Four players headed to a flop of 6?6?3? and the action checked to Rhonda DiMartino in middle position who bet 5,000. Jacqueline Burkhart called from the big blind as did Reiji Kono.
The turn was the J? and DiMartino fired out another bet of 15,000. Burkhart still called and Kono got out of the way. The 10? completed the board and Burkhart checked for the third time. DiMartino put in a bet of 30,000, enough to cover Burkhart's stack just shy of that.
Burkhart thought for over a minute before announcing a call. DiMartino turned over A?6? which had Burkhart out-kicked with 6?2?.
An orbit of hands was relayed by Jimmy D'Ambrosio to PokerNews describing how he spun his stack up from a dangerously low 2,400, to his current count of 31,000.
In the first hand, D'Ambrosio doubled up when his A?9? held against his opponents J?9?. "The board ran out clean on that one," commented D'Ambrosio
D'Ambrosio would double again in a come-from-behind victory when he shoved Q?J? and was called by A?Q?. The final board ran out X?X?X?X?X? and the back-door flush brought the count up to 13,500 at this point.
In the final hand before the last break, D'Ambrosio would get another double when his A?J? won a flip against the pocket nines of his opponent on a board that read QxJx4x5xKx.
"Make sure you use a good picture of me," mentioned D'Ambrosio.
"Woah!" was the first thing heard from Table 671 and it was coming from Jimmy D'Ambrosio himself which could mean a lot of things may be happening. But it was bad news for the chatty D'Ambrosio who was standing up from the table.
After a couple of preflop raises between himself and Todd Hovenden, all of the chips got in the middle with D'Ambrosio holding Q?Q? against the A?A? of Hovenden. The flop came A?A?2? and Hovenden flopped quad aces to leave D'Ambrosio drawing dead.
"It was great playing with all of you," D'Ambrosio greeted all of his tablemates as he exited the tournament area after failing to spin his stack all the way up.
Andrew Graham, Hang Zheng and one more player were on the turn on a board that read 8?2?8?9?. There was already a big pot of 27,000 brewing and the action checked to Graham on the button. He put in 16,500 more chips and Zheng made the call from early position.
The other player was on the cutoff and took a while to think before eventually the clock was called on him. Near the end of the countdown, he mucked his cards and the 7? river was dealt.
Graham and Zheng subsequently checked quickly, with Zheng opening his A?A? first. His rockets were not good enough, however, when Graham tabled A?8? for flopped trips.
Another big pot was sent Graham's way and he is playing nearly six starting stacks in the final hour of Day 1b.
The action was opened under the gun to 1,200. Next to act called, the cutoff called, and action was then on Yuze Ding on the button. Ding opted to three-bet to 8,000. The small blind folded but the big blind cold called and the rest of the players folded.
The players were heads up to a flop of 5?2?3? and the big blind check-called a 10,000 bet from Ding. The turn was a 7? and again action was checked to Ding. He put out a much larger bet of 25,000 this time and the big blind snap called.
The river brought a K? and now the action quickly checked through. Ding quickly tabled A?A? and the big blind flashed black pocket tens before mucking.
Action folded to a player in middle position who opened to 1,500. It folded to Allen Kessler in the small blind who flat called and the big blind got out of the way.
The 6?K?4? flop hit the felt and Kessler check-called a bet of 1,100. The turn brought a 8? and action slowed down and checked through. The river brought a Q? and Kessler opted to lead for 2,500.
Middle position snap folded. The chainsaw strikes again.
Excitement, fireworks, and drinking beers to cap off the night - three things that the Fourth of July has in common with the World Series of Poker Main Event. While many Americans were celebrating the festivities outside today, there was a gathering of around 1,118 players from all around the world inside the Horseshoe Casino Las Vegas for Event #76: $10,000 WSOP Main Event No-Limit Hold'em World Championship.
