Some of poker’s biggest names gathered at the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas today, but it wasn’t the palm trees, sandy beaches, and tranquil pools that brought them here. It was the promise of a $50,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, and 181 players took their shot at grabbing a piece of it on Day 1c of the $25,000 World Series of Poker Paradise Super Main Event.
Just 64 players survived ten grueling hour-long levels. Ana Marquez spent most of the day on the main feature table and sporting a big stack, including knocking out Timothy Adams with a pair of queens. She finished as chip leader with 3,645,000. Santhosh Suvarna was all in midway through the day for his last 442,000 with ace-queen against Thomas Eychenne’s kings, but the board brought two aces to give Suvarna trips as he doubled up. The Indian casino owner and two-time WSOP bracelet winner with nearly $15 million in career earnings took full advantage of his new life and bagged up 3,160,000 for second place on the leaderboard.
Day 1c Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ana Marquez | Spain | 3,645,000 | 146 |
| 2 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | 3,160,000 | 126 |
| 3 | Matthew Belcher | United Kingdom | 3,135,000 | 125 |
| 4 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | 3,120,000 | 125 |
| 5 | Thiago Crema | Brazil | 2,990,000 | 120 |
| 6 | Michal Wywrot | Canada | 2,900,000 | 116 |
| 7 | Anatoly Filatov | Russia | 2,800,000 | 112 |
| 8 | Tom Fuchs | Germany | 2,325,000 | 93 |
| 9 | Leonardo Rizzo | Brazil | 2,310,000 | 92 |
| 10 | Brian Luo | United States | 2,285,000 | 91 |
Matthew Belcher ended up right behind Suvarna with 3,135,000 after winning a massive pot during the final level, firing out 800,000 to force Jianwei Lin to fold. Finnish online legend Eelis Parssinen made two huge hero calls, first calling with ace-high to score a knockout then picking off a bluff from Eliot Hudon with king-high as he finished with 3,120,000 as the fourth member of the 3,000,000-chip club.
Thiago Crema (2,990,000) rounds out the top five and Michal Wywrot, whose biggest career score remains his deep run in the WSOP Main Event in 2010, picked up aces to score a double knockout on his way to 2,900,000. High stakes cash game star Alan Keating (1,965,000), Hudon (1,900,000), Stephen Chidwick (1,765,000), and Chance Kornuth (1,765,000) also finished as big stacks.
Others to survive the day include newly-crowned bracelet winner Eric Wasserson (1,520,000), Nacho Barbero (1,370,000), Eychenne (1,365,000), Chris Moneymaker (905,000), and Erik Seidel (835,000).
The last level of the day proved match point for tennis legend Boris Becker, while defending champion Stanislav Zegal, $5,000 Deepstack champion Lei Yu, Faraz Jaka, Jason Mercier, Sam Greenwood, Timothy Adams, Darren Elias, Joao Vieira, Jesse Lonis, and chess streamer Alexandra Botez were also part of the unfortunate group that will have to try again on another bullet if they want to chase the title.
The 181 entries on Day 1c brought the total for the event to 896 through three starting flights, with 304 already securing spots into Day 2. There is still Day 1d tomorrow at noon local time, while registration remains open through the first four levels of Day 2. All surviving players from the four starting flights combine for Day 2 on December 16 at noon local time.
Another star-studded field will gather in this paradise tomorrow, and PokerNews will be back to provide live updates throughout the day.
