Nicola Basile Bags Huge Stack After Day 1a of Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker
A large total of 4,585 entries filled almost the entire room at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino for Day 1a of Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker.
Out of all those entries, only 1,012 players made it through to Day 2 that will be playing out on Sunday, June 25. The chip leader for Day 1a is Nicola Basile, who bagged an impressive 480,000.
Basile already had a big stack as the day was winding down and kept winning small pots to stay on top of the end-of-day counts. The Canadian player, holder of three WSOP rings, is still in the hunt for his first gold bracelet.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicola Basile | Canada | 480,000 | 192 |
| 2 | Peng Li | United States | 460,000 | 184 |
| 3 | Paul Gunness | United States | 430,000 | 172 |
| 4 | Ryan Dodd | United States | 414,500 | 166 |
| 5 | Alex Greenblatt | United States | 405,500 | 162 |
| 6 | Osman Ihlamur | Turkey | 392,000 | 157 |
| 7 | Lawrence Beach | United States | 361,000 | 144 |
| 8 | Jamie Rosen | United States | 357,000 | 143 |
| 9 | Bin Weng | United States | 353,500 | 141 |
| 10 | Matthew Shepsky | United States | 331,500 | 133 |
A few other notables players who bagged large stacks were Alex Greenblatt (405,400), owner of one WSOP ring, Chinese player Yake Wu (325,000), Turkish Osman Ilhamur (302,000) and Renan Bruschi (261,000) , who recently final tabled Event #36: $ 3,000 Mixed Games: Nine Game Mix.
Several of the biggest names in poker participated in today’s action and among those who bagged a stack were Jeff Platt (206,500), bracelet winners Jason Wheeler (184,500), Ryan Leng (174,000), Kristen Foxen (127,500) and Jessica Teusl (90,000).
Two Main Events champions will also be keeping a close eye on Day 2, with Martin Jacobson (169,000) and Ryan Riess (42,000) still in the race.
Not everyone was able to make it through to the next day of play. Players like Alex Foxen, Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker, Jason Wheeler, member of WSOP Thrill Team Samantha Abernathy, Katie Lindsay, Ismael Bojang, Upeshka de Silva, Leo Margets, David Pham and Loni Hui saw their stacks run down to zero before the conclusion of play.
But they and others will all be able to try again on Saturday, June 24 for Day 1b, which starts at 10am local time. The players that manage to survive either of these starting flights will be returning to play on Day 2 on Sunday, June 25, at 10 am local time.
PokerNews will continue to provide live updates for the Millionaire Maker in its entirety as we will see who will realize their dream to become the next poker millionaire and win a WSOP bracelet!