Hinrichsen Leads After Day 1
Day 1 of the AU$25,000 High Roller has come to a close. At the end of the first 10 levels on the structure sheet, 63 entries have been tallied and 31 of those remain. Leading the bunch will be World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen with 346,000 in chips.
Hinrichsen got a lot of his chips when he busted Kahle Burns early on in the day. The two saw a queen-high flop in a five-bet pot and Hinrichsen set Burns all in. Burns had pocket kings and quickly called, but Hinrichsen got there on the river with his 
, spiking an ace.
Another player hitting the rail on Day 1 was current WSOP Player of the Year frontrunner George Danzer. Danzer was busted by Greg Merson, and that leaves Brandon Shack-Harris with the ball in his court. Shack-Harris is still alive with 18 players left in the Main Event, and he could overtake Danzer if he places first or second in that one. If he happens to bust early, or even if he doesn't, Shack-Harris may fire a bullet in this event to earn extra points. We'll keep you posted on that story tomorrow.
Registration for this event will remain open until the start of Level 13. That means the field size could increase, but this has already proven to be a star-studded affair, as expected. Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Vanessa Rousso, and Ryan Riess all hopped in the event, but unfortunately for them, things didn't go so well and they were eliminated. On the other side of the coin, you've got Phil Hellmuth, Jonathan Duhamel, Greg Merson, and Mohsin Charania all advancing to Day 2.
As for now, it's off to get some sleep. Tomorrow the plan is to play down to the final table, and we'll be buckled in for a long day of exciting poker, as should you. Action starts at 2:30 p.m. local time, and we'll see you back here then.