Matthew Aquino in the cutoff and Quirin Heinz in the big blind got their chips into the middle with the latter at risk via three-bet shove for 175,000.
Quirin Heinz: 10♣10♥
Matthew Aquino: A♣Q♦
The K♦9♣5♣10♦A♠ board gave Heinz a set and he doubled.
"Sorry guys ... this is the biggest piece I had of myself in such a tournament," Heinz said in table chat after he had recorded the all-in showdown.
With two players seeing a board of 10♣5♣2♠J♥ and roughly 200,000 already in the middle, Christopher Rickerson was all in for approximately 230,000 against Mark Ioli who covered.
Christopher Rickerson: K♦J♥
Mark Ioli: 10♠10♦
Rickerson had turned top pair but was drawing dead against Ioli's flopped set of tens. After the 6♣ river was dealt Rickerson made his exit from the tournament area while Ioli took down a sizable pot.
Luis Faria defended the big blind and then checked the Q♥7♠6♣ flop. Denys Chufarin continued for 25,000 from an early position and Faria then jammed for 198,000, Chufarin beat him into the pot.
"Fuck my life," Faria instantly exclaimed and then asked Chufarin if he had pocket kings. Some friendly table banter back and forth followed while they waited for the other tables to finish the action before the showdown commenced.
Luis Faria: K♠Q♦
Denys Chufarin: A♣A♠
It was not kings but aces, which made the misery for Faria slightly better. However, there was no escaping on the 2♣ turn and 3♥ river to bring the field down to the last 100 contenders. They are now on the stone-cold money bubble.
If more than of the hopefuls bust, they will also miss out on the min-cash as players need to physically bag up chips in order to ensure the payday on Day 2.
Picking up the action on the 9♣7♦6♥8♥ turn, Ratharam Sivagnanam bet 75,000 out of the big blind and Arunas Sapitavicius called in the cutoff. Sivagnanam then bet the 2♠ river for 300,000 and Sapitavicius was covered by that.
In a preflop confrontation Mikhail Vilkov was all in from the big blind for approximately 150,000 and up against Daniel Weinman in the cutoff who covered.
Mikhail Vilkov: K♣K♠
Daniel Weinman: 8♠8♥
The board ran out 9♣Q♠A♦6♥4♦. Vilkov held with the bigger pocket pair to secure a full double up through Weinman.
Stefan Jedlicka four-bet jammed for 215,000 and that sent Alexandros Kolonias into the tank, having invested 75,000 into a three-bet. Ultimately, Kolonias folded and everyone got to follow the two all-in showdowns that were already secured by then.
Marian Farcas had three-bet jammed with his massive stack two seats after the under-the-gun raise by Francisco Baraza, who called all-in for 144,000.
Francisco Baraza: A♠A♥
Marian Farcas: 7♣2♣
The board ran out A♣6♠5♦5♣2♥ and Baraza doubled.
Aces were also involved in the other showdown as well.
Michal Procner: A♣A♦
Ratharam Sivagnanam: A♠8♠
The board ran out 8♦5♣2♥6♣Q♥ giving Procner a full double up.
Chin Wei Lim moved all in for his last 60,000 from under the gun and was called by Armin Rezaei in the big blind who covered.
Chin Wei Lim: A♥K♥
Armin Rezaei: J♣10♣
Rezaei pulled ahead with top pair on the J♦7♦6♠ flop and remained ahead on the 8♠ turn and 4♦ river to eliminate Lim on the stone bubble. There were another three hands running, two of which resulted in all-in and call.
Matthew Aquino was the first to commit his short stack with the A♠J♦ and he needed to improve, as Tengqi Zhan had the superior Q♥Q♦. The K♠7♥6♦ flop provided no help but the A♦ turn pulled Aquino ahead, which he preserved thanks to the 7♣ river.
Last but not least, Marian Farcas three-bet jammed once again into a shorter stack. This time, it was Jeremie Zouari who had opened to 26,000 in the cutoff. Farcas made the move from the big blind and Zouari called off for the 190,000 he had behind the open raise after they engaged in table chat.
