Event #11: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Day 1 Starts at 6 PM
At 6 p.m. local time, Day 1 of Event #11: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em will kick off with the first of eight levels of 60 minutes each. This four-day event is a freezeout, which gives players 30,000 in chips for their $5,000 buy-in. The 2018 edition was one of the few tournaments which featured a big blind ante last year and resulted in the fact that all NLHE tournaments this year, during the 50th Annual World Series of Poker, will be playing with the popular blind structure. The defending champion, Jeremy Wien overcame a 518-strong field to claim the coveted gold WSOP bracelet and $537,710.
Other familiar names who reached the final table included Eric Blair, Jake Schindler, Shawn Buchanan, Richard Thurim, and Patrick Truong. The tournament is expected to attract some of the world's top players once again, with many well-known faces flocking to the felt for their share of the prize pool.
Glancing at last year’s payout list shows that players like Michael Gagliano, Stephen Chidwick, Martin Mathis, Nick Pupillo, Seth Davies, Kristen Bicknell, Justin Bonomo, Brian Yoon, Tim Reilly, Antoine Saout, Erik Seidel, Kitty Kuo, Heidi May, and Ben Yu all cashed and will be looking to do the same or even better this year.
Players can register during the first 12 levels as registration closes at the start of Level 13 on Day 2 at approximately 6:30 p.m. local time. With eight levels of play on Day 1, there’s a 15-minute break scheduled after every two levels with a big blind ante in play from the first level.
Day 2 and Day 3 will start at 2 p.m. while the final day on Thursday, June 6 will resume at noon with the final six players which will be broadcasted on CBS All Access and PokerGO including the players' hole cards.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be there from the first raise until the final all-in and call here at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino so make sure you keep an eye on the updates right here.