2015 River Poker Series Main Event Day 1a: Ho, Busquet, and Baker Among 27 to Advance
Day 1a of the 2015 River Poker Series $2,500 Main Event from the beautiful WinStar World Casino came to a close in the early hours of Saturday morning. For us in the poker community, that's still Friday night, but whatever you want to make of it, the surviving 27 players from a 262-entry starting field have advanced to Monday's Day 2. Topping the pack was Maury Solano with 511,500 in chips, and he's trailed closely by Keith Carter and his stack of 500,000.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maury Solano | 511,500 |
| 2 | Keith Carter | 500,000 |
| 3 | Maxx Coleman | 463,500 |
| 4 | Bronson Tucker | 443,000 |
| 5 | Reuben Nixon | 438,000 |
| 6 | Zo Karim | 327,500 |
| 7 | Joseph Skinner | 275,000 |
| 8 | Jeff Gibraltar | 270,000 |
| 9 | Douglas Claybrook | 258,000 |
| 10 | Olivier Busquet | 246,000 |
Solano was active all day, and especially when he got hold of a big stack. He was constantly putting the pressure on his opponents and used his chips to his advantage. In one hand that he played, Solano three-bet to 8,100 after an opponent opened to 4,500 during Level 13 with the blinds at 1,000/2,000/300. The original raiser then reraised all in for just under 26,000, and Solano called with the A♣Q♥. He was dominating his opponent's A♠J♦ and held from there.
Along with Solano and Carter, other notables who advanced to Day 2 were WinStar poker ambassador Maria Ho, Olivier Busquet, Zo Karim, Joe Kuether, Clint Tolbert, David "ODB" Baker, and Allen Carter.
On the other side of the fence were many eliminated players, including Dwyte Pilgrim, Kevin Eyster, Wade Townsend, John Dolan, Ari Engel, Matt Stout, Shawn Rice, Allen Kessler, and Aaron Massy, just to name a handful. But, as this event features a reentry format, they'll all be able to return for another chance at glory and a big payday here in Thackerville.
Saturday will see Day 1b kick off at 12 p.m. local time, and you can find continued coverage right here on PokerNews.com.
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