When all the dust settled after an exciting five two-hour levels, there were 819 players advancing to Day 2abc on Friday, July 7th at 12 noon. Leading the pack was online grinder Jean-Pierre van der Spuy, who jumped into the lead in the dying moments of Day 1b with a stack of 287,000. Van der Spuy is a well-known online poker pro but has yet to record a live tournament score. The South African will be looking to make his first one count in the 2023 WSOP Main Event. Following in his footsteps is four-time bracelet winner Julien Martini with 284,700 chips along with Yuze Ding with 284,500; Ding battled at the same table as Martini throughout proceedings.
End of Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Jean-Pierre van der Spuy
South Africa
287,000
359
2
Julien Martini
France
286,000
358
3
Yuze Ding
United States
284,500
356
4
Gar Cheung
United States
281,500
352
5
Andrew Graham
United States
277,700
347
6
Scott Numoto
United States
268,200
335
7
Patrik Antonius
Finland
263,500
329
8
Jevon Lam
United States
243,000
304
9
Robert Lofaso
United States
233,500
292
10
Anatoly Filatov
Russia
231,000
289
There were only two WSOP Main Event champions that jumped into the Day 1b field: Greg Raymer and Johnny Chan. The 2004 champion Raymer wasted little time getting to work by doubling his stack in the first few moments after sitting down. He finished the day with 201,400 chips coming off his latest Senior's tournament victory at the Golden Nugget. As for Chan, he strolled into the tournament area a little later but also built up his stack over the next couple of levels. Chan went on to bag 218,000 chips, and both of them will join the four previous Main Event winners from Day 1a.
Johnny Chan
No Shortage of Table-Talk
There was no lack of chatter in the tournament area from the drop of the hat with Martin Kabrhel getting involved from the very first hand. Kabrhel was up to his usual tricks with his mouth, however, his chips did less talking. Kabrhel opted to run an ace-high bluff in the second level of the day but was bounced by a rivered pair from Michael Demarco.
Another player that doesn't shy away from some table talk was the ever-so-popular Steven "Cuz" Buckner. After taking a bad beat in the early going, Buckner attempted to rebuild his stack throughout the day but was unable to get things rolling his way. Buckner was also among those that failed to advance to the next day.
Joining Buckner on the sidelines were Haven Werner, Santiago Plante, Galen Hall, and Jacqueline Burkhart - who belted out the US national anthem during a short stint on the feature table.
Jimmy D'Ambrosio spent a level on the feature table showing his outgoing character and chatted away but returned to the outer tables as one of the shorter stacks. His attempt at spinning up a stack looked promising - going from 2,500 all the way up to 32,000 - but his luck ended in the final level of the night when his pocket queens ran into Todd Hovenden's pocket aces. If that wasn't bad enough, two more aces on the flop spelled the end to D'Ambrosio's Main Event.
Jimmy d'Ambrosio
The day belonged to the silent killers on Day 1b as many other big names managed to maneuver their way through the field en route to bagging up a stack for Day 2abc in just a few days. The likes of Patrik Antonius (263,500) and Daniel Rezaei (216,200) quietly battled for the chip lead in the later stages of the day but were forced to settle for positions inside the top 20 instead.
Other high-rollers and household names advancing from Day 1b included Chris Brewer, Isaac Haxton, Jason Koon, and Scott Seiver. They will be joined by a couple of the young guns sneaking their way into the scene. Cole Ferraro (179,000) already has one WSOP bracelet to his name at the young age of 22 and is widely regarded as one of the best up-and-coming players in his generation. Frederic Normand (95,900) will also move on to Day 2 and is coming off multiple deep runs this summer.
With the excitement and fireworks out of the way, the night was capped off with the infamous 'Beer Level' as many players engaged in some alcoholic beverages in the final level of the night. "Cocktails!" was the most common exclamation in the last 60 minutes of the night as players rejoiced in making it one step further on their way to poker glory.
Beer Level
There are still two more starting flights waiting to take place over the next couple of days and they are expected to attract the most players. Day 1c will kick off at 12 noon local time on July 5th and will have the same structure as the previous flights with five two-hour levels and a 75-minute dinner break after Level 3.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the exciting highlights and action from the day in what could be a historic WSOP Main Event.
