Shaun Deeb has taken his seat in the final 20 minutes of Day 1. There are currently 75 players remaining, with late registration open until the start of the day 2.
The top of the field heading to Day 2 of Event #40: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. will be tightly packed, but Qinghai Pan vaulted above everyone in the last two levels of the night to take the biggest of the big stacks into Thursday’s play with 373,000 chips.
Several others were in contention for the chip lead before Pan soared past the field including Scott Seiver (261,000), Andrew Yeh (229,500), Randy Ohel (219,500), David Benyamine (219,000), and Brett Richey (215,000).
Wednesday’s event drew 139 entries through the first 10 levels of play, with 71 surviving, and late registration still open until Day 2.
Adam Friedman and Phil Hellmuth could be among the last entrants after they did battle in Event #36: $10,000 Dealer’s Choice, with Friedman defeating Hellmuth to become a three-time defending champion of that event.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Qinghai Pan
United States
373,000
2
Scott Seiver
United States
261,000
3
Andrew Yeh
United States
229,500
4
Randy Ohel
United States
219,500
5
David Benyamine
France
219,000
6
Marco Johnson
United States
218,000
7
Jerry Wong
United States
217,500
8
Brett Richey
United States
215,500
9
Jesse Klein
United States
199,500
10
Nate Silver
United States
197,000
Defending champion Greg Mueller made it to Day 2
Elite Field Shows Up
The $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship always draws an elite field of mixed-game superstars, and this year was no exception, with 2019 WSOP Player of the Year Robert Campbell (181,500), Scott Bohlman (180,000), Max Pescatori (125,500), Yuri Dzivielevski (100,000) and defending champion Greg Mueller (30,500) among those surviving the day.
Others such as Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, Brian Rast, Matt Glantz, David “ODB”, Baker, and David “Bakes” Baker were not as fortunate.
The atmosphere in the room was generally light as well, with plenty of conversation and an interesting table involving mixed-games star Brandon Shack-Harris (177,500) keeping things playful in the early stages of this battle for a bracelet.
Business will get far more serious Thursday however, as the players battle into the money, beginning at 2:00 pm local time with level 11, which comes with limits of 4,000 and 8,000. The levels also move from 60 minutes to 90, and the players will take a 60-minute dinner break after level 14.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of this and every World Series of Poker Event live from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
