Does Bagging the Chip Lead on Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event Translate Into Success?
Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Main Event is the beginning of a seven-day trek for players to reach the famed November Nine.
For anyone who has played in a multi-day tournament, you've probably heard both schools of thought in how to approach Day 1. Either the, "It's important to get off to a good start," or the "Day 1 doesn't matter, just survive" line.
PokerNews decided to take a look at the last eight year's worth of Day 1 chip leaders and how they started and finished their Main Event run. For the most part, five 120-minute levels are played and the blinds finish at 200/400 with a 50 ante. However, sometimes that hasn't been the case.
Day 1a
What we saw from Day 1a was a range from the best possible result — Martin Jacobson bagging the Day 1a chip lead en route to winning the Main Event — to not even cashing — the case for five of the last eight Day 1a chip leaders.
| Year | Day 1a Chip Leader | Chip Count | Day 1a Standing (Entrants) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Martin Jacobson | 200,100 | 1 of 771 | 1 of 6,683 |
| 2013 | Evan Panesis | 190,975 | 1 of 943 | did not cash |
| 2012 | William John | 266,700 | 1 of 1,066 | did not cash |
| 2011 | Fred Berger | 209,500 | 1 of 897 | 80 of 6,865 |
| 2010 | Corwin Cole | 228,100 | 1 of 1,125 | did not cash |
| 2009* | Redmond Lee | 134,275 | 1 of 1,116 | did not cash |
| 2008** | Mark Garner | 194,900 | 1 of 1,297 | did not cash |
| 2007*** | Tinten Olivier | 270,500 | 1 of 1,287 | 223 of 6,385 |
*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.
Before the 2014 WSOP Main Event, being the Day 1a chip leader meant almost nothing. Prior to last year, in fact, the majority of the recent Day 1a chip leaders failed to even cash in the Main Event. However, when the Day 1a chip leader goes on to win the entire tournament, as Martin Jacobson did last year, then perhaps it's time to start rethinking how important a good start actually is.
Here is Jacobson's path to victory from a numbers and standings perspective:
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End-of-Day Chips | 200,100 | 342,700 | 721,500 | 1,594,000 | 3,925,000 | 22,335,000 | 14,900,000 |
| Rank | 2 | 21 | 29 | 18 | 14 | 1 | 8 |
| Total Players Left | 4,770 | 1,864 | 746 | 291 | 79 | 27 | 9 |
| Chip Average | 42,031 | 107,559 | 268,753 | 688,969 | 2,537,848 | 7,425,555 | 22,276,666 |
After finishing Day 1a as chip leader last summer, Jacobson entered Day 2 second in chips overall. From there, he never ended a day worse than 29th in chips. Until he actually made the final table, he never finished a day out of the top 18 percent of the remaining field. It isn't quite wire-to-wire, but it's something that we would be hard pressed to witness in the Main Event again. In 2006, Jamie Gold seized the chip lead on Day 3 and went wire-to-wire from that point according to reports, but no Day 1 information was readily available.
Day 1b
| Year | Day 1b Chip Leader | Chip Count | Day 1b Standing (Entrants) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Trey Luxemburger | 193,450 | 1 of 2,144 | did not cash |
| 2013 | Clement Tripodi | 207,500 | 1 of 1,942 | 23 of 6,352 |
| 2012 | John Hoang | 180,000 | 1 of 2,114 | did not cash |
| 2011 | Ben Lamb | 188,925 | 1 of 985 | 3 of 6,865 |
| 2010 | James Danielson | 201,050 | 1 of 1,489 | did not cash |
| 2009* | Brandon Demes | 137,075 | 1 of 873 | did not cash |
| 2008** | Ben Sarnoff | 177,500 | 1 of 1,158 | did not cash |
| 2007*** | Dag Martin Mikkelsen | 236,000 | 1 of 1,545 | 42 of 6,385 |
*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.
Ben Lamb was having an incredible summer in 2011. He had four cashes leading up to the Main Event and had made three final tables, which included a bracelet win, a runner-up and a final table in the Poker Players' Championship. He capped it off with a third-place finish in the Main Event for more than $4 million and ran away with the WSOP Player of the Year title.
Aside from Lamb, though, just two other Day 1b chip leaders in recent years cashed.
Day 1c
| Year | Day 1c Chip Leader | Chip Count | Day 1c Standing (Entrants) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Eric Tracy | 206,175 | 1 of 3,768 | did not cash |
| 2013 | Mark Kroon | 246,300 | 1 of 3,418 | 458 of 6,352 |
| 2012 | Randy Haddox | 188,275 | 1 of 3,418 | 194 of 6,598 |
| 2011 | Kevin Song | 263,325 | 1 of 2,181 | did not cash |
| 2010 | Mathiu Sauriol | 169,900 | 1 of 2,314 | did not cash |
| 2009* | Joe Cada | 137,075 | 1 of 1,696 | 1 of 6,494 |
| 2008** | Henning Granstad | 242,950 | 1 of 1,928 | 553 of 6,844 |
| 2007*** | Jeff Norman | 281,300 | 1 of 1,743 | 500 of 6,385 |
*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.
The Day 1c chip leaders as a whole did better than both the Day 1a chip leaders and Day 1b chip leaders. Five of the last eight Day 1c chip leaders cashed, led by Joe Cada who went on to win the Main Event in 2009.
Day 1d
| Year | Day 1d Chip Leader | Chip Count | Day 1d Standing (Entrants) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2013 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2012 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2011 | Mory Little | 179,450 | 1 of 2,802 | 504 of 6,865 |
| 2010 | Steve Billirakis | 187,150 | 1 of 2,391 | 257 of 7,319 |
| 2009* | Troy Weber | 353,000 | 1 of 2,809 | did not cash |
| 2008** | Steve Austin | 149,000 | 1 of 2,461 | 552 of 6,844 |
| 2007*** | Josh Evans | 237,300 | 1 of 1,810 | 76 of 6,385 |
*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.
There were only three starting flights beginning in 2012, resulting in the largest individual Main Event flights in history for the Day 1c's in 2012, 2013 and 2014. As for the Day 1d chip leaders, four of the five between 2007 and 2011 made their way to the money.
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