Big Huni Leads After Day 1
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Day 1 of Event #24: $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em is in the books, and leading the 129 survivors is Chris Hunichen with 177,200. Hunichen steadily built his stack throughout the day, and is coming off of another deep run at the World Series of Poker. The man known as “Big Huni” finished sixth in Event #9, earning $53,951. In 2013, he finished 13th in a $1,500 buy-in event for $20,504 and sixth in the Millionaire Maker for $229,575.
Joining Hunichen atop the counts are Bryn Kenney and Bjorn Li. Kenney was crippled all the way down to 600 chips at one point after doubling up John Hennigan, but came storming back. Kenney busted Bryan Colin in the final level of the evening with aces against tens — Dario Sammartino nearly joined the action with queens — and Kenney bagged 166,200 chips. Bjorn Li took a big pot off of Tuan Le and then later eliminated the 2014 bracelet winner, bagging 152,900.
Other players to survive the day include 2012 Main Event champion Greg Merson, 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada, Scott Seiver, Nick Schulman, and the defending champion in this event, Erick Lindgren.
Nearly 80% of the field busted on Tuesday, including notables Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Chris Klodnicki, Ryan Riess, Mukul Pahuja, and Phil Hellmuth. Selbst ran into Dylan Hortin’s straight flush in Level 2 — Hortin also busted later on — Riess was delivered a bad beat from Eli Elezra, and Pahuja ran into pocket aces.
Hellmuth three-bet shoved for around 15 big blinds or so with ace-jack of hearts, and Andrea Dato busted him with pocket kings.
Event #24 attracted a total of 541 players — a 25-player increase from 2013. The top 60 players will earn a minimum of $8,746, each member of the six-handed final table will pocket at least $77,145, and the winner will walk away with $622,998 plus the coveted gold bracelet.
Day 2 begins at 1 p.m. PT on Wednesday in the Amazon Room, and PokerNews will be on hand to provide live updates straight from the tournament floor. Until then, enjoy the following Ivey Stories video, and good night from Las Vegas!