Teliani Bags Monster Lead; Arieh Still In Contention In Event #72: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha
After 15 levels (plus four minutes) of play, Event #72: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha gathered 846 entrants to build a prize pool of $1,129,410 and a first place of $209,716 with only 126 remaining entrants to compete for it on Day 2.
Of those remaining, it is Nohad Teliani who bagged the overall tournament chip lead with 1,100,000. Teliani was a force to be reckoned with for the majority of the day, having knocked out several players on her table and became the only player to bag over 1 million chips. Her total lifetime cashes come out to $64,634 and a win here would add more than $200,000 to it as well as her first WSOP Bracelet.
Event #72 Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nohad Teliani | Canada | 1,107,000 | 185 |
| 2 | Paul Saso | United States | 583,000 | 97 |
| 3 | Mihai Manole | Romania | 578,000 | 96 |
| 4 | Karan Mehta | India | 567,000 | 95 |
| 5 | Kosei Ichinose | Japana | 508,000 | 85 |
| 6 | Josh Arieh | United States | 503,000 | 84 |
| 7 | Bernard Larabi | United States | 491,000 | 82 |
| 8 | Mariia Levseieva | United States | 481,000 | 80 |
| 9 | Rishi Makkar | Canada | 459,000 | 77 |
| 10 | Richard Dixon | United States | 442,000 | 74 |
One player who will not be looking for his first WSOP bracelet, but rather his third of the summer and fifth overall is Josh Arieh. Arieh was one of the late registrants of the tournament, but throughout the day, he amassed chips through many aggressive plays and ended the day as one of the chip leaders, bagging 503,000. Arieh is high on the player of the year leaderboard and a deep run here would certainly benefit his endeavors in that area. In a year of players winning two bracelets, Arieh could be the first of the series to win three.
The tournament was a star-studded affair, bringing out plenty of known players. Some of those who bagged included; Jerry Wong (316,000), Leif Force (285,000), James Mackey (153,000), Joao Vieira (152,000), Brandon Shack-Harris (37,000), and Diogo Veiga (34,000).
Some players who were not as fortunate included Ali Imsirovic, Adam Hendrix, Benny Glaser, Jake Schwartz, Chino Rheem, Kenny Hallaert, Ryan Leng, and 16-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Michael Wang’s elimination at the hands of Jerry Wong was the last hand before the bubble began which lasted well over an hour until two players eliminated simultaneously brought it to an end.
The players will return at 2 p.m. at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino with 56-minutes left on Level 16, with blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante. 10 levels of 60-minutes each will be played on Saturday.
Stay tuned to PokerNews.com to stay updated on the progression and conclusion of this tournament and many others.