskovits | United States | 1,680,000 | 42 |
| 5 | Hayato Kitajima | Japan | 1,615,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Steven McCartney | United States | 1,615,000 | 40 |
| 7 | Craig Fields | United States | 1,590,000 | 40 |
| 8 | Rodrigo Semeghini | Brazil | 1,580,000 | 40 |
| 9 | Timothy Chung | United Kingdom | 1,555,000 | 39 |
| 10 | Terry Shortland | United States | 1,435,000 | 36 |
Day 1a of the tournament attracted 3,598 runners with only 536 spots getting paid. Some of the players who didn't survive the day include Tony Sinishtaj, Pete Chen, Perry Friedman, Kathy Liebert, Poker Hall of Famer Barry Greenstein and Main Event champions Ryan Riess and Greg Merson.
Dan Matsuzuki was one of two players eliminated on the money bubble when his pocket queens were cracked by the ace-king of Kunal Shah. Since they were eliminated at the same time, Matsuzuki and the other player were able to split a minimum payout.
Day 1b of the Million Dollar Bounty will kick off on Sunday, July 3 at 12 p.m. local time and will follow the same structure as Day 1a with 22 levels lasting 30 minutes and a 75-minute dinner break after Level 12, which is expected to wrap up around 6:40 p.m.
The remaining players from the four starting flights will return for Day 2 on Tuesday, July 5 and be eligible to draw for the top bounty prize of $1,000,000 if they have eliminated an opponent.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow for continued coverage of Event #68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty No-Limit Hold'em leading up to the drawing of the elusive $1,000,000 bounty.