Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship
Day 1b Started
2018 World Series of Poker
Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$74,015,600
Entries
7,874
Level
44
Blinds
2,000,000 / 4,000,000
Ante
500,000
It's almost time for Day 1b of the biggest and most important poker tournament of the year: the World Series of Poker Main Event. Yesterday's Day 1a saw 925 players sign up for the $10,000 buy-in event, 659 players survived the day.
Timothy Lau from the United States built his 50,000 starting stack into 338,700. At 11 a.m. today, players start with 50,000 in chips again with levels again 120 minutes long throughout.
After every level, players have a 20-minute break. The dinner break, 60 minutes long, takes place after Level 2, which should be around 3:25 p.m.
Late registration for Day 1b of the 2017 WSOP Main Event closes around 6:00 p.m. If you're too late, there's always tomorrow (Day 1c). Day 1b wraps up around 11:20 p.m. There's a 20-minute break after each level. There's a 60-minute dinner break at 7:35 p.m. (90 minutes into level 4).
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 120 minutes | 75 | 150 | - |
| 2 | 120 minutes | 150 | 300 | - |
| 3 | 120 minutes | 150 | 300 | 25 |
| 4 | 120 minutes | 200 | 400 | 50 |
| 5 | 120 minutes | 250 | 500 | 75 |
Players to survive today return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Thursday, July 5, 2018, to play another five levels on Day 2ab.
Today's action starts at 11 a.m. PokerNews will be there the entire day with live updates from around the convention center of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
When and Where to Watch
Once again, PokerGO and ESPN have teamed up to bring you a live stream of all the action. Here's the schedule for the Main Event with times in Pacific Time (local Vegas time). This schedule is subject to change.
| Date | Main Event | Slot 1 | Start time | End time | Slot 2 | Start time | End time | Slot 3 | Start time | End time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 3 | Day 1b | ESPN | 04:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. | PokerGO | 09:00 p.m. | 11:35 p.m. | - | - | - |
| July 4 | Day 1c | ESPN2 | 05:30 p.m. | 09:00 p.m. | PokerGO | 09:30 p.m. | 11:35 p.m. | - | - | - |
| July 5 | Day 2ab | ESPN | 05:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. | PokerGO | 08:00 p.m. | 11:35 p.m. | - | - | - |
| July 6 | Day 2c | ESPN2 | 05:30 p.m. | 09:00 p.m. | PokerGO | 09:00 p.m. | 11:35 p.m. | - | - | - |
| July 7 | Day 3 | ESPN2 | 03:00 p.m. | 06:30 p.m. | PokerGO | 06:30 p.m. | 08:30 p.m. | - | - | - |
| July 8 | Day 4 | ESPN | 11:30 a.m. | 03:00 p.m. | PokerGO | 03:00 p.m. | 06:15 p.m. | - | - | - |
| July 9 | Day 5 | PokerGO | 05:00 p.m. | 06:00 p.m. | ESPN2 | 06:00 p.m. | 11:00 p.m. | PokerGO | 11:00 p.m. | 11:35 p.m. |
| July 10 | Day 6 | PokerGO | 11:30 a.m. | 03:50 p.m. | ESPN | 05:00 p.m. | 08:00 p.m. | PokerGO | 08:00 p.m. | 11:35 p.m. |
| July 11 | Day 7 | PokerGO | 11:30 a.m. | 09:00 p.m. | ESPN2 | 09:00 p.m. | TBD | - | - | - |
| July 12 | Final Table | ESPN/PokerGO | 06:00 p.m. | TBD | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| July 13 | Final Table | ESPN/PokerGO | 06:00 p.m. | TBD | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| July 14 | Final Table | ESPN/PokerGO | 06:00 p.m. | TBD | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Level: 1
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Level 1
: 75/150, 0 ante
The player instructions took place right before the start including the information about today's dinner break 30 minutes remaining in level four, and the microphone was then handed over to WSOP tournament director Jack Effel.
"Alright everyone, good afternoon, welcome to the 2018 WSOP Main Event, how is everyone doing?" Effel started his speech.
"Who is ready to play the greatest poker tournament of the planet?" One player shouted back "I am", getting through the loud applause, while many players took our their phones to record the room and take pictures at their tables before the kickoff.
That being said, the "experience of your life" is about to start and the one player that "brought the fun back to the tables" was the one and only John Hesp, who did the official "shuffle up and deal."
Hesp was not only very popular at the tables last year, but also in the days heading into the Main Event: "It is so nice that so many people walked up to take a picture with me," the jovial Brit said before the famous words got Day 1b underway.
Level 1
: 75/150, 0 ante
PokerNews has activated the MyStack App for this event, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting blog using your iPhone or Android phone.
You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.
Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.
Level 1
: 75/150, 0 ante
When PokerNews arrived, the board was already out and the player that had just lost was already gone from the tournament area. We later found out it was 2012 bracelet winner and 2015 November Niner Max Steinberg who was the one to go bust.
According to Steinberg's twitter, Michael Rack opened under the gun for 375. Steinberg three-bet to 1,200 under the gun plus two and both blinds called. Rack four-bet to 45,000 and Steinberg moved all in for 50,000. The blinds folded, Rack called.
Max Steinberg: 
Michael Rack: 
The board ran out 
to give Rack a set of kings and the first bust-out of the day a mere five minutes into the tournament. Steinberg out as the first player on Day 1b of the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Well this is a first. AA first hand of the main. Get it all in vs KK. K in the window. Two players said they folded other aces. GG!
— Maxyface (@MaxJSteinberg)
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
100,225
100,225
|
100,225 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 1
: 75/150, 0 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
||
|
50,000 | |
|
|
||
|
50,000 | |
Level 1
: 75/150, 0 ante
Gary Kosakowski was stacking up a bunch of chips and another player was leaving the tournament area, Kosakowski was kind enough to relate what had happened.
"He decided to bluff. The other player limped in for 150, I raised to 600 and he called. The flop came 
and we both checked. The turn was the 
. He bet 500, I raised to 1,700 and he called. The river was the 
. He checked, I bet 2,100, he jammed with 
and I called with for the set."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
100,000
-500
|
-500 |
Level 1
: 75/150, 0 ante
The seats are filling up fast in the Gold section of the Amazon room. There are already plenty of familiar faces in the Day 1b field including Scott Seiver and 2012 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Merson.
Seiver is fresh off a WSOP victory in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship last week earning $296,222 and his second WSOP bracelet.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000 | |
|
|
||
|
50,000 | |
|
||
|
50,000 | |
|
||
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
|
||
Level 1
: 75/150, 0 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
|
||
|
50,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
50,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
50,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
50,000
50,000
|
50,000 |