Jeremie Zouari: A♠J♥
Marian Farcas: A♣3♣
The weaker kicker got there twice on the K♥6♦3♠10♦3♥ runout. Since players need to bag up chips for Day 2 in order to secure the min-cash, Zouari also came up empty-handed.
All remaining 98 players will now bag up their chips and return for Day 2 on Tuesday, December 12, 2023. Full chip counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.
The flagship tournament of the 2023 World Series of Poker Paradise at the five-star Atlantis Resort & Casino has officially kicked off. In the first of four live starting days, a field of 657 entries emerged in the Grand Balltroom. Along with the 883 entries of the previous online flight on GGPoker, Event #10: $5,000 Main Event Championship is already more than halfway towards meeting the ambitious $15 million guarantee.
Since the online flight played down to the money bubble and produced 127 survivors, each of the four starting days on Paradise Island is also set to whittle down each field to the top 15 percent. The goal for Day 1a was 99 finishers, but a tumultuous money bubble reduced the field to just 98 players, who all bagged and tagged chips for the night.
Most certainly contributing to the spectacular end of the night was Marian Farcas, who ultimately topped the leaderboard with 1,374,000. He three-bet jammed twice against shorter stacks and was caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. Seven-deuce suited could not crack pocket aces but ace-trey suited got there against the ace-jack of Jeremie Zouari. Chin Wei Lim was the other casualty when his ace-king suited fell to the jack-ten suited of Armin Rezaei.
Taiwan's Wei-Hsun Lu was among the leaders for most of the late stages and advanced with 1,257,000 while two other players earned seven-figure stacks: Connor Rash (1,119,000) and Mustapha Kanit (1,039,000. Chino Rheem missed the same feat by a single chip and declared 999,000 after more than fifteen hours of play.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Marian Farcas
Romania
1,374,000
115
2
Wei-Hsun Lu
Taiwan
1,257,000
105
3
Connor Rash
United States
1,119,000
93
4
Mustapha Kanit
Italy
1,039,000
87
5
Chino Rheem
United States
999,000
83
6
Ioannis Angelou-Konstas
Greece
940,000
78
7
Joseph Lebrun
United States
884,000
74
8
Ratharam Sivagnanam
Canada
830,000
69
9
Sean Troha
United States
749,000
62
10
Alan Khoo
Singapore
727,000
61
Several WSOP Main Event champions were among the contestants on Day 1a but the only one to make it through was none other than the current World Champion Daniel Weinman. After a longer hiatus since his victory in Las Vegas, he recently returned to the action with a second-place finish in a WSOP Circuit Main Event and carried over the momentum to The Bahamas. He turned his starting stack of 50,000 into an above-average stack of 453,000.
Koray Aldemir, Jamie Gold and Ryan Riess were not as fortunate as they all joined a long list of notable casualties throughout more than seventeen and a half levels of 40 minutes each. The 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event winner, Alexandros Kolonias from Greece, ended the night with 329,000.
Notables to advance with big stacks include Ioannis Angelou-Konstas (940,000), Sean Troha (749,000), Faraz Jaka (682,000), Bryce Yockey (612,000), and Chris Hunichen (448,000).
Daniel Weinman
The 98 Day 1a survivors and 126 online in-the-money qualifiers can still enter any of the remaining three live starting flights in order to run up a bigger tally, but only the largest stack will be carried over to Day 2 on Tuesday, December 12.
Some of poker's biggest names are still expected to join the fray, such as Daniel Negreanu and 17-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who has already promised a grand spectacle for his arrival. Much less fanfare can be expected from Hall of Famer Erik Seidel, who joined an exclusive club by winning his tenth WSOP bracelet in Event #7: $50,000 Super High Roller yesterday.
Many other top pros, poker enthusiasts, online qualifiers and ambitious recreational players are expected to take their shot in the remaining three starting days on December 10 and 11.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide exclusive updates until the conclusion of this exciting poker event in paradise.
